“The police are necessary.”
Not any more. I think that’s why the Founding Fathers included “well armed militia” in the founding documents (inspired by God). In the end, police are human and therefore corruptible. Ultimate responsibility for safety and justice is with the citizen.
Police USED TO BE rightfully venerated.
“Not any more. I think that’s why the Founding Fathers included “well armed militia” in the founding documents (inspired by God). In the end, police are human and therefore corruptible. Ultimate responsibility for safety and justice is with the citizen.
Police USED TO BE rightfully venerated.”
Very well said. We are now at the point we cannot even defend ourselves in a situation of immediate threat. If we do the law enforcement we have now will lock us up and confiscate everything they can. All your guns, computers, cash... Even if is a blatantly obvious undeniable situation of self defense. Then it costs everything you own to be found not guilty. These situations are when police are now worse to have around than better.
An honest officer who respected the Constitution at his own legal discretion would nip it in the bud and deem it as justified self defense and fill out the report and leave without any further hardship or actions against the person who had every right to do what they did. Done, open and shut as a Constitutional right per the officer’s discretion.
“Police USED TO BE rightfully venerated.”
Police have always had a modicum of power by the very nature of their job. Power corrupts by its very nature. Police, then, have always been tempted to corruption, and a fair number succumbed to that temptation throughout history. Same with low-level politicians, bureaucrats, and even firemen (back when firemen belonged to private companies, and were allowed and even encouraged to pilfer valuables from burning buildings as part of their pay).
There were always policemen who were rightfully venerated. There still are. But the struggle between the good and the evil in men’s nature is inherent in their job. So “police” as a generic category can’t really be assumed to be anything. They’re charged with executing the laws that politicians make, judges interpret, and bureaucrats administer. They deal with the worst scum of society and that includes wife beaters, child molesters, and mobsters. The latter have money, and can bribe them. The mere sociopaths and idiots sometimes try to kill them and often curse them for their troubles, so bribery is very tempting in a thankless, dangerous job. For that matter, the bureaucrats, judges and politicians are often corrupt, too, and also make unreasonable and even crazy demands on the policemen.
Those policemen who can remain sane, honest and decent in spite of being caught in the middle of all this, deserve veneration. But there has never been a time when that veneration could simply be assumed. You’d have to act respectfully even to the bad cops to avoid a beating or worse. And even a bad cop in a bad system sometimes does good in the course of a day, even sometimes heroic acts.
And they remain necessary. If you actually have a well-regulated militia in place, that’s just another word for a policeman. If they’re going around summarily executing people based on mere surmise, looting and beating perps, or accepting bribes, they’re not well-regulated. Even if they do not, they’ll still have power and the usual authorities telling them what to do and how. Same job. Different name. Same problems.
It wasn’t right that we venerated them. That’s part of why police spent so many decades getting away with crap. Beating confessions out of people, taking bribes, deciding some cases just weren’t interesting (why do serial killers kill prostitutes? cause cops don’t care if whores die). Look up the stuff that was going on in that time frame when they were venerated and you’ll see it wasn’t earned. And really that job is too dangerous to society, we should never venerate it, that gives it even more power.