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I don't consider them to be the enemy. I respect their work and their necessity to a good and orderly society.
However, i'm not under any illusions and you shouldn't be either. Their "blue wall" and "blue line" is serious stuff. They see themselves as distinct and apart from the rest of society....and when that happens, you're bound to run into problems. Lots of cops go into the job with the notion of 'public service,' but within a few years they just meld into the law enforcement mindset and become hardcore members of the Blue Wall edifice that i can't stand....i can look at a cop and see it in their faces once they've taken on that cop persona.
Not being a criminal of course helps fix one part of the conundrum...you won't have to deal with them very often if you're law abiding. But don't get it twisted by thinking that living a clean lifestyle makes you immune to their abuses.
That said, i'll continue to respect their work and place in our society, but i'll NEVER totally trust them.
Yep....I had a good friend who was NYPD...right after he was about to graduate from the academy, the Dialou case happened right around that time. There was a report on the news about it, and I was shaking my head saying that someone needed to at least get fired..he cut me off "I'm a cop now man.." ie you can't say anything negative about cops anymore.
This is a person who I was pretty close with...like I knew all kinds of serious stuff about. We aren't close anymore. Any discussion about his job leads to a volley of complaints about how "persecuted" cops are and no one understands what it's like to be in their shoes. I remember being at dinner with him and some of his cops buddies, and them yucking it up about how their resident clown ("the funny one") roughed up some hood rat.
Yep....I had a good friend who was NYPD...right after he was about to graduate from the academy, the Dialou case happened right around that time. There was a report on the news about it, and I was shaking my head saying that someone needed to at least get fired..he cut me off "I'm a cop now man.." ie you can't say anything negative about cops anymore.
This is a person who I was pretty close with...like I knew all kinds of serious stuff about. We aren't close anymore. Any discussion about his job leads to a volley of complaints about how "persecuted" cops are and no one understands what it's like to be in their shoes. I remember being at dinner with him and some of his cops buddies, and them yucking it up about how their resident clown ("the funny one") roughed up some hood rat.
OK, but that was one case you know....think if this situation were turned around, and you were with your friends, and laughing about some white kid you roughed up, do you think they are gonna say..."OH dman, that is so wrong!" No, they're going to go along with it and laugh along....They should start standing up for what is right or wrong, everyone should...period.....
I'm not dellusional....my son's a cop, he has a family....he's a good cop, he doesn't ever, and I mean, ever go out with his cop friends after work, he stays with his family...his record is clean...doesn't have one complaint, b/c he's fair, and he worked in a real dangerous city at one time....so....
I know not every cop is alike....and I know as in everything else, there are good cops and bad cops, however, in the same, there are good people and bad people....and right or wrong, when you work with the scum of the earth, day in and day out, it's got to have an effect on some....
I saw a special on TV, YEARS ago, about NYC cops and after 5 years, they were ressigned to a different area, b/c of the mental strain....think about it, again, it's no excuse, but a human being can only take so much.
Yep....I had a good friend who was NYPD...right after he was about to graduate from the academy, the Dialou case happened right around that time. There was a report on the news about it, and I was shaking my head saying that someone needed to at least get fired..he cut me off "I'm a cop now man.." ie you can't say anything negative about cops anymore.
This is a person who I was pretty close with...like I knew all kinds of serious stuff about. We aren't close anymore. Any discussion about his job leads to a volley of complaints about how "persecuted" cops are and no one understands what it's like to be in their shoes. I remember being at dinner with him and some of his cops buddies, and them yucking it up about how their resident clown ("the funny one") roughed up some hood rat.
The thing about cops is they are human like us, and are not infallible. That does not make it right, and I do feel that since they enforce the laws they need to be held to a higher standard. But again, it's those we elect who make a lot of silly laws, and nanny state regulations for them to enforce. I could not be a cop, because of that alone. If given the choice between being a cop or firefighter, I'd choose firefighter.
Yep....I had a good friend who was NYPD...right after he was about to graduate from the academy, the Dialou case happened right around that time. There was a report on the news about it, and I was shaking my head saying that someone needed to at least get fired..he cut me off "I'm a cop now man.." ie you can't say anything negative about cops anymore.
This is a person who I was pretty close with...like I knew all kinds of serious stuff about. We aren't close anymore. Any discussion about his job leads to a volley of complaints about how "persecuted" cops are and no one understands what it's like to be in their shoes. I remember being at dinner with him and some of his cops buddies, and them yucking it up about how their resident clown ("the funny one") roughed up some hood rat.
They change once they enter Copland...i tell people this all the time. They just become part of the fraternity, and it's not unreasonable to expect them to change drastically as people once they enter that society.
To boot, when you spend all of your days dealing with the dregs of society, you become jaded and cynical and it's easy to take on an us vs them mentality....and the "THEM" after a while becomes everyone that isn't a cop. Even law abiding people becomes "them." Cops see themselves as this persecuted group that is the wall between good and evil. Very few in my opinion maintain the type of equilibrium in which you can be a cop for your 8 to 12 hour shift, and then turn it off when you're off duty and just interact with regular, normal people as a civilian without that weird air of authority that some of them walk around with. I can damn near sniff out an off duty cop without having any previous interactions with them. They just give off that vibe.
But it's like i say, they're a necessary component of an orderly society. I accept it for what it is. I don't get out of line with them....if i have to deal with them in ANY way, i make it as brief as possible (no gladhanding or small talk...all business), and keep it moving.
It seems to me the police consider everyone who isn't an active duty cop to be the "enemy." I'm generally very pro police, but I always notice a separation, like the rest of us are not quite acceptable and need watching.
In cities like Baltimore it seems the common person sees the police as an occupying force. As the jack booted storm trooping enemy.
Now we see para-military forces and vehicles on our streets time and again, as people become more and more disaffected and the gap between the populace and police, and authority increases.
Many, if not most people fear the police. Many police are seen as nothing but highway robbers with a license to steal money from people for minor traffic infractions. Go a few miles too fast it costs you hundreds of dollars. Park ten minutes too long and it costs you more than a nice dinner out with the family - all to fill the pockets of government. Don't pay and the government sends police henchmen to enforce and extract their money or incarceraste you.
And when a law abiding person NEEDS the police they are nowhere to be found or arrive too late to help. Or 911 doesn't answer, or they are told by ignorant leaders to "stand down" and fail to protect those they are sworn to protect. LA, Ferguson, Baltimore. In Las Vegas the police no longer even respond to traffic accidents! It's a wonder they show up for homicides, unless they caused it.
Then the police say, "well it isn't our job to protect individuals, our job is to apprehend criminals." And the courts uphold that idiocy. So people are left to fend for themselves. But god forbid a citizen defend themselves, then the police see THEM as the criminal not the victim.
Where does it end and how do we, the law abiding public, get the rank and file cops to understand we are not their enemy?
I think it's simply human nature. If you are constantly dealing with the worst of the worse you are going to be cynical. In urban areas policing means having a front row seat to a level of dysfunction that I think most people can't comprehend. Yet they see this regularly. Of course they're going to develop biases, stereotype etc.
That's what happened to Freddie, they saw him as yet another black guy in a poor neighborhood crying wolf. They stopped the van 4 times at any juncture the driver could have radioed for help. It would not have costed them a thing. They end up being not guilty but if they followed procedure at the very least they'd have a better defense.
For me that's why I argue that the culture among the urban underclass has to improve or nothing much will change. Folks only react to what they see.
They change once they enter Copland...i tell people this all the time. They just become part of the fraternity, and it's not unreasonable to expect them to change drastically as people once they enter that society.
To boot, when you spend all of your days dealing with the dregs of society, you become jaded and cynical and it's easy to take on an us vs them mentality....and the "THEM" after a while becomes everyone that isn't a cop. Even law abiding people becomes "them." Cops see themselves as this persecuted group that is the wall between good and evil. Very few in my opinion maintain the type of equilibrium in which you can be a cop for your 8 to 12 hour shift, and then turn it off when you're off duty and just interact with regular, normal people as a civilian without that weird air of authority that some of them walk around with. I can damn near sniff out an off duty cop without having any previous interactions with them. They just give off that vibe.
But it's like i say, they're a necessary component of an orderly society. I accept it for what it is. I don't get out of line with them....if i have to deal with them in ANY way, i make it as brief as possible (no gladhanding or small talk...all business), and keep it moving.
Exactly most folks can't compartmentalize like that. I read somewhere that cops have a high rate of divorce as a result.
Exactly most folks can't compartmentalize like that. I read somewhere that cops have a high rate of divorce as a result.
Their divorce rates are super sky high...for all the reasons you and i delineated.
I can kinda relate because when i was in the Army, i used to have that same mentality in regards to non-military people. I didn't see myself as persecuted per se, but in Army Airborne you were taught to think that you're special and other people...even non-Airborne Army personnel didn't understand what it was like to be a part of your fraternity and blah, blah, blah.....i had to check myself and learn to compartmentalize who i was from what my job was and treat people accordingly.
Anytime you're in a military or paramilitary organization, you can easily take on those traits. Before you know it, you begin to see yourself as someone that's apart from the society you live in. And some really bad things can emanate from that attitude. It's all about self awareness, and that's something that you can easily lose.
They change once they enter Copland...i tell people this all the time. They just become part of the fraternity, and it's not unreasonable to expect them to change drastically as people once they enter that society.
To boot, when you spend all of your days dealing with the dregs of society, you become jaded and cynical and it's easy to take on an us vs them mentality....and the "THEM" after a while becomes everyone that isn't a cop. Even law abiding people becomes "them." Cops see themselves as this persecuted group that is the wall between good and evil. Very few in my opinion maintain the type of equilibrium in which you can be a cop for your 8 to 12 hour shift, and then turn it off when you're off duty and just interact with regular, normal people as a civilian without that weird air of authority that some of them walk around with. I can damn near sniff out an off duty cop without having any previous interactions with them. They just give off that vibe.
But it's like i say, they're a necessary component of an orderly society. I accept it for what it is. I don't get out of line with them....if i have to deal with them in ANY way, i make it as brief as possible (no gladhanding or small talk...all business), and keep it moving.
...and this is why I can't stomach the "every cop is a hero" stuff.
You're a hero when you do heroic things. Yes, there is risk to putting a police uniform on, but does that make you a hero automatically? I find that mentality weird.
...and this is why I can't stomach the "every cop is a hero" stuff.
Your a hero when you do heroic things. Yes, there is risk to putting a police uniform on, but does that make you a hero automatically? I find that mentality weird.
So do i. But it's like i say..."hero" is an overused term in the American lexicon.
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