Agreed

"another worthless article about another over gloryfied cop. A cop gets a manicure and it makes the front page. What a joke. And youre probably right, Ice T, the nearest intersection will probably be named after it."

"He was hit in the shoulder, now he is a hero. the nearest intersection will probably be named after this cop. What an effing joke! This article is really news worthy."

"I hate the cops too anna. they get whatever they deserve."

These are responses to an article in our city's paper about an officer who chased down a suspect and was punched in the neck and shoulder. We had two line of duty deaths last year and this is what we get to deal with in the aftermath. If it were not for the honor of those I work, with this job would be impossible. I do this job for those who deserve protection, I fight for those who can not defend themselves, I do this job to make a difference. This sounds silly, but I believe peace officers are the modern Knights of the Round Table. We do what is right, we do the hard right, and we make sure our families are safe.

It's been coming for a while

When I started on patrol in the late 70's, more often than not, most kids still had respect for the police and other authority figures. By the time I retired, I have had 10yr olds tell me to F*** off. The threat of jail meant nothing to the spoiled and pampered suburban brats that thought jail (or juvenile detention) would be cool.

And when parents blindly took their little angels word over that of the police, our job just got much harder. I caught a 15yr old boy in the act of damaging a neighbor's fence and surrounding garden. I thought that taking him to his nearby house to face his parents would be the answer. To my surprise, the little punk tells his mommy that he didn't do what I accused him of. Now mommy turns on me!! I told her that I saw him with my own eyes committing the crime. She tells me that her son wouldn't lie to her. I am thinking 'this must be a bad dream". Mommy starts badgering me about harassing her son. So now I have figured why the kid is screwed up. I make a quick withdrawl, figuring that this won't be his last time interacting with law enforcement.

I hate to think that in 20 years, cops will call this the 'good ole days'! I wish them luck!

RE: ANTI-POLICE ON THE RISE

I live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has and always will be anti-cop. It appears the rest of the USA is finally catching up with the crap we put up with on a daily basis. The media is so biased that I cancled my newspaper subscription and rarely watch the local news.

I will share an example of how anti-cop my county is. One night I ended up in a foot pursuit of a sucidal subject. We ended up on the shoulder of a very busy highway. The subject was trying to run into traffic and resisted my efforts to keep him from killing himself and taking me with him. We were nearly struck by cars on a couple of occasions. I finally got him hancuffed, when I noticed a vehicle pull to the side of the shoulder. A man exited the vehicle and started walking towards us. I thought to myself it must be an off duty officer or a concerned citizen who wanted to assist an officer in uniform struggling with a subject.

The "concerned citizen" walked up to me and the now handcuffed subject, who is still trying his best to stand up, and demanded my name, star number and what department I worked for. This upstanding citizen just knew I must be using excessive force. The "concerned citizen" left the scene once other officers arrived.

I thought to myself, "Only in San Francisco."

Don't let the "concerned citizens" of the world get to you. When dealing with jerks, I think of what Butthead once said, "Beavis, you can't polish a turd."

Last edited @ 9/18/2007 9:15 PM

RE: ANTI-POLICE ON THE RISE

If you go to the Yahoo main page they often have an ad for a feature called 'CopWatch' where people are encouraged to send in their videos of 'police brutality'. And since dang near everyone is carrying a camera/cell phone with them...

The problem is the only news stories which are ever printed about LEOs are negative ones, or those perceived as negative. Even justifiable uses of force are portrayed negatively because that's more sensationalistic and sensationalism sells papers. You never read about the good that LEOs do, or when you do, that good is portrayed as bad. We just can't win.

RE: ANTI-POLICE ON THE RISE

There are several reasons for the anti-police sentiment.
But one is that the police have a hateful attitude towards criminals.

I didn't realize how horrible and hateful they were until I came to police mag forum. You guys get what you deserve.
Read what they write on yahoo answers.
Heck, read what they write here.
In my opinion the police are more concerned with protecting themselves than they are with protecting the public.
If you over-react to that al sharpton stuff you will drive yourself crazy.

Kids today are taught that free-thinking means to hate your government.

But, what difference does it make if the government hates you?

See, it all evens out.

Last edited @ 9/27/2007 12:21 PM

RE: ANTI-POLICE ON THE RISE

Quote from still here, "In my opinion the police are more concerned with protecting themselves than they are with protecting the public."

The above quote is either meant to be hateful or a very sad statement. All you have to do is search any of the law enforcement officer memorials and you will find numerous accounts of officers who traded their lives to save others. It could be an account of officers facing an armed suspect, or an officer jumping into a river to save a drowning victims (who in some circumstances was also a suspect in crime). Please keep in mind that the courts have ruled that we, as law enforcement officers have no duty to any indiviudal. That means that I have no duty to risk my neck to save you when you're in trouble. I risk my neck because I believe that good people need someone to protect them.

I have yet to meet any law enforcemnt officers that I would classify as hateful to anyone. I know a few who have become bitter and hardened through the years. I can't say that I blame them, it's not easy to see the mindless violence and the waste of lives that most of us see on a daily basis and not be effected.

If still here is not some criminal who is full of self pitty and looking to hurt others with his or her words, then I feel sorry for him or her. It is a sad statement, that in today's day and age there are still others who make generalizations about entire groups of people.

Last edited @ 9/27/2007 2:33 PM

RE: ANTI-POLICE ON THE RISE

<sniff><sniff> Hey, does anyone else smell troll? Actually, I get a kick outa him saying cops hate criminals. Gee, you mean criminals are actually loveable? "Awww, look at that guy beat and rape the elderly woman! Isn't he PRECOCIOUS!!! Coochy coochy cooo!"

It's been my experience that just about all cops keep their hates and likes under wraps when dealing with the public. It's called 'professionalism'. But cops, being people, do have opinions. And since most of entered the exciting field of law enforcement to help people, it is only natural they'd have a distaste towards those who actively seek to harm others. Go figure.

RE: ANTI-POLICE ON THE RISE

Re still here, Isnt it a suprise that the people who took a job to protect people like you from the criminals who victimize you tend not to like the ones who do the victimizing. You obviously have never been the victim of a crime, to have lost a loved one thru someones not caring about others or lost things you hold dear or worked hard for to someone who just decided they wanted it so they took it. Maybe you should walk a beat for a while and see what we see before you judge us.

RE: ANTI-POLICE ON THE RISE

Hey, Wolfva, I think you might have used the wrong gender there. I think (and it really is just a guess based on the past history) that still here used to post in the old forum under the handle of "arrested" with a self description in her profile of "arrested a million times".

Dukelaw, from my above description, you might be able to understand her attitude a little better. Sometimes, she is much better about making serious posts and contributing on a rational basis (not always what I agree with, but polite and rational). Sometimes, she gets much worse about it than this attitude.

ANTI-POLICE ON THE RISE

Still Here, if you make a mistake in your job (I'm assuming you have one) will you include yourself in the above statement? That a person like you would wish jail, injury or death upon public servants...for any reason, makes me believe your thought process is mal-aligned. In other words, your nuts.

I can't tell you how many times that I personally have prayed or sought a lighter sentence for decent people who have made a stupid mistake. I think you will find that most Peace Officers are kind and very human. After all we have families too. Most peace officers do the job because they DO care. To police is an extension of who that officer really is the other 16 hours a day. They are people who are mostly selfless and want to help their community and wish to protect even those who slander their good works, people like you. You try dealing with human trash for 8 hours each day and see if it changes you over a career. It is not as easy as you may think.

And besides, most of the calls to deal with idiots are not self generated. The calls from

people like you who file the complaint. So make sure you keep at least one finger pointed

back at yourself.

Whatever reason causes you to Stereotype the police, you should re-think your prejudicious. If you are looking for the perfect human being...cop or not...they are not here on this planet. Your prejudicious for the police, makes you no better than what you are accusing us of. Have you ever heard, Take the Plank out of your own eye first?