Spoken like a true lawman. Every policeman I know has this same way of thinking. What ever happened to protect and serve? We are all suppose to protect and serve (so to speak) each other out of common decency.
I agree with you. I think the popular slogan "To protect and serve" is actually just that, an abstract feelgood slogan for "public relations." The fact is police cannot, nor were they originally mean't to "protect and serve." If the police's job was to protect you then effectively you would have to have a policeman next to you 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Obviously not possible. Police forces didn't even exist until the 1850s anywhere in the world. The purpose of police originally was not to protect people or to "prevent crime" but to solve crime. Catch the criminal.
It used to be we relied on sheriff or constables to do this who would, if needed, deputize a posse or group of ARMED citizens to aid in this. Then large northern cities got the idea to hire full time policemen to do this. Gradually we have come to a line of thinking that it's the police's job to protect us. I'll never forget the later Dragnet Episode in the early 70s when Friday and Gannon were on a radio show doing a Question/Answer session and this man walks up to the microphone and (he is of course wild eyed, paranoid and crazy) screams "WHY DO WE NEED GUN CONTROL I GOTTA PROTECT MY FAMILY....BLAH BLAH BLAH!"
Bill Gannon responds, "Well Sir, if you have time to get to a gun, you've got time to get to a phone and call us."
I guess in theory, while the police are on their way, in the meantime the guy is supposed to throw the phone at the criminal
I like the reverse saying, like one other poster in this forum says (I can't remember who it is) "A gun in the hand, beats a cop on the phone"
I like watching the old Jack Webb tv shows like Dragnet 1950s and 1960s-70s and especially the spinoff series Adam-12
in their efforts to portray the real everyday experience of the police but in trying to be pro-Police, Webb after the 1960s, started getting a little anti-gun along with it....although he was FAR more conservative minded than most hollywood types. BTW, TV Land needs to bring back Adam-12
Like you said we are all supposed to protect and serve just out of common decency. We are all in this community together. Just like when you pass the scene of an accident, even if your not involved, you stop to see if you can help. In the same sense we are all policemen in the sense that if you carry a weapon or some other means to help during a crisis you just as a matter of fact are going to need to help others if for no other reason that you are in danger just like everyone else. Your not going out looking "to save the world" for glory. Your not looking to be a hero. Sgt. York and Audie Murphy weren't looking to "save the world," they just did what they had to do during a needed situation. You will either freeze up scared or you will just do what has to be done in the moment by God's grace. I'd hate to be faced with that either, but if it ever came, I'd l pray that I'd do the right thing.
Personally, I think we'd be better off if everyone was armed who was comfortable with a gun. The odds would be better during such a crisis and the crisis would be far less likely to happen if the criminal knew this and fewer lives would be lost. (Granted there are no doubt a lot of NRA people that would find that last sentence extreme, having visions of massive shootouts in Dodge City in Errol Flynn movies. But it's just my feelings on the matter. I am for absolutely NO gun control.)