Is he an exception or the rule?
My experience has been that most police are professional and honest and decent, despite having encountered a few yahoos.
That said, I am very concerned when I see them using things like paramilitary squads called “swat”, and things like armored cars and even tanks.
I'm also concerned when it is evident that there are too many false prosecutions based on faulty or corrupt investigations, or ambitious police or prosecutors.
T.V. and the movies have for at least since the late 40’s pushed the idea that the “authorities” are the only ones who should “deal with things”, and that the ordinary citizen is almost incompetent (or worse - sometimes filled with evil intentions ) to deal with things.
“It's a job for the law”, “don't take the law into your own hands”, etc - that's the propaganda line from T.V. and movies.
And what do we have today? A dumbed down and impotent citizenry. And an increasingly militarized and powerful multi-layered police linked nationaly through the state level down to the local. And things are becomming more and more authoritarian, aka police state like. - By accident?
Was watching a video called “never get busted” done by a former DEA/former cop who wants to decriminalize weed (not really my fight but I was interested in the LE angle so I watched). He said that most cops arent in their line of work to “serve justice” but rather to keep getting that adrenaline rush from fights, car chases, guys who resist arrest, swat no-knock raids/party vans, etc. Has nothing to do with “upholding the law”. Their in it for the RUSH. It is like crack-cocaine.
“Is he an exception or the rule?”
It doesn’t matter. The fact is the very nature of having “authority” over another human being causes human beings to become corrupt. It’s a simple fact. Most police I know (I know MANY) wanted the money. Many of my friends in High School wanted to become cops for various reasons. The problem is that they have ZERO accountability, and cover up each others’ crimes.
The video gaming industry hasn’t helped the younger generation. Many people don’t know that the video game was invented to get people to kill one another. In WWI (maybe WW2), the military found that most people off the boats wouldn’t shoot another human being, I think it was like 1/10 (These figures are from memory, but pretty close, but you can look up the numbers). Over the years the tried many things, to up the rate of return (shotting another human being). So they made targets to be in the shape of people, but look like targets (red/white), and it went up to like 4/10 would then shoot another human being in combat. Then they used targets that were photos of people IIRC, and it jumped to like 7/10 would shoot a living person. Then I think they were moving photo targets and it became 9/10. And then the video game was invented and 10/10 trainees would fire on another person.
And the generations for the last 30 years have been exposed to these video games. Regardless to whether or not one believe video games incite violence, the DO desensitize a person to the natural inhibition to NOT KILL another human being, and make a game out of it.
Like I’ve said before, and will ever say it again, police work is corruptive. I’ve known a few good men who could not stay in police work more than 2 years. They simply refused to play the game to cover for others, and be subjected to that kind of stress. Police work was never meant to be a lifetime job. It was meant to be voted in and out like any other public servant, because people are never supposed to fear police.
THis is a growing problem and will not be resolved without more and more citizenry being murdered by police until people get so tired of it that they say “Enough.” There is nothing sacred about being a police officer, and they deserve no respect. Individuals deserve respect. Unelected, murderous, thugs deserve nothing. If you don’t know your local law enforcement officers, then the local law enforcement is being run in a way that it shouldn’t be. Sheriffs, and their deputies were meant to be upstanding members of their communities, and the ONLY law enforcement we have. Anything else is just part of the corruption. Hence if you don’t know the unelected “officer,” he’s not accountable to you.
When people realize that they themselves are responsible for enforcing the law, and that a Sheriff is meant to facilitate that process, then we’ll be better off. There is not even a valid argument contrary to the citizenry being responsible for law enforcement. Citizens are witnesses, citizens are the final judges, the jurors (or supposed to be). Oh yeah, and citizens are allowed to arrest. WE ARE the legal system, we’ve just abdicated that to a bunch of thugs. It’s time to take responsibility, it’s the only way to have our freedom back. We can’t relegate our security to someone else, and believe they will be benevolent to us. Not only has it never happened, it never can. Those who are willing to mooch off of you to promise you security, don’t have it themselves, and cannot give it to you.