What Cop T-Shirts Tell Us About Police Culture
Just before the 1996 DNC in Chicago, a local printer made up a batch of shirts that read, “We kicked your father’s ass in 1968 … Wait ‘til you see what we do to you." The front read: “Chicago Police," and then, “Democratic National Convention Chicago—1996." The shirt wasn’t endorsed by Chicago PD or the police union…
In a 2011 investigative series on police shootings, the Las Vegas Review-Journal revisited a 2003 case in which LVPD Officer Brian Hartman shot and killed a man named Orlando Barlow. Hartman shot Barlow in the back, as he was on his knees, unarmed, and attempting to surrender. According to the Review-Journal, Hartman and the other officers in his unit celebrated the shooting by printing up t-shirts “depicting Hartman’s rifle and the initials B.D.R.T. (Baby’s Daddy Removal Team), a racially charged term and reference to Barlow, who was black and who was watching his girlfriend’s children before he was shot."
The “us vs. them" mindset has become so common in U.S. police culture that we almost take it for granted. In my new book, I argue that this is the result of a generation of incessant rhetoric from politicians who treat cops as if they were soldiers, and policies that train and equip them as if they were fighting a war. The imagery and language depicted on the shirts in these stories are little different than the way pop culture, the military, and government propaganda have depicted the citizens of the countries we’ve fought in wars over the years.
Within the more militarized units of police departments, the imagery can be even stronger. Former San Jose, California police chief Joseph McNamara told National Journal in 2000 that he was alarmed when he attended a SWAT team conference the previous year and saw “officers … wearing these very disturbing shirts. On the front, there were pictures of SWAT officers dressed in dark uniforms, wearing helmets, and holding submachine guns. Below was written: ‘We don’t do drive-by shootings.’ On the back, there was a picture of a demolished house. Below was written: ‘We stop.’” In his 1999 ethnography on police culture, criminologist Peter Kraska writes that one SWAT team member he spent time with “wore a T-shirt that carried a picture of a burning city with gunship helicopters flying overhead and the caption Operation Ghetto Storm."
As I’ve reported here at HuffPost, the shirt isn’t wrong — Chicago cops will indeed blow down your door for smoking pot. And at the same time, it can be difficult to get them interested in, say, investigating an actual assault.
This comment thread at the online police forum PoliceLink has more examples of t-shirts the law enforcement commenters found amusing. Among the comments:
— “In God we trust, all others get searched,"
— “A picture of an electric chair with the caption: JUSTICE: Regular or Crispy"
— “B.D.R.T Baby Daddy Removal Team on the back and the initials on front with handcuffs. You should see peoples faces when I wear it….HAHAHAHA"
— “Human trash collector. ( above a pair of handcuffs )"
— “Take No Guff, Cut No Slack, Hook’em, Book’em and Don’t Look Back!"
— “‘Boys on the Hood’ Pic had two gangbangers jacked up on the hood of a patrol car with two officers."
— “SWAT T-shirt: ‘Happiness is getting the green light!’"
— “I have one that sates “SWAT SNIPER" on the front and on back it has a picure of a “terrorist" with a shell ripping through his skull and the “pink mist" spraying from the back of his head. Below the picture it reads, “Guerillas in the mist".
— “Save the police time, beat yourself up"
— “An ounce of prevention is fine and dandy…….. But we prefer 168 grains of cure."
— “Be good or you might get a visit from the bullet fairy."
— “Sniper - When you only have 1 shot at an opportunity……We’ll make it count"
— “Law Enforcement……Helping perps slip down stairs since 1766"
— “Math for Cops………2 to the chest + 1 to the head = problem solved"
— “I had a couple of ‘em a loooong time ago….1 showed a cop leaning on his rather long nightstick, saying “Police Brutality….the fun part of policework."……obviously not very PC….another was a picture of a LEO with smoke coming from the muzzle of his pistol, with a badguy falling backwards (lookin’ like swiss cheese) with the caption…..The best action is OVERREACTION….also not very PC…."
— “Cops make good roommates…they’re used to taking out the trash."
— “There was also one I saw where there was a big burly looking Sarge behind his desk and the cation read ‘It doesn’t say kindness and sympathy on the badge.’"
— “happiness is a confirmed kill"
— “Park Ranger T-shirt: One of funniest I ever saw: Picture of Smokey the Bear with Riot Gear and he’s just poked a protester in the chest with a riot baton. The Caption Reads: “Smokey Don’t Play That". Funny!"
— “My Daddy can Taser your Daddy"
— “School Patrol - You fail em, we jail em"
— “Got one that says, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted and used against you."
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