tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post5294674092723216810..comments2024-01-22T18:22:29.391-08:00Comments on hedera's corner: Thoughts on the Policehederahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-17436369090148197022008-04-21T18:27:00.000-07:002008-04-21T18:27:00.000-07:00Consider that there aren't enough police per X num...Consider that there aren't enough police per X number of citizenry, and perhaps your call was responded to as quickly as possible. It is a little like the hospital emergency room. Our emergency is OUR Emergency, which is also true of everyone else in the waiting room. We want to be seen NOW, which is also true of everyone else in the waiting room. The docs get to us as they can. It is the same with the police. I doubt the cop who responded was just cooling his or her heels and finally managed to find time to respond. We simply need more cops. <BR/><BR/>On another point, cops are better educated today than "back when." They have to be with all that paperwork. We get people wanting to be cops and border patrol in our community college classes. They may not be rocket scientists, but there is a shortage of those as well in the US. Too many rocket scientists have been recruited to work in foreign countries. Hmm, thinking laterally again. I'll quit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-360189022052170672008-04-16T11:21:00.000-07:002008-04-16T11:21:00.000-07:00These programs remind me of those "Bad Boys" cop ...These programs remind me of those "Bad Boys" cop shows that are popular now on television, where a camera crew accompanies patrol officers and follows them right on through the confrontations, into the homes and on-foot chases, etc. My thought is that they answer to some prurient interest on the part of the viewer, who gets to see mostly pathetic lower class poor people--living lives on the edge (drugs, petty family and relational disputes, etc.)--subjected to the indignity of exposure, loss of privacy, and embarrassment--added to the misery of arrest, detention, and eventual probable conviction. I don't think they're meant to teach us anything; I guess that they give people a smug satisfaction that someone ELSE is getting caught, and that they ("oooohh") get to see it all in living color. It makes me sick to my stomach.<BR/><BR/>Most serious crime in our society is not pursued, and/or is prosecuted ineptly. The majority of police time and resources goes towards controlling petty crime, or generating revenue. <BR/><BR/>As an institution, police departments have a checkered history in America. They have traditionally been manned by those from the lower social ranks, because policing was one of the few respectable or semi-respectable gigs available to those with little education, and/or few social connections. Hence the Irish in Boston and New York and Chicago, the Redneck Whites in the South, Hispanics in the Southwest, etc. Police corruption in large cities and small is unfortunately endemic in America; the bigger the stakes, the wider the net of compromise. Class, racial, sexist and life-style tensions have always characterized police department life. <BR/><BR/>So it's a wonder that our police do as good a job as they do. The modern profile of a well-intentioned, committed, intelligent, well-trained, even-handed officer, equipped with lots of high-tech stuff and closely monitored for loyalty and behavior, sounds convincing, but it's rarely true in reality. Unlike the military, police officers are well-paid, but, based on the risks and stresses they must endure, higher pay is often the only insurance society has to insulate the departments from the attractions of petty corruption. Organized crime both large and small generates lots more capital than most people realize; which is how otherwise incorruptible people can get caught up in the stakes. The New York Municipal Police Department has been exposed repeatedly. <BR/><BR/>I met quite a few policemen in retirement and disability interviews for the Social Security Administration in San Francisco over the years. Generally, they were good guys, many of whom felt they'd been "screwed" by the bureaucracy, or had not been appreciated for their efforts. I think that's a common sentiment, which doesn't get much press. Often, they're squeezed between a hard-fisted management and a suspicious public, quickly reprimanded, but seldom rewarded for work "in the line of duty."<BR/><BR/>These days, some new/old ideas are being tried, which may hold promise. In Berkeley, some officers are assigned to bike duty or sidewalk duty, and have a real presence in the community. <BR/><BR/>Recently, I was attacked by a bicyclist in Kensington. I beeped him and passed him on a neighborhood road. Enraged, he followed me four blocks to my home, and proceeded to engage me in fisticuffs in my own driveway. When I threatened to call 911, he quickly fled. The patrolman took a full 20 minutes to respond to my call. If this bicyclist, who was (I think) a Russian, had wanted to do me any real harm, or had been carrying a weapon, the police response would not have prevented me from being seriously hurt. That's not an encouraging sign. Officers are always happy to give you a speeding ticket, but not always so responsive to real distress calls.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.com