The police officer who became known on social media after he posted a video on the Dallas police shootings last year, is back with another passionate video in support of local law enforcement. However, some are saying his latest production both ignores statistics and defies common sense.
Lieutenant Charles “Chuck” Wells, who serves in Benton County, Arkansas, begins the video dressed in uniform, with blood smeared across his face. From the scene, it looks like Wells just completed a traffic stop, and suffered some sort of assault. But both the scene and the blood are fake.
Lieutenant Wells, The thin blue line is a little stronger because of you sir, thank you.
Det
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Posted by Police Officers on Friday, June 23, 2017
The officer addressed all Americans who may encounter his video and asks, “Is what you’re seeing tonight violent enough to make you stop scrolling through Facebook in your attempt to find something funny?” From there, he goes on to broadcast what some have called “Copaganda,” which is propaganda created “Just to get your attention” as Wells described it.
Wells claims that every day in America a cop is “stabbed, gunned down, dragged by a car,” those murders and assaults are “not important enough to barely make the news.”
“To this point today, we’ve lost 27 police officers to gun violence,” Wells stated. That number—however somber it may be and with no disrespect to the grieving families—is inaccurate. In fact, there have been only 23 officers who have lost their lives to firearm-related violence directed towards them.
Wells’s attempt to portray police officers as warriors in a fight for their very existence does not add up. The fact that less than two dozen officers to date have died in the line of duty due to gun violence—when there are over 1 million sworn officers of the peace in America—indicates that being a police officer is one of the safest occupations one could choose.
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In fact, law enforcement does not even make the top 10 most dangerous professions in the U.S. According to a CNBC list, loggers have the most dangerous job in America, per 100,000 people in the industry. They’re followed in order by fisherman, pilots, roofers, trash collectors, steel workers, truck drivers, farmers, power-line technicians and landscapers.
READ MORE: Deputies Caught on Video Brutally Beating Surrendering Man, Charged With Assault
The so-called “War on Cops” Wells addresses raised the question—how much of it is warranted by the actions of the officers who abuse their titles, and treat others unjustly?
Take for instance the comment North Miami Beach Police Officer Ericson Harrell wrote as a response to Wells’s diatribe: “Lt. Wells, can you do a video showing how your deputies are trained in the principles of LIFE, LIBERTY and Property Rights!!”
Harrell goes on to echo what The Free Thought Project has routinely exposed, police violate citizens’ constitutional rights on a daily basis. “So sick of police who think they are the #ThinBlueLine arresting moms and dads because they don’t have a license, no insurance, expired registration and many other VICTIMLESS crimes,” he wrote.
The Miami officer, who says he has learned to treat others like human beings, gave Wells some career advice. He said, “HONOR YOUR OATH to support and defend the CONSTITUTION and less people will be looking to do you harm!!”
Wells could only add anecdotal information to support the idea that there is an active war on police officers. In an apparent cry for sympathy, Wells claimed—again without any evidence—that there have been “police officers dragged for blocks who were fighting for their lives. Untold numbers of men and women who’ve been shot…not killed, but shot and fighting for their existence.”
“There is a war in America,” Well claimed. “You may not want to talk about it or let your children see it but there is a war in America.”
We agree with you, Lt. Wells. There is a war in America. There is an information war by police officers who treat people inhumanely; who sexually abuse men, women and children; and who violently assault people for non-violent crimes, even during traffic stops.
READ MORE: After Spending More than Half His Life in Prison, this Innocent 70-year-old Man is Now Free
In fact, as The Free Thought Project has detailed on countless occasions, being compliant is no guarantee someone will walk away from an encounter with such police officers. Philando Castile is one such victim. He was compliant, and yet still lost his life to a trigger-happy cop who murdered him after Castile revealed that he had a gun in the car and began looking for his license.
The Free Thought Project will continue to expose those police officers, the leadership who stand with them, and the legislation that makes it easier for law enforcement to infringe on civil liberties.
Nevertheless, Wells contends the war on cops is legitimate, despite any real statistics or sources to support his claims. All he can say is, “It’s real to me.”
Embracing the high and mighty drill instructor’s tone of voice, Wells said, “And for every useless scumbag that thinks it’s okay to pull the trigger on one of my teammates, there’s hundreds more, thousands more, who have the same character who are willing to stand in the gap and take that person’s place.”
While Wells appears to have no problem acting as if police have the most dangerous job in America, he ignores to the fact that the prison industrial complex is largely responsible for the animosity directed towards police.
When 10 percent of the U.S. population is behind bars—many of whom were put there because of a plant—there’s bound to be repercussions. When children are growing up fatherless and motherless because their parents are in prison, largely targeted because of their race, as the federal government concluded was occurring in Ferguson, it can create tension and mistrust.
When men like Philando Castile are pulled over nearly 50 times in traffic stops, there’s sure to be some resentment. When men like Eric Garner are attacked by a pack of cops like pit bulls on a wild boar, and die as a result, it is no surprise that people will begin to hate police.
READ MORE: What to Do if You"re Stopped by a Cop
When police officers are having sex with children and teenagers, why should anyone trust them? If officers like Wells truly want to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the citizens they claim to serve, he should start by insisting that his fellow “boys in blue” double the prison time for sex crimes against children, murder, rape, and theft.
What we see now, unfortunately, is a trend of police officers committing serious felonies, getting a paid vacation while an investigation takes place, and then getting off scot-free or with just a slap on the wrist. All the while, police are responsible for killing nearly 1,200 people every year.
Officer Wells continued with a promise saying, “The thin blue line is not going anywhere.” He called on all Americans to stand with police officers and promised his fellow officers, “I’ve got your six and I will be there should you call.”
But what Americans really want to know is, “Does law enforcement have their backs?” Sadly, for the millions who have been arrested for “resisting arrest” or “disobeying a lawful order by a police officer,” they already know the answer to that question.
The mandatory 30-day impoundment of vehicles, civil asset forfeiture schemes, cash confiscation, red-light cameras, safety zones, and DUI checkpoints all prove it is less about fighting crime and more about raising money for police departments. And that’s not to mention the fact that Wells’s home state of Arkansas has 1,500 untested rape kits.
Harrell posted Wells’s video to his own Facebook page with the prefaced statement reading:
“Look at this ‘Thin Blue Line’ propaganda nonsense. Cops create their own hazardous environment when they treat their fellow man like SUBJECTS instead of like FAMILY!! You don’t get rewarded for “JUST DOING YOUR JOB.” #ThePenitentCop”
Following the release of his latest video, Officer Wells has removed his Facebook page. An archive can be found here.
