I’m a bit shaken today.
The other day I posted an update about another wonderful phone conversation I’d received that afternoon from the Investigative Officer in charge of the complaint I had made to the police department in regards to their mental health policies and procedures. Yesterday I made a follow-up post about how I had shared this particular post in a mental health related group which I am a member of on Facebook where I sometimes like to share my blogs that I feel may be relevant or helpful to other members.
I received lots of gratitude from many of its members for speaking out and trying to make changes to how mental health crises are handled by the police but I also mentioned that I received some pull back from one member in particular who began spewing his hatred he has towards the police due to his own personal encounters with them and then basically implied that “ALL” police are bad and crooked and therefore we should not support their efforts in any way (https://wheredidmommyssmilego.com/2023/03/10/was-never-my-intentions/).
I did not engage with any of his hateful comments and as his anger towards the police escalated more and more, his comments were eventually deleted by the Admin.
But the story didn’t end quite there because what I awoke to this morning has left me completely traumatized and shaken. While I slept…for all of maybe two hours, this particular individual decided to invade my own personal space by going to my Facebook page and leaving approximately 15 to 20 very long and separate hate filled rants, videos and links to articles in the comment section of my post about what police have done to him, why we need to defund the police, how the mental health system has failed him time and time again and so much more.
I took screenshots of every single comment in the never-ending thread of comments before blocking him and reporting them. I wish I could say it ended there but once he realized I’d blocked him he then went over to my Instagram account to continue his rant there, this time leaving very nasty hashtags as well, all focused on his hatred towards police officers. I once again took a screenshot and reported his comments as harassment before blocking him.
There will always be haters out there but sadly this individual is not taking any responsibility for his own life and the things that happen to him, instead he has resorted to taking his anger out on me and thinks this is a helpful way to try and change my views.
I know that I can’t let him steal my purpose or derail me in my endeavors to be a voice for change but it’s really difficult not to at the moment. But also knowing that the officer in charge of my complaint could have just as easily dismissed my case from the moment my email landed in his lap back in January has instead chosen to put much thought and effort into it because he sees that things aren’t working well as they are and wants to ensure that positive changes are made across the board and believes that helping give my story a voice could do just that is truly all I need to be focusing on right now.
***update*** the dude was banned from the Facebook group!
#bethechange #police #mentalhealth #goodcops #grateful #positivechange #oursystemhasfailed #makeachange #youareenough #youarenotalone #startaconversation #thankyou #focus #traumatized #shaken
YouAreEnough 