As someone who works close to the industry i can agree for the most part. There are certainly some vets who are good, but i do think many fall back to military training and you just cant do that here. Everyone should he as laid back as me and we'd be great. On the other hand though culture today says dont trust cops, and a lot of culture praises killing or hurting cops. Its a fine line of protecting yourself and dealing with stresses of job. Imo it takes a special kind of person. Ive found cops who have a strong spiritual life do well because there is less stress when you believe that death brings happiness. You still dont want to be killed of course, no sane person does. But like paul said death where is thy sting? Oh wait christians just want to control people and kill gays/ abortion doctors my bad.
It doesn't help that cops are out walking around in plate carriers. They look like they're ready for combat at all times. I understand the need for safety, but they don't look like cops anymore. They look like military.
I dont have a problem with them looking the part, especially in high crime areas. As long as they arent looking for trouble. The goal should always be to serve the community. Earn the trust of the community by being friendly and respectful. There are times when you have to go into combat mode, but for the most part you just need to be available for bullshit calls. Just remember that other peoples bullshit is important to them and try to serve them like they were your own mother. Burnout happens often. Its a high stress job and you are often taking shit from your superiors, your community, and of course the people you arrest. There's very little positive reinforcement in the field. Ive only been pulled over a few times but ive always thanked the officer for doing their job, even when i got a ticket.
Since 9/11, there has been a definite shift in policy. The police have been moving closer and closer to militarization. I'm just unhappy with the "us vs them" mentality with law enforcement these days. It was never supposed to be about making money, but law enforcement has become big business for the government. Whether it's things like photo radar, traffic stops, or property seizures from drug enforcement. The police weren't supposed to be watching our every move, but we are seeing things like cameras and license plate tracking. It's just very troublesome.
I totally agree, it is very troubling. But I don't see it as a police problem. I see it as a greedy politician problem, power seekers going for more revenue, using he police to rake in the money. The police will always be working for the politicians so they have little choice but to do their bidding. Then we have the interference from the federal government, funding the local police with federal dollars so that the local government is force to enforce the government programs so that they receive the revenue to support the local police force. This is shear corruption to send that money to Washington in the first place, then only to have the local Sheriff be force to assign officers the federal government programs. A terrible system.
It worries me because we have a lot of vets coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq. They have been policing a hostile indigenous people (a job they never should have been asked to do), and now they're back home and they're taking jobs as law enforcement officers in the states because that's one of the only jobs available to them. Now they're in the US and they're essentially policing people in a similar way. The government is treating us like a hostile populace. They're illegally tapping our phones. They're illegally searching our internet history. They're tracking our movements through our phones. This is NOT how America was supposed to be. The damn 4th amendment is supposed to prevent this from happening.
Politicians and 1% want us to have race wars and hate cops. So we dont focus on them. 1984 really is now. There's so many parallels its scary
