Cops Giving Out Hugs... Sexual and Racial Harrassment?

[harrose]

I saw the news story (linked below) about the Newark, Delaware cops who were giving out free hugs to the community they are supposed to be protecting.

I'll gladly admit, up front, that I don't think the cops had any bad intentions when they did this. They almost certainly didn't think that they were harassing anyone.

And yet, I have to wonder how many women and people of color felt like they "had to" accept the hug, even against their will, lest it potentially have consequences for themselves or their communities. Even though the cops looked friendly and jovial, the very fact that they are in a position of authority and can, on a whim, make a person's life a major hell, must surely be considered a coercive factor. That, in itself, I think, can be considered harassment as they are "forcing" someone to accept hugs that they don't want.

Again, I want to stress that I don't think these cops had any ill intent and I'm not recommending that they be punished or in any disciplined. But I think that they should be made aware of how their actions can be perceived, since they, themselves, seem woefully unaware.

http://www.wfsb.com/story/29093581/officers-offer-free-hugs-in-viral-video

[sibelian]

1. I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense at all.

Whatever else you might think of these gentlemen, there has to be a limit to how much responsibility they can accept for how people perceive them.

When we get to the state where a subtextual interpretation of an event openly contradicts it's surface content, I think we have to admit that the subtext reader is FUBAR.

Obviously these cops are aware of the bad image that policing has acquired and wish to mitigate against that, to regain trust for the uniform. Clearly in this case, if you choose to withhold that trust, the person doing that choosing is you, not them.