Peterson works in Southwest Atlanta out of the Zone 4 precinct office, a squat brick building with gray siding on Cascade Circle. High on a wall inside the locker room hangs a photo of the late Officer Joseph Davis, who was gunned down in 1989 while he was arresting a suspected thief. A note under his photo says he was “dedicated, respected and loved.”
Cosby’s Zone 6 precinct office sits just off Hosea L. Williams Drive in Kirkwood. The first thing he sees coming in the front door is a black and white framed photo of the late Officer Gregory Davis, who was shot and killed in 1988 while questioning a man about a series of burglaries. Davis appears young in the photo. A slight smile plays across his lips.
Cosby and Peterson recently provided a window into the fraught lives of police officers when they allowed The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to shadow them on patrol. Both are taking extra precautions following the fatal ambushes of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge. Both are experiencing up close the raw feelings their uniforms provoke following the fatal police shootings of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana. And both officers are feeling different sorts of pressure based on the color of their skin.
Peterson and Cosby have learned to keep their heads on a swivel, to remain constantly on guard, to fight off complacency.
“Any day my life can be over,” Peterson says.
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