Weisse52, A lot is said about LEO's here and on other forum are meant to inflame. Nobody seems to care, except the LEO's. Yet I read a lot for Internet commandos on how LEO's "should" handle something. But nobody cares if that makes the LEO feel like the THEY are making it a them or us thing.
The fact remains the reality trumps opinion every time. The problem is getting getting some people to face reality. The fact remains the there are people that are either unqualified, afraid, or just can't be bothered with shouldering the responsibility for public service. OK that is fine, their choice. But how or earth could they logically try to tell someone else how to do that job?
It always amused me at the people that that won't go tell the neighbor to turn down the music, will freely tell others what THEY should sacrifice, or how brave THEY should be.
One thing that I think should be made clearer and is often unarticulated, is the difference between LEO's and department policy.
I have nothing but respect for most LEO's--there are always a-holes in any business, and generally EVERY business gets judged by the a-holes (that is human nature).
I have a major problem with changes in police department polices over the years (the addition of SWAT to even small towns and the use of SWAT for just about any raid).
However, I think the biggest problem that most people have is not the enforcement of rules, or the officers that enforce the rule (though that may be how it is worded in the statements made) but
the shear number and types of rules we are being forced to live under.
A police state is not when there is a ridged and heavy handed enforcement of the rules.
A police state is when EVERYTHING in your life is regulated and there is a rigid and heavy handed enforcement of the rules.
Since (as far as I can see) must gun folks are very pro-enforcement of the rules, and are sticklers for rules, the slow creep of the Fed, State, and local government into our lives is frightening. Think! What in your life is not touched by Federal regulations?
So, while I would agree with you that too often you see cop bashing, if you read what those people are writing, very often you will see that they are really bashing the excessive rules from faceless bureaucracies that are trying to control our lives. In frustration, they lash out at the "face" that enforces those rules, rather than the rules themselves.
Truly, I believe, if we had a set of honest and appropriate laws (instead of the massive micro-life controlling set we currently have), you would find that "gun people"would be the police's most valuable and vocal ally.
The fact remains the there are people that are either unqualified, afraid, or just can't be bothered with shouldering the responsibility for public service.
It always amused me at the people that that won't go tell the neighbor to turn down the music, will freely tell others what THEY should sacrifice, or how brave THEY should be.
If I was to judge you by those statement alone, I would say you might want to consider a different line of work. Sure there are some people like that. There are also LEOs that are first class pr$%ks. So what? Most are not.
If you think most of us are scared, cowering, sheep that need a big bad LEO to come to our rescue, then you need to step back for a moment. The public has been trained and conditioned to let the police handle it, and they were trained and conditioned BY THE POLICE to do that.
With the society we live it, and all those damn rules I just mentioned, not letting the police handle it is a good way to get yourself arrested. So, we let the police handle it (as the law says we should) and you look down on us a sheep, cowards, unworthy of your great stature in society as our hero in shining armor.
Pretty neat scenario: Arrest us if we do it ourselves, dismiss us as unworthy if we do what we are supposed to do.
IF I WAS TO JUDGE you by those statements. From reading what you have written, I think that would be un-fair. I don't think you really think that way. But it sure looks like people bashing to me
We who love freedom, are fighting back at the excessive regulations we are being forced to live under. We SHOULD make it
a whole lot clearer that it is not the folks who are out there trying to enforce the rules, but the rules themselves we are fighting back against. But with the way things are set today, frustration runs high. Try to see that often the vitriolic words are not meant at the individual LEO, but the enforcement of unjust, un-American rules that are being imposed upon us.
NOTE: I am not suggesting, nor implying that LEOs should only enforce the rules they feel are right or wrong. The job is enforce the rules, that is what you do. We need to change (lessen) the rules. But try to see that most times it is the rules, not the individuals that people are venting about.
At least that is how I see things.
Stay safe Wolfgang2000, just the fact that you are here on the THR means that you are one of 'the good guys"
At least that is how I see things.
I am growing more and more uneasy by the growing rift between LE and us who are very "by the rules" kinda people. I truly hope that that rift does not get to wide.