I think the key point in the article is the militarization of the police. It comes down to training. Today they seem to put the recruits though a police academy enviroment that is more akin armed services basic training. This particular mindset and environment is intended to harden the soldier for a battle field environment where being courteous or caring isn't really a factor. Basic training in the military isn't appropriate for a civil servant and local police departments shouldn't allow it to even resemble basic. All they do is produce a hardened person that will tend to be more like a soldier than a civil servant. Yes it can be dangerous on the streets, but having instructors that act like a Marine Corps DIs isn't what is needed IMO.
It isn't uncommon in the military for the soldiers to have a disposition to looking down on civilians as weak, fat, lazy, and not their equals. As bad as that my be it is common. When many police go through this similar methodology it results in the same. There are officers that go about addressing citizens with the term civillian in a condesending manner. All the while they themselves are civillians themselves, yet it seems to elude them. To add further to the mindset, there is the "thin blue line" concept. It invites an us against them mentality. Which is counter productive to the capacity in which the LEO is serving. I am not saying that police are all this way, just that it has become far more common from my own perception and is counter productive to good public relations.
Police are taught to have control of situations that they find themselves in. If they perceive that it may be getting out of hand many resort to heavy handed tactics. Anytime a person begins to question their authority I'm sure alarm bells begin ringing in their heads. Many times people start with verbal disobediance right before they resort to physical violence. In the case of an officer he may be outnumbered and it leads him to using his enforment tools and what he has been trained to do, right or wrong.
While many departments have different procedures, many are similar. The best way to avoid being treated in a harsh manner is to make the officer feel as comfortable as possible. After all they know that a great many people today are armed legally and illegally and that has to make them very wary. They can never be sure that the person they are dealing with is reasonable or a seething maniac. It doesn't make their job any easier to be obtuse when they are trying to ascertain the situation.
Put yourself in their shoes. I'm sure you'd get scared and think about drawing a tazer, PR-24, ASP baton, or pistol on some of these people given the same circumstances. On the other hand the police shouldn't think that their badge gives them any special rights above and beyond what the citizen has. Both parties should do thier best to be as civil as possible. If there are questions to the legality of the officers actions it is better to take it up in court. Trying to do that on the street is a good way to end up on the pavement.
This motto of "to serve and protect" should not be allowed at all. It is their job to serve the general public, but not to protect us as individual, but rather to protect us by enforcement of the laws. If their job was to protect us we'd have to have an LEO in every household. Their job is to enforce the law, investigate crimes, and assist in apprehension and conviction of the offenders. Nothing more nothing less.
It may sound nice, but it isn't true in the sense that people perceive it to be used. Personally I think they should use "To serve the public and enforce the law." Granted it is nit picking to a degree. It however would be a great deal more difficult to misinterpret. If they were to be held to the misinterpreted notion of protecting the individual against crimes, there would be no end of law suites against the state on all levels.
Anyway these are just a few thoughts on the subject. We all owe it to ourselves, in whatever our capacity we are in, to treat eachother with mutual respect and not be uncivil toward one another. We all have our perceptions and none are likely going to be totally correct. We are all human and make mistakes. We would all do well to examine ourselves and act with the utmost courtesy to others if at all possible. The inner animal we all have is all too easy to let get the better of us.
Overall our police do a fine job and we as citizens should appreciate it and show it by not being a jerk. Even if we may feel that an officer is being as much of a jerk toward us. We do get what we give. Today it seems we are becoming less civil and this leads to the degradation of civilization. We are all better than this and we know it. All that is left is to show it.
) they were giving me buying suggestions. That's a rarity in NJ, and they follow the law to the letter and get the permits out like they are supposed to without adding additional requirements like the neighboring towns.