When I was young, police officers were respected. I'm not naive and believe there weren't any corrupt officers back then. Most of them, just like today, were honest, decent people that took their job to heart and wanted to preserve the peace of a healthy society.
Today, due to the efforts of the media and special interest groups, there's an effort to portray law enforcement as a rogue group, with tyranny in mind. It tears at the fabric of our society and the intended perception is unfounded by facts.
The riots in Ferguson, New York City and various places around the country are not happening to express a grievance for the lack of a forum to express societal concerns; they're criminal mob events, with violence and unbridled criminal lust. The few involved with actual concerns are far outnumbered; they too become victims of assault and robbery, while showing their ignorance and unwillingness to examine facts.
It's a reasonable expectation to demand the crime of rioting is suppressed as soon as it starts. Mobs of people become out of control and revert to savagery. Any hope of political discourse disappears and people with good intentions become prey. Innocent business owners lose their life work and entire communities start the slow process of withering away.
Police officers are hired to stop such crimes and trained to protect not only the victims, but the criminals too. When they're hampered by errors in reporting facts, or an unwillingness of a few citizens to disperse, the anarchy that follows destroys what took generations to create. The sacred peace of a community disappears and the cancer of crime slowly destroys what remains after the rioting.
I blame media outlets for many of the problems. They portray rioters as credible citizens with a right to assemble for changing a supposed problem. The actual problem is a lack of civility and ignoring the basic laws that allow people to live without the fear of becoming a victim of crime. Rioters are criminals and the media that continues fanning the flames is culpable in the criminal acts. They have nothing to lose; ratings are what they seek; and they can leave without their own lives being affected. That's wrong; they should be held accountable by society and their own peers.
I lived in North Long Beach at the time the Rodney King riots erupted just a tad north. It of course filtered down to our neighborhood, and the grocery store across the street had National Guards perched on the roof behind sandbags. The pet store I worked at was down the street a few buildings from some business (DMV? Post office? can't remember) that was torched. I was sacked for not taking public transportation for an hour to work (my only transportation at the time) so the manager, who lived two blocks over, could go to Palm Springs to wait it out.
ReplyDeleteThe mess left behind, both physical and emotional, lasted for at least a year later in my neighborhood. I found a job closer to home and was pelted with rocks by local "little" boys. I had to amend my errands to whenever H was available to go with me. I was "asked" to leave a mom and pop store because the cashier said she didn't like my looks. H said I was just too pink.
I have no sympathy for looters and thugs hiding under the label of "protester".
In a more perfect world, rioters would return to their homes to find them burned and their neighbors waiting with baseball bats.
DeleteThe police themselves make an easy target for the media, as many gung ho, young and under trained Wyatt Earp wannabes hammer citizens for negligible infractions like spitting on the side walk, Or selling cigarettes.
ReplyDeleteThey bring it upon themselves, Lisa. Sorry to be such a wet blanket. That, and technology is now developed to the point that virtually everybody walking the streets has a video camera at the ready, and that was not the case back in the day.
Police can, and will, do some things they shouldn't, but it's extremely rare for such events to happen without provocation. Corner anyone and you turn loose the primal instincts.
DeleteBetter training for cops: DON'T corner perps unless a last resort. DON'T provoke perps, DON'T engage in activities that turn loose primal instincts.
DeleteTraining, training, training. Mostly, a learned subject, much like lion taming. Lots of repetitions, lots of patience, lots of knowledge on feline behavior. Training, training, training. Cops need criminal psychology, sociology, physiology, essentially a complete and total mastery of what makes people tick in social and stressful situations: something that high school kids are clueless about.
Under trained Wyatt Earps running around in virtually all the US. And we put up with it. It has come to a tipping point, and we see what we get when we pin badges on impatient clods. Dead Eric Garners. He should have bee at most issued a ticket, and if you ask me, not even that. He probably already paid full taxes on a retail pack of smokes ($8 in NY, 80% of which is tax), and was selling them for a buck apiece. $12 profit per pack, if he has the market for them. And apparently he did. A pox on NY for wanting to double tax his damn cigarettes. And killing the guy to collect it.
When will we put a stop to these little Spit On The Sidewalk and Die Nazis that we give guns to in order to 'protect and serve?' It's actually NOT all that rare for such events to happen, provocation or not. Crap like the Eric Garner arrest happen ALL THE TIME.
We can do better.
Modern law enforcement reflects much of what plagues society, which is allowing incompetence to fill the gaps. Lack of experience, and knowledge, lead to incidents that are far from what was intended. When you add the corrupt nature of politics, the results lead to a mistrust that spreads like a cancer.
DeleteYup, incompetence reigns in the US currently, and that starts at the very top: the POTUS is completely out of his league, as are everybody in his administration
DeleteI mean Jess, sorry.
ReplyDelete