bearcub,
Thank you for your very kind and thoughtful note.
It was extremely difficult keeping my "sanity" and positive outlook on life after my naivety about the police (whom I formerly admired and respected) was so rudely shattered into a thousand little pieces... I went through periods of massive depression, as much of what I had learned in school and in the media about our "rights" as citizens was turned upside down... Trust and faith in my fellow human beings was for the most part not the same if not almost completely destroyed. At one point, I refused to eat anymore, not wanting to live in such an unjust and "backstabbing" world, where most of the "sheeple" went around in their own little "bubble worlds" with large blinders on. Finally, after much thought and contemplation, I pulled myself up by my proverbial bootstraps, and attempted to rebuild my life again. Becoming an armed guard helped me to gain insight into the way police officers thought, as along the course of my job duties, the police (and people who wanted to become law enforcement officers) would talk to me and "shoot the breeze". I met some nice ones, and I met some bad ones. Unfortunately, the bad ones are always there in any police force of size. Things have not changed all that much in approximately 25 years, and we fool ourselves if we think so. (in my opinion) Some positive strides have been made, and the inclusion of more female police officers has been a moderating force on the negativity of the more aggressive and abusive males out there in law enforcement land... But there is so much more to be done, that it is simply mind-boggling! You see, from my personal experience, many guys want to become police officers because they want the "power trip" that goes along with the job in many cases, and even the dangerous excitement turns some of them on. I felt and experienced this to a certain extent as an armed guard, because our uniforms were very close in style to standard issue police garb, and with the gun at my side, many folks mistakenly thought I was a policeman.
I specifically remember a tractor trailer driver who speeded by me on an ice/slush covered highway, slow down and pull over after he saw my uniform. <g> Perhaps it prevented an accident... But on the few occasions I had to pull out my weapon, it was no fun at all for me, and I never abused anyone either, even though my life was on the line at times, (especially when delivering large sums of cash) and I had to deal with some real human "scum"...
In my opinion, anyone who wants to get into law enforcement, must be prepared to deal with the "dregs" of society, but they MUST treat all with absolute respect, if for no other reason than the simple fact that a number of their encounters will be with innocent civilians, who were mistakenly arrested and or framed. No one, absolutely no one, should ever consider becoming a police officer to "get even" with certain elements of society, or because they enjoy shooting their weapons, etc, etc, etc... There should be no tenderness involved in weeding out those types of misguided individuals from every single police force across America, because they give every single other officer a "black eye" in the eyes of the public, for whom they serve... Yogi |
