This is what happens when they are not held accountable. We have a very real and very serious police conduct problem throughout the entire United States. The laws protecting the police such as POBAR in California must be repealed. I have read that similar laws are on the books in at least 2/3 of all the states. Once again actions that would land any ordinary citizen in jail for a long time routinely gets covered-up by those that are supposed to serve and protect us.
One does not however, have to insult all police officers by calling them pigs or other names. That does nothing to solve this very serious problem. However, a lifetime of reflection of the deficits of our police departments have lead me to the following conclusions. The majority of police want to do a good job. However, approximately half of them do not have either the temperament or the judgement or the common sense or the intellect to carry out their jobs in a satisfactory manner. After all it takes skill, judgment and smarts to respond appropriately in very tense and sometimes physically charged situations. Out of that approximate 50% I have identified there are approximately 20% of them or 10% of the overall police force personnel that just like to hurt people. These few are sadistic in nature and like to inflict pain on others. It is what drew them to this profession. What compounds the problems is that the police unions and many elected representatives have forged an alliance to protect all police even the worst among them, i.e. the sadistic ones. This creates a them vs. us mentality that is largely the fault of our police unions and our elected officials.
A few things must happen before the public will see any significant improvement in law enforcement.
First, laws such as POBAR must be repealed across the country.
Second, the fact that police applicants are turned down for being too smart must end immediately. Smarter approaches by law enforcement when dealing with tense situations with the public needs to be encouraged and implemented throughout the United States.
Lastly, after repealing laws such as POBAR, each and every law enforcement agency must clearly announce to the public that law enforcement officers have no additional rights over those they come into contact with on a daily basis. Police in the United States are allowed to carry weapons including a firearm. However, how they use that weapon should be judged the same as any other citizen. The I thought he was reaching for a weapon excuse is just that an excuse that should not vindicate unwarranted and bad police responses. I would suggest that it is almost impossible for law enforcement to treat people objectively and fairly if they believe they are better than and have more rights than the very people they are charged with serving and protecting.
It really is that simple. When a majority of politicians decide to do their jobs objectively and look at all the people they represent over the undue influence of big campaign checks they routinely receive from the police unions, law enforcement throughout this country will start to improve.
PS: I was raised in a police family. My dad and his older brother were NYC Police Officers. My dad worked in just about all of the highest crime neighberhoods throughout NYC such as Harlem, Bedford Stuyvesant and the South Bronx. I know firsthand what it is like to wait for your dad to come home and worry when he is late that something bad happened to him at work. But my dad and his brother both had a great attitude about performing their jobs. They did not worry about themselves but always were focused on protecting and serving the public. They were true public servants and will always be my number one and number two heroes. For their terrific service they always provided the public throughout their careers and the life lessons they taught me on almost an everyday basis, I thank you, I salute you and I will always miss both of you. Yet with every unique experience I had the opportunity to share with my dad and his profession, the one that always stands out in my mind was one cold snowy day in mid-town Manhattan sharing a day off with just my dad and me. We were walking across town to get to Madison Square Garden to watch my beloved Knicks play. I remember it was cold and blustery. As we were walking it started to snow. My dad saw a man who we would call homeless today, waiting by a city bus stop. He stopped and asked the man where he was going. The man stated that he was trying to get to a shelter downtown before the weather got really bad. My dad waited for a few minutes until the right bus stopped, paid for the man’s bus ticket and asked the bus driver to make sure the man got to the shelter. We then continued our walk to the Garden. My dad never spoke to me about that incident that day or any day for the rest of his life. Yet this one sweet and kind gesture by my dad that day always will be one of the nicest moments we ever shared together. Not because there were not many such moments between my dad and me, but because it gave me a special window into the heart and sole of one of many thousands of police officers in NYC, who just happened to be my dad. I guess my hope in telling you this true story is that each and every one of you who reads these comments walks away from it with one thought. We as a society can do better policing our citizens.
#1 by Barry Levinson on August 14, 2016 - 3:12 pm
At the very end of my comments above, I made the following statement: ” We as a society can do better policing our citizens”. If an overwhelming majority of United States citizens as well as the same percentage of law enforcement personnel can’t agree with that statement, we really have a bigger problem than most are willing to admit to others and to themselves.
I am going to make a statement to make a valid point. I am Not trying to compare the police with this group.
How many of us have been disappointed that more peace loving Muslims in the United States and throughout the world have not spoken out more on the fanatical jihadists that claim to be a part of their religion. I think 80 to 90% of our population would agree with the above statement. It is similarly disappointing that current law enforcement officers rarely speak out about the abuses of some of their fellow officers when clearly those abuses should be denounced by our law enforcement community.
We as a society do not understand when peace loving Muslims remain silent in the face of such evil committed in the name of their religion. It is the same analysis that I use when I say I am very disappointed that law enforcement personnel do not speak out when fellow officers commit evil deeds while on duty. It is disappointing because just like with the majority of silent Muslims, many of us wonder could that silence mean agreement and if it does not signify that, then why the silence.
For every good police officer should hopefully want to make it clear to those that they are sworn to serve and protect that they do not support abusive and/or criminal acts committed by any police officer. If the reason for their silence is fear that fellow police officers would then not have their backs, or worse while out in the field, that too if true would indicate there is a problem in many of today’s police departments.
I report, you decide!
#2 by Anonymous on August 14, 2016 - 11:47 pm
It is disappointing that so many white Christians don’t speak out against the terrorism of the KKK and other white-supremacist groups. I think 80 to 90 percent of the population, or some other made-up number of people, would agree with that statement.
So nice that we can just make up ideas and think that society agrees with them. Isn’t America great?
#3 by Anonymous on August 15, 2016 - 11:56 am
Ask a random group of white Christians and you will get 90 to 99% of them stating they are against the teachings of the KKK. Are you saying that the unspoken support for the KKK in the white Christian community is the same as the unspoken support for the Islamic jihadists in the Muslim community?
Polls have been taken around the Muslim world, country by country and in each of those predominantly Muslim countries 70% to 90% are for Sharia Law. This means they are against the US Constitution as Sharia Law does not believe in equality among the sexes, it does not believe that homosexuals have equal rights, etc. etc. etc.
#4 by Danny Boy on August 15, 2016 - 10:09 am
I agree with you!! I just don’t think police do all these bad things everyday that you claim. Police tattle on their mates all the time. That’s how cops get fired. Cops get fired all the time. It’s just a myth that all this corruption goes on all the time. Once people like you figure out what actually goes on and why, you would start to understand it all. But you won’t even listen. So you will never understand. I’m sure you thought the Milwaukee thug got shot 3 times in the back unarmed too right? I’m surprised Obama didn’t come out that day and say this has to stop and this could have been his son. Hogwash. This is what is wrong with this country right now. Buy your guns. It’s coming to us soon. Protect yourself and your businesses. No one else is going to.