I've got a post in the works talking about how much I like cops and how we need them.
But it's got a lot of how things should be rather than how they are in it and I want to make sure that it doesn't turn into a scathing rant when that's not my true position or meaning.
In many ways the fact that the police are part of the government is insuperable from resentment towards the government in general.
It's very easy for me to start raging on my dislike of our government while expressing my thoughts about one part of it.
A bit of clue is how people change how they phrase things when they know someone is a cop. I've seen the language become more SELECTED, it reminds me of how there's a distinct change in tone when a black person or woman joins the table of the white males.
There's something wrong about that. It's hard to talk about and it's hard not to blindly assign blame.
An honest person shouldn't have to fear saying anything in front of a cop.
Someone who's not a racist shouldn't worry about talking normally in front of any minority
Someone who's not a sexist shouldn't worry about talking normally in front of any gender.
But we do fear, don't we?
I've watched it from the other end too.
Cops change their tone when I walk up. Language shifts when I join the black table. Topics change when I join the women's table...
The fear runs both ways, doesn't it?
Maybe that's the core of the issue. It's hard to like something you're afraid of and you can't ever be comfortable with it.
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I look forward to your post. Let it be what it will be. Expression of opinions makes this country great, and it's fine if you don't like cops.
ReplyDeleteI just figure we should call out asshats. If someone is being an asshat, they need to be put in their place. If it's a server, you leave no tip, but you don't hate all servers. If it's a guy in a theatre talking on his phone, you tell him to take his conversation outside, but you don't hate all the people in the theatre.
If it's a cop, you report him to Civil Service. That report may not get an asshat officer canned, but it can make a difference if it's the eighth report on officer asshat in a year.
Like with the other examples, call out the asshat cop by reporting him, but don't hate all cops because of his behavior.
I am sure that nearly all cops fit the good cop model and we only see the shitty ones because EVERYONE notices the shitty cops and shitty departments.
DeleteMy real beef is the crappy government that's got cops running here and sunder doing all manner of stuff that I don't think cops aught to do just because it's hard on the trust that MUST exist mutually between the citizens and their police.
The post that will come more readily is just a listing of dumb crap from being profiled. Some of it is even humorous.
A valid point. I think it behooves cops to remember that the role most of society wishes them to be is "peace officers", not "law enforcement agents".
ReplyDeleteI've read that in Iceland most officers don't carry guns because they want them to focus on being peace officers first - in 2013, for the first time in almost a century, the police shot a man.
ReplyDeleteOver 1/3rd of Iceland's residents own guns.
I find it funny how people always slow down when they see an officer along the road, or refuse to pass a slow moving officer when there is a safe opportunity to do so (on the interstate) - I only slow down if I was going too fast, and I will pass a slow moving police car the same way I pass any other slow moving vehicle.