Do you remember when you were a kid and this guy used to come to your school to talk to you about the dangers of doing drugs, talking to strangers, and sticking metal objects into electrical outlets? He called himself "Officer Friendly" and friendly he was. He wasn't quite as cool as the fire department when they would show up at your school, only because they would let you ride in their rig, but he was still cool. I think every boy growing up wanted to be a cop someday. I know I did, that is until I started seeing the dark side of the law.
These days officers aren't so friendly. Most of them are outright bullies. A lot of them do 'roids. A lot of them just got back from the Gulf and suffer from extreme PTSD. Some of them got beat up in high school and now are using their job to pay back society. Whatever the case, cops stick together. They lie for one another. They almost always have each others' back and not just when it comes to their safety on the job. If a cop breaks the law they are covered in many ways. It's extremely rare for a cop to be charged with anything let alone murder.
Now I'm not going to sit here and say all cops are bad people. That would be like saying all blacks are thieves, all Asians are bad drivers, all politicians lie. That simply isn't true... wait, all politicians do lie. Never mind. But you get my point. There are bad and good people of all races and groups. There are people that should have chosen a different career. There are people that just shouldn't be working in customer service for example. They suck at their job. The difference here is if you have chosen to become a cop and you suck at your job, that could cost people their lives. And it has.
I'm not even sure Officer Friendly exists anymore. Most people have a bad impression of the police. There are a few people that put the police up on this pedestal. What makes this kind of person so dangerous is the police can do no wrong in their eyes. They will back the police no matter what goes down. You could never convince them that sometimes police lie. Sometimes they themselves commit crimes. Sometimes they take advantage of their power and do really bad things.
Being a cop is a tough job, I am sure of that. There's a lot of pressure. You have to deal with the worst of the worst on a daily basis. Your put your own safety and health on the line every day. The stress has to be extreme. I'm not even sure I would want to be a cop anymore. The toll it must take on your mind, body, and spirit. This job isn't for everyone. But there are men and women out there with badges and guns that have no business being a cop. A lot of them. This is who we should be afraid of.
Some will say, "If you are not a criminal, you have nothing to worry about." I say you are wrong! You could have no criminal record what-so-ever and one incident could change your life forever. It's happened. It's not always the criminals that are brutalized. Normal, everyday, family men (and women) are harassed by the cops every single day. If it hasn't happened to you, good for you. You are lucky. But it's happened to me. It's happened to people in my family. It's happened to some of my friends. And most of us are white middle-class Americans! I can't even imagine what it's like to be an African American man in this country dealing with the police. All it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Officer Friendly doesn't exist anymore and even if he does in some classroom out there, it's only a PR stunt at this point. There is a disconnect between the police and the communities they serve. It's no wonder people trust the police less and less these days. This blog is not a blog to bash the police. It is only here to open peoples' eyes. If you are pro-police and have some compelling, intelligent things to say I welcome your comments. If you come here just to bash me, insult me, and talk out of your ass, you've come to the wrong place. I can only hope this blog grows and gets people talking. I hope that it inspires change, because right now the system is broken beyond belief and nobody is doing anything about it.
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