It would be nice if that were the case, but in my experience that is not the way that it works in real life. I really can't say how things are with police in other places. In my case I worked for a large city which contracted with a smaller outlying city to provide fire service. The smaller city had its own police department and in my opinion the people working as police there were much more customer service oriented than the police that worked for the city that I was employed by. We also worked with tribal police who were entirely different from the other two departments.
The chief of police in the small city was an amazing guy and a devout Christian who I still respect greatly. He ran a very tight ship and loved his community. He collected toys, and contributions every year through the explorer scout organization that he worked with. Every year before Christmas we walked through all of the neighborhoods in the community with one guy dressed as Santa with the rest of us handing out candy and presents to the kids. This took approximately six full days. We were on duty but ready to respond to any calls that came in. Many days the weather was just awful, but we and the police did it anyway. There were a lot of poor people who lived in the town and a lot of the kids really seemed to enjoy this.
I could tell you more stories of things that we did for people than you would ever care to know... some of it I am sure that you wouldn't even believe.
A lady whose husband was in Iraq came to our station and said she had a dead battery. My crew and I went to her house and tried to give her a jump, but her battery was bad. The three of us went to the auto parts store and bought her a new battery. We thought that they would give us a discount but they didn't. Another time we found an old man lying in the ditch. He wasn't drunk but he was cold and wet and just got tired. He didn't want to go to the hospital. We went back to the station and got him a pair of good boots and a dry pair of socks while the police warmed him up in their car. The police gave him a ride to the bus station and bought him a ticket to get him home which was 75 miles away.
One time a lady of the evening who was walking to the casino found a disoriented little old lady wandering in the night. She took her to this sleazy motel where it was warm. It was way below freezing and the old lady would most likely have died from exposure. My crew and I gave the call girl a ride to the casino in the fire engine and let her off at the front door. I told the casino security that she had just saved a life.
I could just go on and on; the mayor, former mayor, and most of the city council came to my retirement party. I had them and my co-workers laughing so hard that they were crying and pounding on the tables by talking about some of the ridiculously kind things we did for people over the years. The thing that I loved about my job is that I got paid to help people and every day we were given a lot of opportunities to do just that. Many of the police that I worked with had that same kind of spirit. But I know that the chief of my fire department and the mayor and city council all approved of how I did my job. The chief or the police department that I worked with for the last several years also approved of the kindness we showed our citizens whenever we could. I am sorry that a lot of police departments are not run that same way, but there are lots of good cops who care about their communities.
You are so correct that it depends on the department.
I should say, it depends on the leadership.
When my family moved from TX to AZ the difference was night and day. In AZ when you see a cop car, you wave and they wave back. You know you’re safe. In TX, when you see a cop car, you stare straight ahead and pray that they didn’t target you. If they did, you’re about to get searched.
Yes, I met some great guys in TX who worked for the county. But the city cops were horrible. (I thought one guy was a good guy until he started targeting my daughter to search ‘for easy fun’. He flat-out said, “Do you know why I always get you, honey? Because I know that you’re not going to give me any trouble.” She casually threatened a lawsuit and the searches stopped.)
I’ve seen the benevolence from fire and police department employees. I contribute to fire and police charities myself, and have witnessed many kind acts by you firemen and some policemen. I’ve also seen way too much lack of customer service from police who have forgotten they are public SERVANTS, and behave like law ENFORCEMENT officers. They have not learned to protect and to serve, but rather to harass or bully and to fine.
So the job can be hard to do a lot of the time, and dangerously unpredictable at times. It take a special kind of person to keep the customer service attitude under pressure. He must have a servants heart. If a policeman can’t separate the times he has to be tough from the times he needs to be cordial, he needs to find a new profession.
When “good” cops outnumber “bad” cops, those good cops can straighten out bad cops or get them fired. What we see all too often is professional protectionism of bad policing, which leads me to believe that a whistle blower would be in danger of loosing his job or worse.