Getting pulled over and livng to tell about it

I've had some experience with being pulled over by law enforcement, but not recently, thank goodness. My pullovers have resulted in tickets for speeding and in kind warnings to get that taillight fixed or pay closer attention to my driving. But never did I fear being beaten or shot by an officer who pulled me over.

That's why the shooting death of Philandro Castile during a traffic stop is so shocking to me. I would never imagine that an officer would pull his weapon and shoot me as I sat in the driver's seat. Yet, it happened to Castile. It was captured on video. It inspired scores of protests. But the end result was this: Castile died after being pulled over because of a faulty taillight.

Righteous protests after the shooting devolved at times into a fiction that cops are fighting a war against black men. That is as false as any other racially charged conspiracy claim. There is no war, but there appears to be a lack of understanding and a lack of communication.

Castile was licensed to carry a firearm, and he told the officer that he had a firearm in the car. He may not have provided that explanation, however, in the manner prescribed in concealed-carry classes. The officer apparently heard the weapon explanation as a threat and saw Castile's reaching for his identification as reaching for a weapon. Was race — and perhaps fear of black males — a factor in the cop's misinterpretation? Probably.

This is a shooting that never should have happened. It is a situation when the service weapon never should have been drawn, unless, as some have suggested, the officer thought Castile was the armed robber he had been alerted about. But that scenario would have triggered a different protocol involving calling for backup and requiring the driver to exit the vehicle with his hands up.

The last time I was pulled over, the Wilson officer approached my car, touching the left rear fender as she walked to my window. (I assume she was marking the car with her fingerprint in case anything went wrong and my car had to be identified by her fingerprint.) She asked if I knew one taillight was out. I respectfully told her I didn't (which was the truth). She told me to get it fixed as soon as possible. I promised her I would, and she returned to her vehicle and drove on.

I went home, then to the store and bought a taillight bulb and replaced the burned-out bulb.

End of story.

But had I appeared threatening or belligerent — even short-tempered — things might have ended differently. Had my skin been darker AND my demeanor had been more confrontational, things almost assuredly would have ended differently.

Call the police, and check out their statistics

Call the police. That's the advice that Wilson Police Chief Harry Tyson and other officers provided Tuesday during a meeting with volunteers from Preservation of Wilson. If you see suspicious activity, call it in. Don't hesitate. Although it might seem unimportant or inconsequential, that tidbit could give investigators the lead they need to solve or prevent serious crimes.

Preservation officials had asked for a meeting with the police to discuss the erroneous perception that the downtown historic areas have high crime rates. Not so, police said, pointing to crime maps and statistics pinned to the meeting room walls. A list of criminal problem areas did not include any of the historic areas Preservation is involved in. You can check it out yourself at the city's Web site, where crime statistics are searchable by address. Click on the Police2Citizen link and you'll get a new screen with crime data, including the actual incident reports. The data are available thanks to the department's new OSSI law enforcement software. You can also request a daily bulletin of all crime reports for that day. (A few sensitive ongoing investigations and sex crimes are withheld from public view. It's a pretty amazing development, considering the difficulty in the old days of going to the police station and copying crime or accident reports.

The point, for Preservation officials, is that Wilson's crime rate is relatively low, and little of the crime that does occur happens in the historic areas where Preservation is focusing its efforts. Downtown is one of the lowest-crime areas of the city. Homeownership is one key. Neighborhood involvement is another. More transient, mostly rental areas, even in new developments, are more likely to have crime problems. Homeowners, who have a financial stake in the neighborhood and who expect to be around for the long term, are more likely to take an interest in what's going on around them. They're more likely to call in suspicious activities, and that helps police solve and prevent crimes.

By all means, hold parents responsible

The Wilson Police Department wants to start holding parents responsible for the behaviors of their children. What a revolutionary thought! The Wilson Daily Times gave prominent play to comments by Officer Reggie Smith that police would find the parents of children roaming the streets in the wee hours and hold the parents responsible.

Unfortunately, we've heard these kinds of promises before, and the problem never seems to get any better. Former Police Chief Willie Williams made "community policing," police visibility and enforcement of minor offenses key parts of his success in reducing crime statistics. Like Officer Smith, Williams had been appalled by the sight of small children wandering the streets at night. Most Wilson residents, it seems, have seen this phenomenon, either in their own neighborhoods or along major thoroughfares. Children as young a preschool can be seen late at night wandering around without any adult in sight. Police Chief Harry Tyson made a public appeal last year for parental assistance in caring for and disciplining children.

Smith says parents will be held responsible. Good! They should be held responsible. But Smith was vague in his speech, according the the Daily Times, about just what the police would do. Let me suggest this: Don't take the children home and talk to the parents; charge the parents with child neglect. If letting a 7-year-old wander the streets at midnight isn't child neglect, I don't know what is.

The problem with holding parents responsible is that parents who let their children wander at night are, by definition, irresponsible. In fact, they may be unfit to be parents, and they are unlikely to respect the police department or social workers who are looking out for the best interests of their children. Many of these parents are single mothers who began birthing babies before they could drive. Many have chips on their shoulders and negative attitudes toward law enforcement, courts, schools and society in general. These are the parents who terrorize teachers who dare to discipline their misbehaving children and who beg judges not to send their babies to prison.

By all means, hold parents responsible for their children. Hold them responsible for setting these children off on their one-way path from neglect to gangs to prison.

Parents are the key to a civilized society, and we are, sadly, paying the price for policies and attitudes that make parenting nothing more than a biological act.