It's time to decide what we want from law enforcement.

[Sentry18]

I highly recommend you read this, then share it with your family/friends.


http://www.theruralbadge.com/2019/12/decide-what-you-want.html

It's time to decide what we want from law enforcement.


*Photo credit Mercury News*


It's time to decide what we want from law enforcement.

Warriors?
Counselors?
Guardians?
Priests?
Social workers?
Magicians?

Do we want the cheapest cops possible?
Or, do we want well trained and well screened cops?
Well equipped cops, with every tool needed for every possible eventuality?
Or the beat cop from grandaddy's hometown, with nothing but a smile, a wheelgun, and one set of cuffs?

Really, we want it all.
Admit it, we do- and we want it all, without paying for any of it.

Every officer needs to be an empathetic, well-spoken, SEAL-trained ninja, with double majors in psychology and social work, who considers the job a calling, and has no bills to pay, no nerves to fray, and enforces the law completely objectively while also using discretion at all times, unless it's going to result in arresting--or not arresting--the wrong person at the wrong time, for the wrong thing, in the opinion of every member of the public.

If that person existed, he wouldn't work for you.
So we've got to deal with what exists, and what exists are humans.

Humans are fallible, and their bodies are frail. Their brains play tricks on them when they're under stress, and then keep them from sleeping by replaying the stressor on an endless loop later, trying to find ways to 'fix' whatever went wrong.

Humans come in varieties, not exactly like dog breeds, but close enough that the analogy works:
If you need a bite dog, you don't start with a Golden Retriever.
Possibly, you can teach the Golden to bite on command, if you're persistent enough, and mean enough,but in the process, you'll ruin everything that made him a Golden to begin with.

*Photo Franklin County Sheriff's Office*

Now translate that back to people.
Warriors, soldiers, great war generals like Patton, may live for the fight but they don't always play well with others after the battle.
They can be harsh.
They can use bad language in settings where you wish they were polite.
They find humor in ugly, dark places that just frighten the rest of society.
They're not always...nice.

If you want only a cuddly, soft, empathetic officer whose first response is always a soft answer and compassion, you can have that.
She'll never embarrass her chief at Coffee with a Cop.
He'll present well on camera, every time, and remind you of someone's grandfather.
He'll be the perfect SRO, until there's an active shooter at your kid's school.

Suddenly, society insists on the warrior.
They want the crack-driven demon Malinois, 55 pounds of rawhide, springsteel and gator teeth, driving into the gunfire and doing anything it takes -- anything -- to keep the children safe.
And once the threat is gone, society wants the Malinois to morph back into the therapy dog.
They want the warrior gone, the counselor returned, the off-switch thrown.

That's not how it works.
And it's not fair.

I tell you now: the unicorn doesn't exist.
You can't have it.
What you can have is a human.
If you recruit well, background thoroughly, and train constantly, you can have a human with a kind heart, and good ethics, who is willing to fight hard, be uncomfortable, even get hurt, for you.
You can have a human who tries. You can have someone who struggles, who sometimes fails, who gets better with time and experience, and who has setbacks.

You can't have perfection.

In fact, you can break perfectly good humans by insisting they be something they can't be-- things no one can be.

Decide now that, as long as cops get recruited from the human race, they're going to be exactly human, with everything that means.

The rest of society is also human, after all.

Maybe it's time we decide what we want from the rest of us, too.

 

[Meerkat]

Good aricle.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Good read, I especially got a chuckle outta this:

They want the crack-driven demon Malinois, 55 pounds of rawhide, springsteel and gator teeth, driving into the gunfire and doing anything it takes -- anything

 

[Sentry18]

It would be nice if this article was republished by the MSM. We can't be all things to all people at all times. Especially with ever diminishing resources. Set the standard you want and we will hire, train, and equip accordingly.

 

[Meerkat]

It would be nice if this article was republished by the MSM. We can't be all things to all people at all times. Especially with ever diminishing resources. Set the standard you want and we will hire, train, and equip accordingly.

We liek the ' poodles till it is us who are gettign robbed,raped,beat up or killed. Thwn we want the bull dogs.
I always thank cops like I do vets, .BTW thanks Sentry I may not agree with you on some topics but I do think your a good cop and person.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have a cousin who has been in law enforcement for a few decades. He is one of my all time favorite people. He has integrity unlike many of his colleagues ever did. He is gifted as a writer and story teller. He writes a long annual letter that is full of humor and wit about their life in the woods, as well as camping and hunting trips. This year, his letter included a piece about what has gone on for him in the past two years. I was aware of it for a while, because he and I talk on PMs and the phone. One paragraph started out, "It has been just over two yeas since I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD. I am only now getting to where I can talk about it with anyone other than the core group of people who have been helping me deal with it. I have no idea how many fatal crash investigations, death investigations and child abuse investigations I did over the years, but I know there were a lot of them."

There is more, much more, and I have heard some of his stories over the years. He could write books. Law enforcement can be horrific at many levels and I can only imagine the damage to the mental health of those who are career LEOs. God bless all LEO's.

 

[Meerkat]

I have a cousin who has been in law enforcement for a few decades. He is one of my all time favorite people. He has integrity unlike many of his colleagues ever did. He is gifted as a writer and story teller. He writes a long annual letter that is full of humor and wit about their life in the woods, as well as camping and hunting trips. This year, his letter included a piece about what has gone on for him in the past two years. I was aware of it for a while, because he and I talk on PMs and the phone. One paragraph started out, "It has been just over two yeas since I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD. I am only now getting to where I can talk about it with anyone other than the core group of people who have been helping me deal with it. I have no idea how many fatal crash investigations, death investigations and child abuse investigations I did over the years, but I know there were a lot of them."

There is more, much more, and I have heard some of his stories over the years. He could write books. Law enforcement can be horrific at many levels and I can only imagine the damage to the mental health of those who are career LEOs. God bless all LEO's.

Weedy and hope your cousin and all LEO can overcome the terrible things they deal with. Especially this day when many ae persecuting them all for the minure few who do bad things.

 

[Terri9630]

There was a trio of illegals walking along the hwy in S Tx. A man, his brother and his pregnant wife. A car blew a tire and hit them. The pregnant woman and her brother-in-law died on scene. The husband survived with no injuries. He had been walking on the edge of the road and the car passed him on his right and pulled his wife's hand out of his. Hubby was first on the scene. He had nightmares for weeks. I was pregnant with the kid at the time and it really freaked him out.

 

[Sentry18]

I could tell a few stories that would curl your toes, but I won't. Instead imagine an LEO that is under qualified, under trained, does not posses mental fortitude, is not provided proper resources, and does not receive support. Now imagine he is on duty in your community. He is armed and expected to deal with everyone from a molested child, to a minor parking violation, to an active killer. He is going to have people flip him off, curse at him, fight him, thank him for his service, and offer him a free cup of coffee. Clueless politicians are going to second guess everything he does and will instantly find him guilty for anything that goes wrong. Then he is going to go home and have the MSM and social media call him evil and Monday morning QB every thing he did in the heat of the moment. He is also supposed to go about his off duty life without every really being off duty.

Because that is what is happening all over the US.

 

[Meerkat]

There was a trio of illegals walking along the hwy in S Tx. A man, his brother and his pregnant wife. A car blew a tire and hit them. The pregnant woman and her brother-in-law died on scene. The husband survived with no injuries. He had been walking on the edge of the road and the car passed him on his right and pulled his wife's hand out of his. Hubby was first on the scene. He had nightmares for weeks. I was pregnant with the kid at the time and it really freaked him out.

Sad Terri,nothing personal against anyone just illegals invading but still feel bad for them liek when 26were killed in SUV,terrible.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Clueless politicians are going to second guess everything he does and will instantly find him guilty for anything that goes wrong.

And therein lies the problem.

We have a wave that is crashing over America, DA's that won't prosecute, eliminating cash bail, the complete elimination of some punishments for actual crimes, presidents expressing there thoughts as "the police acted stupidly" and on and on. It is designed to pit citizens against the cops, they want complete anarchy, until we fix that, nothing will change.

Now, here of late, we have a sweep happening across the country in the form of completely unconstitutional gun laws and some of the politicians are intimating that law enforcement will come kick their doors down and take their guns, again, all choreographed to create anarchy. I can tell you with certainty that there are lots of people that are actively speaking out against law enforcement, people that "I" never would have thought would do that.

Unless we can open people's eyes, they will succeed.

 

[SheepDog]

I don't want cops to be all things to all people. I do want cops that arrest violent criminals and I want them to support the rights of everyone the way they support the rights of the criminals they arrest.
I want a cop who is honest to me when we talk and believes I am honest to him.
That last one is hard, I know and for more than the obvious reasons. I have a problem trusting someone who doesn't trust me. A cop's lack of trust keeps him alive. I get that but I respect him and his job and he should show some respect in return.

 

[Sentry18]

I could tell a few stories that would curl your toes, but I won't.

Okay, I will tell just one.

I had been on duty for about 10 hours, a busy shift where I ran from one call for service to another. I was supposed to go off duty but the second I cleared from what was hopefully my last call of the night, I was sent to another. Woman complaining about her neighbors, claiming they were neglecting their children who would sneak over and beg for food when the parents went out to buy drugs/alcohol. She has called CPS but no one ever showed up. I called social services and knocked on the door. No one answered, I got permission to enter for a welfare check and forced my way in. I found several children in awful condition. Like the kids you expect to see in a commercial asking for money. I asked if there were any more kids and the oldest of the group pointed to a closet, which was locked from the outside. A closet the other kids referred to as "the timeout room". Inside was the corpse of a 3 year old girl. She had died of malnutrition and dehydration sometime earlier that day. She was a beautiful little girl with bright blue eyes and long brown hair. It was made worse as I had a 3 year old daughter at home, also with bright blue eyes and long brown hair. I remained on duty without permission to help locate and arrest the adults who lived in that apartment. They were at a dive bar spending their gov't checks on liquor. While we were staging and getting assignment, the thought of a quick and effective application of justice did cross my mind. Fortunately my Lieutenant realized I was the initial responding officer and sent me back to the department to meet with the Chaplain.

 

[Meerkat]

Okay, I will tell just one.

I had been on duty for about 10 hours, a busy shift where I ran from one call for service to another. I was supposed to go off duty but the second I cleared from what was hopefully my last call of the night, I was sent to another. Woman complaining about her neighbors, claiming they were neglecting their children who would sneak over and beg for food when the parents went out to buy drugs/alcohol. She has called CPS but no one ever showed up. I called social services and knocked on the door. No one answered, I got permission to enter for a welfare check and forced my way in. I found several children in awful condition. Like the kids you expect to see in a commercial asking for money. I asked if there were any more kids and the oldest of the group pointed to a closet, which was locked from the outside. A closet the other kids referred to as "the timeout room". Inside was the corpse of a 3 year old girl. She had died of malnutrition and dehydration sometime earlier that day. She was a beautiful little girl with bright blue eyes and long brown hair. It was made worse as I had a 3 year old daughter at home, also with bright blue eyes and long brown hair. I remained on duty without permission to help locate and arrest the adults who lived in that apartment. They were at a dive bar spending their gov't checks on liquor. While we were staging and getting assignment, the thought of a quick and effective application of justice did cross my mind. Fortunately my Lieutenant realized I was the initial responding officer and sent me back to the department to meet with the Chaplain.

Horrible! And thats whay I've always said about cops seeing the worst of humanity. My goodnees to torture a child is one of the worse thing, Even Jesus said somerhing about hurting children , I forgot verse.
Our vets see some horible crap too, one as saying th biggest part of his stress disorder was hearign little boys screraming while on duty in middle east raping little boys. The Romans use to use children too for companionship in battle,little boys could stand up to hardships in batter so they were groomed.
LEO see auto accidents to othat are terrible plus crimes,A cop is never called to the scene of a event because a good thing is going on. Now add to that never knowing if a cop hater is near.

 

[Weedygarden]

I shared the link with my former LEO cousin. He had never heard of Rural Badge, however he knew and had worked with one of the men in one of the photos he saw.

I don't want cops to be all things to all people. I do want cops that arrest violent criminals and I want them to support the rights of everyone the way they support the rights of the criminals they arrest.
I want a cop who is honest to me when we talk and believes I am honest to him.
That last one is hard, I know and for more than the obvious reasons. I have a problem trusting someone who doesn't trust me. A cop's lack of trust keeps him alive. I get that but I respect him and his job and he should show some respect in return.

We all know that honesty is greatly missing in our world now. Watch anything criminal on the news, in crime shows, Judge Judy, other criminal stories. People lie without batting an eye and then want to be offended when they are not believed.

Two stories that cousin told in his two pages about his PTSD. Both involve LEO's, one active, one retired, who blew through his area and were stopped. When he asked one for his driver's license, he handed him his police ID. Guy had been clocked doing 94 mph in a 55 zone. He finally handed over his d.l. when cousin told him he was going to arrest him and tow his vehicle. Said he was one of the most foul-mouthed people he had ever encountered. Cousin learned that many people who were driving 90 mph or more were not properly cited by his fellow LEO's. Often, speeders were only warned. The other LEO ran a stop sign pulling a large boat, too large for his vehicle's ability to tow. He pulled out in front of a truck. Fortunately the truck driver was experienced and was able to pull over into the oncoming traffic lane because there was no traffic coming. LEO was cited and angry and told him that cops shouldn't cite cops and he wouldn't stop to help cousin if he was being beat to death.

I have heard many stories over the years about how people have been killed by other's speeding or deliberately not letting someone pass them. One story involved a truck driver who did not want a young man, a college student pass him, so he blocked his ability to with two lanes after the young man was in the passing lane and far enough that he couldn't just stop being there, causing a bad accident. Truck driver lost his ability to drive a truck for one year.

I have heard stories about children who were being sexually abused, physically abused and neglected. Those are hard stories.

One of the things that happened to cousin was a lack of confidentiality from his colleagues when he would discuss what he observed and dealt with. That would have helped him cope with the deaths, the abuse and more stuff he had dealt with. He just began not talking about it which then didn't allow him to process.

I believe that no matter the profession, there are people of integrity, and people who do not have any. I have seen it in education. I have seen people who show up a the last minute possible, leave during the day when they were on duty, and leave as soon as the children do. I have seen people work long and hard, way beyond most and reach deep into their pockets to have what they needed for lessons for their students. I have seen people reach into their pockets to buy food, clothing and more for the children they worked with. I have worked with people who stole from their colleagues and probably their own students. It is not the profession, it is the way of the world today.

 

[Curmudgeon]

There is a crazy switch that flips inside you when children are involved, been there done that. I have seen children in awful conditions, but the worst is when you have to go scoop up a child's body out of a car or off the side of the road because the parent decided to drive or they were hit by someone else that decided to drive, in an impaired condition.

 

[Meerkat]

Horrible! And thats whay I've always said about cops seeing the worst of humanity. My goodnees to torture a child is one of the worse thing, Even Jesus said somerhing about hurting children , I forgot verse.
Our vets see some horible crap too, one as saying th biggest part of his stress disorder was hearign little boys screraming while on duty in middle east raping little boys. The Romans use to use children too for companionship in battle,little boys could stand up to hardships in batter so they were groomed.
LEO see auto accidents to othat are terrible plus crimes,A cop is never called to the scene of a event because a good thing is going on. Now add to that never knowing if a cop hater is near.

Make the above post more clear, of course it was the muslims raping the little boys,not our troops!

 

[Meerkat]

I don't want cops to be all things to all people. I do want cops that arrest violent criminals and I want them to support the rights of everyone the way they support the rights of the criminals they arrest.
I want a cop who is honest to me when we talk and believes I am honest to him.
That last one is hard, I know and for more than the obvious reasons. I have a problem trusting someone who doesn't trust me. A cop's lack of trust keeps him alive. I get that but I respect him and his job and he should show some respect in return.

There are soemwho need a long vacation but thank goodnes we don't deal with them. There are good cops and bad cops,but most are good cops.Bad cops don't last long in this fakenews society who sit with itchy ears to report on them.

 

[SheepDog]

In all my years I had lots of friends who were cops. Two of them left the force after having to deal with ignored elderly folks. It tears you up (me too) when you have to go rescue someone who is in bad shape and their children (adults?) won't even visit them.
I got a call one morning from a lady who said she was locked in a department store and couldn't get any help. I called the cops and these two nice officers showed up. They put a trace on my phone and when she called back they traced the call. I told them the police would be there to help her.
I was asked If I wanted to go and I jumped at the chance. She was in her own apartment but was very confused. She was dehydrated and didn't look like she had eaten in a few days. I told her I would fix her something but when the officer went to check the cupboards there was only a can of cat food. He asked her where her cat was and she replied that she didn't have a cat. The cops made a phone call and got some food delivered. I fixed her a toasted cheese sandwich and a bowl of soup. there was only water to dink so I asked her what she would like - she said tea would be nice. While the cops watched her I put a pot of water on and ran to the store about a block away. I grabbed as many different varieties of tea that I could find and raced back. When I got there the manager was there and was talking to the cops. I fixed some tea and gave it to the lady. The cops asked to reimburse me and I just said no in a tone they recognized as final.
On the drive back home they were talking about leaving the force - it was like this all the time for these officers. They were part of an outreach part of the department and I could see where they going. It's heartbreaking to have to deal with that kind of thing just once. I couldn't guess at the effect it would have if you were faced with that all day everyday.

I only saw one bad cop in all my years. He wasn't abusive or "on the take" he just didn't care to do what needed to be done. The uniform was a good tool to get lady friends and I suppose his wife knew what was going on and just felt trapped. I didn't like him at all and neither did his fellow officers.

 

[Morgan101]

The way Police Officers are treated today reminds me of how the GI's were treated when they came back from Viet Nam. It was appalling then, and it is just as appalling now. I would have to think long and hard before I could come up with a more thankless job, and I wonder why anybody would do it in this day and age. Of all the things that have been said here to me the most frightening is wondering if anybody has your back. You go out and do your job, and then get hung out to dry by some political hack, or some special interest group.

For me I try to be respectful, and supportive, and I flat out don't break the law. IMHO that is pretty basic. I will date myself, but I think quite a few of us remember Jack Webb. The original Sargeant Joe Friday of Dragnet fame. He was always the Police Officers best friend. Do you remember some of the ads he used to put in print media? A picture of a dark alley in a slum with the caption " You wouldn't go in there for a million dollars, but a Cop does it for a lot less."

The pendulum has to swing back, or we won't have a Police Force.