XavierBreath
New member
I'm going to try again.
In my previous post, #9, I contrasted the differences in the view of professionalism between law enforcement and my own profession, nursing. I see these two professions as being more similar than most would. If need be, will list the similarities, but I will let them go as an axiom for now, for the sake of brevity.
Recently, a gallup poll listed nurses as the #1 profession in light of ethical behavior. How I wish this could have been Policemen. Policemen had attained 65(+ or -)percent, while nurses scored highest at 82-83 percent. On that particular thread, which died early, I complimented LEOs on their accomplishment, they had risen considerably in that poll. Our policemen need to fall in the 90th percentile though. To reach that level, they have GOT to listen to what is being said, instead of simply dismissing it as "cop bashing". Do not dismiss the gallup poll as invalid. If you do, then you have shut out yet another avenue of reversing this trend you dislike.
In nursing we routinely gather responses on our performance from those who we serve. We do this so that we can improve our service. Yes, we get apparently unjustified emotional responses when someone has sat for 6 hours in an emergency waiting area, as well as other reasons for dissatisfaction. We try to look deeper, and we do not dismiss the emotional responses which trouble us the most. In reality, those emotional responses are the ones that help the most, if we can just get to the core issue.
At one time, men in law enforcement were active members in their communities. We saw them as citizens at town hall meetings, we conversed with them at the barber shop, we got together to BBQ on Sunday afternoons while the kids played cops and robbers in the pasture. Where has that all gone? Even in the smallest towns, law enforcement has sought to insulate themselves from the communities they serve for the past three decades. Sure, they have the Community Liaison running around doing her thing, and the DARE program in the schools, but the actual officers on the street seem to disappear when they take off their uniform.
My father had many friends in law enforcement, eventhough he was a private citizen. Many of those men were my mentors after my father died (I was 2 yo at the time). One was my Godfather. These were close friends. Policemen known through the community as unquestionably upstanding men of the law, the same as the preacher was known as a man of the cloth. Where is that today? I have no, zero, zilch friends my own age (42) or younger, in law enforcement. Yes, I know more than I can count on both hands, by name, because our children attend the same school, or we go to the same church. The level of suspicion among these men whenever an outsider tries to foster a friendship is palpable though. Friendship cannot bloom among suspicion. Trust cannot blossom without friendship. Thus, I have never been able to become friends with a modern day police officer, eventhough the older officers I have as patients are very close friends with me. I am a law abiding citizen, I am a respected citizen, I am a quiet man who goes about my life being productive in society and raising a family. Yet, I am not worthy of a policeman's simple friendship, and instead get sneers of distain when I speak to a cop in passing at church.
When law enforcement began to insulate themselves from their communities in the 1970s, they threw away the one tool they had that was most effective at doing their jobs. That tool was the support of their communities and the willingness of citizens to give a cop the benefit of the doubt. Now, when the well is dry, law enforcement has finally realized the value of that which they discarded for tacticality and special weapons. It's going to be a long hard trip back, and it cannot be done with your mind closed and voices raised.
All that being said, I still respect the police officers who go about their days performing their duties with glace and aplomb. There are few people more valuable to society than an honest cop.
BTW, the Danziger Bridge incident is a veeeeeery bad example.
I was gently speaking of the Robert Davis incident in post #9 in case the message did not quite make it through.
In my previous post, #9, I contrasted the differences in the view of professionalism between law enforcement and my own profession, nursing. I see these two professions as being more similar than most would. If need be, will list the similarities, but I will let them go as an axiom for now, for the sake of brevity.
Recently, a gallup poll listed nurses as the #1 profession in light of ethical behavior. How I wish this could have been Policemen. Policemen had attained 65(+ or -)percent, while nurses scored highest at 82-83 percent. On that particular thread, which died early, I complimented LEOs on their accomplishment, they had risen considerably in that poll. Our policemen need to fall in the 90th percentile though. To reach that level, they have GOT to listen to what is being said, instead of simply dismissing it as "cop bashing". Do not dismiss the gallup poll as invalid. If you do, then you have shut out yet another avenue of reversing this trend you dislike.
In nursing we routinely gather responses on our performance from those who we serve. We do this so that we can improve our service. Yes, we get apparently unjustified emotional responses when someone has sat for 6 hours in an emergency waiting area, as well as other reasons for dissatisfaction. We try to look deeper, and we do not dismiss the emotional responses which trouble us the most. In reality, those emotional responses are the ones that help the most, if we can just get to the core issue.
At one time, men in law enforcement were active members in their communities. We saw them as citizens at town hall meetings, we conversed with them at the barber shop, we got together to BBQ on Sunday afternoons while the kids played cops and robbers in the pasture. Where has that all gone? Even in the smallest towns, law enforcement has sought to insulate themselves from the communities they serve for the past three decades. Sure, they have the Community Liaison running around doing her thing, and the DARE program in the schools, but the actual officers on the street seem to disappear when they take off their uniform.
My father had many friends in law enforcement, eventhough he was a private citizen. Many of those men were my mentors after my father died (I was 2 yo at the time). One was my Godfather. These were close friends. Policemen known through the community as unquestionably upstanding men of the law, the same as the preacher was known as a man of the cloth. Where is that today? I have no, zero, zilch friends my own age (42) or younger, in law enforcement. Yes, I know more than I can count on both hands, by name, because our children attend the same school, or we go to the same church. The level of suspicion among these men whenever an outsider tries to foster a friendship is palpable though. Friendship cannot bloom among suspicion. Trust cannot blossom without friendship. Thus, I have never been able to become friends with a modern day police officer, eventhough the older officers I have as patients are very close friends with me. I am a law abiding citizen, I am a respected citizen, I am a quiet man who goes about my life being productive in society and raising a family. Yet, I am not worthy of a policeman's simple friendship, and instead get sneers of distain when I speak to a cop in passing at church.
When law enforcement began to insulate themselves from their communities in the 1970s, they threw away the one tool they had that was most effective at doing their jobs. That tool was the support of their communities and the willingness of citizens to give a cop the benefit of the doubt. Now, when the well is dry, law enforcement has finally realized the value of that which they discarded for tacticality and special weapons. It's going to be a long hard trip back, and it cannot be done with your mind closed and voices raised.
All that being said, I still respect the police officers who go about their days performing their duties with glace and aplomb. There are few people more valuable to society than an honest cop.
BTW, the Danziger Bridge incident is a veeeeeery bad example.
I was gently speaking of the Robert Davis incident in post #9 in case the message did not quite make it through.
