Many police departments emphasize the need for officer safety above all else. I.e. better to shoot first then possibly get shot.
Better to be judged by tweleve than carried by six. With qualified immunity, and no duty to protect the public, the net day to day lived experience of most police is as either revenue generation against people who won’t resist, or as overpowered bullies coming in after danger has passed.
The only time the police appear to rally to go into dangerous situations is when the police have been harmed. Demonstrationing the thin blue line us vs them culture.
Obviously this isn’t all police officers, but it is indicative of a lot of police culture. Where the rubber meets the road, and where the police have bad press, is when they stand apart during school shootings. In almost every other circumstance, there is a defensible reason, an explanation, some legal theory, that prevents police from entering harm’s way. But when it comes to defenseless children being mowed down while the police prevent other people from acting, they lose that pretense.
While we can blame individual officers, it is a cultural problem. The United States has institutions that are selfless, that put public good above themselves, that work for the betterment of all society. Fire departments, Coast guard, many branches of the military put in the group before the individual. So it is possible to change the culture. But the culture is the problem as it exists now
Many police departments emphasize the need for officer safety above all else. I.e. better to shoot first then possibly get shot.
Better to be judged by tweleve than carried by six. With qualified immunity, and no duty to protect the public, the net day to day lived experience of most police is as either revenue generation against people who won’t resist, or as overpowered bullies coming in after danger has passed.
The only time the police appear to rally to go into dangerous situations is when the police have been harmed. Demonstrationing the thin blue line us vs them culture.
Obviously this isn’t all police officers, but it is indicative of a lot of police culture. Where the rubber meets the road, and where the police have bad press, is when they stand apart during school shootings. In almost every other circumstance, there is a defensible reason, an explanation, some legal theory, that prevents police from entering harm’s way. But when it comes to defenseless children being mowed down while the police prevent other people from acting, they lose that pretense.
While we can blame individual officers, it is a cultural problem. The United States has institutions that are selfless, that put public good above themselves, that work for the betterment of all society. Fire departments, Coast guard, many branches of the military put in the group before the individual. So it is possible to change the culture. But the culture is the problem as it exists now