CHARLOTTE — Charlotte City Councilmember Tariq Bokhari has penned an open letter to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department after going on a ride-along with officers. The letter is now going viral.
Bokhari said he decided to go because it was police week and there had been some "hurtful tweets" in the news. He didn’t expect the experience to forever change him.
"It made me have more and more respect for them as the hours progressed and they are the best of us," Bokhari told Eyewitness News anchor Liz Foster.
(WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Councilman goes on ride-along with CMPD)
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The first call Bokhari went to concerned a child who was potentially being abused in an apartment.
"I was petrified by the experience. Walking in a dark apartment up stairs and around corners and seeing a handgun laying on the bed, all the while not knowing if someone was about to jump out and shoot us... well... it made me realize just how dangerous the job can be at every corner," Bokhari wrote.
[ CLICK HERE TO READ ALL OF BOKHARI'S OPEN LETTER ]
The rest of the night included domestic violence calls and even responding to a man who’d been shot.
"So what did I learn? I saw the fear and danger you guys face. I saw some of the worst of our city. I saw the best of our department - how you guys acted, whether it was a traffic stop of someone yelling profanity at you. I also saw some of the best of our city - in that first call I described above... after all the anger and fear and people yelling at you - I saw a couple kids come up and start talking to you. And you guys went to the cruiser and started handing out stickers and making some jokes with the kids. And one of them came up to me and said they made a poem at school that week in appreciation of police week and our officers who came out to protect them when they needed it. Amazing," wrote Bokhari.
Bokhari said he’s glad the letter is getting a positive response from officers. “That [letter] was necessary for their own morale. They're going through a lot of challenges right now and it's time for us to treat them a little differently," Bokhari told Channel 9.
Officers admit they have struggled with morale as the department faces a shortage of manpower, retention issues, and as officers fight for what they believe is fair pay.
Right now, the city's proposed budget includes a 6.5% pay raise for police. Bokhari told Foster he is now pushing for a bigger raise and other benefits, like take-home squad cars.
Mark Michalec, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal of Police and a CMPD officer of 24 years, said Bokhari’s efforts mean a lot. “He's pretty much spearheading and taking the initiative to fight for what we believe we deserve, so it's not going unnoticed."