The responses to this story (and many, many similar ones over the past few years) should be a wake-up call to the “Fraternal Order Of Police” or whatever they call themselves.
They have a SERIOUS public relations problem - first of all, in how far too many police units relate to the public and secondly the attitude the public has toward them. Deeper still is the perception that many policemen & police departments don’t give a hoot as to how the public perceives them, “Just do what I say... NOW!”
We have far too many groups in power or “public service” who fail to exercise restraint or to deal with the lawbreakers & rogues within their ranks.
Congress
Lawyers
Police
Federal Bureaucrats
Did I miss anyone?
The stability and smooth functioning of a society depend on the Character, Competence and Integrity of these groups. Yes, none have ever been perfect, but there must be the perception that they are working for the good of society.
Traffic lights are a wonderful & necessary thing to the smooth, safe flow of vehicles in a modern city. People trust that when they get a “GREEN” the crossing traffic will have a “RED”. Sure there are idiots who run red lights, but the SYSTEM is trustworthy. Lights occasionally burn out and timers get stuck. But we drive around daily counting on traffic lights to do the right thing. If you have ever been in a 3rd world country where the traffic light do not work properly or at all, you have seen that people ignore them and “do their own thing”.
We are perilously close to the point where the police are perceived as a broken system and part of the problem, not just in by those living the ghetto but also by those in suburbia and in the shopping districts.
Get rid of 95% of the SWAT teams. Get the truly dangerous people put away and stop the revolving door. Get rid of the US against the world attitude in many police departments.
Duty, Honor and Integrity take precedence over loyalty directed at covering up the wrong doing of a fellow policeman.
/rant
“But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world. Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. “
“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”
John Adams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4r0VUybeXY&feature=related
Types of Government, Explained
Just out of curiosity, how many Freepers even remember the name of that poor unarmed African-American dental hygienist who was gunned down by DC's Keystone Cops with a baby in the back seat because she drove a little too close to BO's palace?
This animosity you have for the police could probably be traced back to the 1960s when you called the cops “Pigs” and you called Vietnam Veterans “Baby Killers.”
Bump!
Great post BwanaNdege.
Too bad some folks couldn’t actually take the time to actually read it before responding with mistaken *assumptions.*