Veteran police officer and Commissioner Byron Watson was off duty when he was pulled over for … well he never did find that out.
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Remember the old days, when the officer came up to your window and said, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” And when you said (sometimes truthfully) “No, officer, I don’t” they TOLD you why?
“It gives me an opportunity to see how I would be treated, not only as a police officer, but as a civilian, a citizen, a black man.”
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That was not the experience of this black man, who just happened to be a long time veteran officer and commissioner. Granted, he didn’t identify himself as a fellow cop, but as he says, “It gives me an opportunity to see how I would be treated, not only as a police officer, but as a civilian, a citizen, a black man.”
He got his answer, and the officer who stopped him wasn’t at all pleased when he found out he’d pulled over an off duty cop.
Officer Watson’s philosophy?
“You never know who you are stopping. We need to treat people like we want to be treated.”
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Photo: Youtube/STL Positive Change