What would it be like if Governors and Mayors would mandate there be no more Rapes, no more Robberies, no Burglaries, no Thefts, no Assaults, no more Intoxicated or Impaired driving…in a nutshell, those State and City elected leaders out-law crime by people, all people. And they, in the process, create less need for enforcement actions by Police. Outrageous idea? Well, let’s look at the realities.
If those leaders did this maybe these would be the results, we could expect;
- Criminals would stop what they are doing, Right!!
- Criminals would agree to put down or better still, surrender their stolen or illegal weapons…maybe even return them to those they stole them from, Right!!
- There would be no more road rage, no more fleeing from police, no more fighting with police, Right!!
- No more domestic violence, no more child abuse or elder abuse!! Right?!
- No more drug abuse…all this stuff, Right?!
No, many Governors and Mayors instead change the police! Based on their experience in law enforcement (they have that, don’t they) they mandate specific changes in police procedures and rules. Because the problem in our society of crime and violence is a police problem, Right?? Something is wrong with our police…according to those leaders. Wrong!
Are the police ‘always’ Right?
No, of course not! They are human beings, drawn and selected from the greater communities they serve. They are simply people that chose to become the protectors of our societies. And we train and equip them with the necessary tools to accomplish that mission, at least we hope we do. But we need to look at the facts.
There is no more imperfect science than police work. People write books and Ph.D. thesis’s on police work…and don’t get it perfect. There are experts world-wide working daily on trying to figure out how to come up with the absolute, cannot fail, faultless, suited for all possible scenarios…methods and procedures that will ensure that every interaction involving the police and civilians will work out perfectly. There are psychologists and therapists dedicated to determining the most comprehensive way of sourcing out what man or woman would make the “perfect” Police Officer…because there is such a thing, RIGHT!!
No, it hasn’t been perfected yet. It won’t be perfected anytime soon.
And then there is this…there won’t be a perfect society of perfectly mannered people, who will go through their daily life without doing something against the, why do we even need them, laws. And there will not be a populace from which you would select that perfect Police Officer…why would we even need them???
No, just make it harder for that imperfect officer to go home at the end of their workday. Leave in place impossible expectations for handling dynamic and unpredictable situations. And take away officers tools, or restrict their legal and tested procedures, because though they were legal and tested, on this new occasion, they are not the best. Yeah, that’s it! So there is that!
Yes, the solution is to just ignore the responsibility of the citizens to just “do the right thing” in their everyday life…do no harm!
What if society, every person, did the right thing themselves. I would expect, I would bet, the police would do the right thing as well.
I would bet that if that were to be the case, officers simply would not be needed, would not show up, would not be where “nothing” is happening.
If a police officer commits a crime, they should face the music, based on the law. If an officer commits a crime, they should face jail, as any other person should.
If a police officer makes a “mistake” they should face the music of their employing agency to ensure that the reasons for the mistake are outside of bad judgment, and fit within established and correct, best practices and procedures. If the officer did wrong, take enforcement action. But if they are within the laws that society has put in place, let the law stands and justice served.
Politics and political considerations should not be allowed in these matters.
Will everyone agree with those decisions? Well, it goes back to that part about the imperfect people and society. People will disagree. People will often look at things from a perspective that does not match the best interests of society and the laws. Not to say they are wrong, but it can be expected that we will not ‘all get along’ and not all agree with each other. That is why we have different political parties and police to enforce laws in the first place…we all won’t get along; we all won’t agree.
Our American society is broken. Our communities are in a state of turmoil. Politics has become a spectator sport. Truth is something lost in the fog of civic war. Integrity is a forgotten human quality. Everything is hate. Everyone is wrong and a Racist! Bad behavior is an acceptable response to the ills of a persons’ life. Poor people are bad…rich people are bad. Left is right and right is left. Both are subject to the mind of the beholder.
That is just a reality. We are imperfect, things are not perfect!
Now, I will go to my room and purge out all these negatives and search for some peace, in prayer!