Opinion: The Growing Damage of Celebrity Commentary on Policing

I’ve been watching some of the stories making their way through the news cycles, other than the ass-kicking handed to Iran, Israel & Hamas, the NATO Summit, the LA Riot,s which I’ve already expounded on, The Big Beautiful Bill, and anything anti-Trump. But one story in particular caught my attention and drove home a memory. It was the Facebook controversy caused by statements made by former NASCAR driver Danika Patrick laying into current driver Bubba Wallace and his alleged remarks about the final lap white flag being racist. Though it wasn’t true according to fact-checkers, it did bring up the topic of athletes making public comments about anything, and the firestorm it usually creates. 

Celebrities, athletes, and of course politicians and pundits, have been known throughout history to chime in on the social issues of the day. As of the last few years though, somehow they believe that they have become authorities when it comes to opining on and criticizing law enforcement in the U.S. We in police work have a difficult enough time enforcing the law with your regular, run-of-mill citizens that no one knows or cares about. I just mean that they don’t necessarily have a bully-pulpit and cameras to voice any concerns or complaints they might have with an issue. But celebrities do because, for some reason, they get access to microphones from just about any news outlet that wants to know what they’re thinking, feeling, or musing about. While most of us don’t care what they think, the media loves controversy, especially when it comes to police matters.

I previously wrote about President Obama’s comments in 2014 surrounding the Cambridge Police incident involving his former Harvard professor, and the consequences his comments had on law enforcement. It seems he opened the door for anyone with a pseudo-celebrity status to make damaging comments against us. The most widely covered and controversial came from now former NFL football player Colin Kaepernick, who in a 2016 preseason game took a knee during the National Anthem. When asked why he did that he stated it was to protest police brutality in America, citing several incidents around the country where black men were “killed” by police. His actions, of course, created another storm of controversy. Since we are all aware of what happened, I won’t get into specifics. I want to cover what public comments do to our credibility, and our ability to properly and safely as possible, do our job. 

When someone of a vaunted status speaks, they garner an audience and support, from a mostly fringe element that jumps on their bandwagon and joins the cause, even though the issue hasn’t been thoroughly vetted. They react emotionally with no forethought as to what the issue actually is, and rational thinking goes out the proverbial window. The celebrity or athlete enjoys a following that police can’t compete with. Their “followers” are usually young, high school or college age kids, just starting out with no worldly experience whatsoever and the danger is that they are very impressionable. Other followers, and now I speak as a conservative, are lunatic leftists trying to relive the late 60s, acting like hippies, pink, blue, green hair and all. 

The world of social media has provided an outlet for anyone to say anything they want with little repercussion or penalty unless you espouse conservative views. Then perhaps you get outright banned by the outlet themselves. But, that doesn’t happen to anyone who speaks out against conservatives or the police. These are what I call Social Media Tough Guys, who say whatever they want and people believe them. Memorable examples are the Kaepernick protests, and Jen Psaki, former White House Press Secretary now with MSDNC, who commented that rates of “police violence”(do you like that term?) against Blacks & Latinos, are higher than against Whites, conspicuously failing to mention that these subjects may have resisted arrest. Police Violence! Completely one-sided. Just throwing it out there. 

On April 20, 2021, Columbus, Ohio Police Officer Nicholas Reardon responded to a call where a young, black female named Ma’Khia Bryant was trying to stab two other black females, and was forced to shoot her to prevent the deaths of the other girls. Bryant was killed, and what happened in the aftermath is another example of celebrities making dangerous public comments. That well-known authority on policing, LeBron James, who never had a job other than basketball, went on Twitter and said about Officer Reardon, “You’re next!” No forethought on the damage his words could cause Officer Reardon or law enforcement. He has no idea what our job demands in situations like this but he offers his expert opinion anyway. Officer Reardon’s mistake? He answered the call as he was duty-bound to do, and as we cops say, it was his turn in the Jack-Pot. He arrived and had seconds to observe the scene, recognize what was happening, who the assailant was, and who the probable victims were, and make the decision to use deadly force in order to save the other girl’s lives. Seconds! Yet James only sees that a Black girl died at the hands of police and not the two lives that were saved at the hands of police. Hey James, stay in your lane and just shut up!

Following this, another self-proclaimed expert on policing, Joy Behar from everyone’s favorite hard-hitting political news show The View, decided to chime in and state that “the officer should have shot in the air, (we don’t do that, the bullet has to come down somewhere) and that something is wrong if the only solution to someone potentially killing another human is deadly force.” What? Obviously, Behar has no idea what is necessary to stop someone from killing another, especially in a split-second scenario. Suppose she was being attacked, how would she feel about it then? But she makes these comments and people believe her, why? Because she is on TV and is a “celebrity” of sorts.

In Miami, former colleagues of mine stopped the Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill last season for reckless driving near the stadium. He decided not to cooperate and found himself on the ground, handcuffed. But what happened next? The Dolphins made their calls and an order came down from Miami-Dade Police command to release Hill and issue citations instead. The officer was suspended. Hill and the Dolphins then held a press conference and criticized the very police who provide security at the stadium they play in, not apologizing for the way Hill drove his sports car because he was late to the game… In the end, the officer was made “unavailable” for the court hearing and the citation was dismissed. How did this happen Miami-Dade Police Command? Yes, I’m criticizing my own agency because once again they buckled and another celebrity got away with it. 

This last story is about NASCAR race car driver Bubba Wallace and his social media escapade that none of you have ever heard about. In early 2019, Wallace’s agent contacted one of our sergeants at Miami International Airport whom he was acquainted with. He asked if we could provide an escort to their awaiting limo when they arrived for an event in Miami prior to the Daytona 500. The sergeant kicked it over to my partner since it would take place on our shift. My partner is a huge NASCAR fan and gladly said he would handle it. He assigned three of his officers and asked me if I wanted to tag along. I said sure and we met Wallace and his agent at the arrival gate. We introduced ourselves and advised Wallace that we would escort him to his car. His agent wanted him protected should any crowd try to approach him. We escorted them to the limo without incident. In fact, no one recognized him. This is Miami, not Charlotte. We dropped him off and went on our way.

By that evening, Wallace began tweeting how he was frightened and uncomfortable at the sight of all those police officers. He didn’t come right out and say it, but he was implying race and cops and a Black man. The message was clear. My partner had the other sergeant call the agent and had him tell Wallace to knock it the F#*K off! It was uncalled for, but he got away with it. There are no repercussions for him, none for James, none for Behar or Psaki or anyone who speaks out against the police. The exception to no consequences is Kaepernick. His damning actions and words about us and the firestorm that followed kept him from getting another NFL gig because he became radioactive. A small victory for us but the damage was done.  

We can’t compete with these celebrities and athletes. They have the voice and following and we don’t. All we can continue to do is be professionals, remain silent, protect & serve everyone, do our jobs, and take the hits. What else can we do?