A veteran cop’s perspective —> “This job is a walking a time bomb and you could get cancelled or prosecuted on the very next call, even if you do everything right.”
I grew up in a law enforcement family. My father worked his way up
to the rank to Captain at the Ft. Smith (AR) Police Department. As I kid
I remember going with him on Friday to pick up his check and I was in
awe of these super heroes he worked around.
They were funny and fun to be around. Men and women of all races all with the same mission, to make the community safer.
My dad sacrificed a lot and so did my late mother. Whether it was
the week long surveillance or wiretap or chasing drug runners across the
country, he gave it all for my family and worked plenty of extra
details to never let our family be without. Some would call that
privilege but where I grew up, it was called hard work.
The kids at school thought it was cool what my dad did and while he
sometimes asked me if anyone gave me a hard time, they never did. There
was a respect among all….even the kids in shop class.
I didn’t grow up wanting to be a cop but one fateful night, as a freshman in college, that all changed.
After four years of college my dad wanted me at an agency that
respected that education so I moved to Tulsa (OK) at 21 years old and
never looked back.
I didn’t know anyone and all I knew was what I saw my dad do, work
hard and treat people with respect. I saw a lot of other cops working
hard as well and doing all they could to keep the community safe.
27 years has passed and if you would have told me the condition of law enforcement today, I would have never believed you.
It’s not that law enforcement has changed for the worse but everything around it has.
The mentally ill used to get treatment and now they just send cops.
Kids used to be taught respect and now it’s cool to be disrespectful.
Supervisors used to back you when you were right but now they accuse you of being wrong in order to appease crazy people.
The media used to highlight the positive contribution our
profession gave to society and now they either ignore it or twist the
truth for controversy to line their own pockets.
There used to be a common respect among criminals. If they got
caught, they understood you had a job to do but now it’s our fault they
sit in handcuffs rather than their own personal decisions.
We used to be able to testify in court and we were
believed. Now, unless there is video from three different angles, no one
cares what you have to say.
With all this talk about racism and racist cops, I’ve never seen
people treated differently because of their race. And while I know that
cowards that have never done this job will call me racist for saying it,
all I’ve ever seen was criminal behavior and cops trying to stop it and
they didn’t give a rip what their skin color was.
I’ve seen cops help and save any type of race, gender or ethnicity
you can think of and while that used to mean something, no one cares
anymore.
I’ve been called every name you can think of and many of them with
racial overtones and it’s never come from cops. I’ve watched African
American cops take the brunt of this and even talked one rookie out of
quitting after he was berated by a lot of cowards that had the same skin
color as him.
I’ve heard words I never heard before being a cop.
Uncle Tom, Cracker, Pig and the N Word just to name a few. I’ve
heard them thousands of times and never once did I see a police officer
retaliate.
They just took it.
Despite that, it’s been the greatest opportunity of my life to do
this job. I would have recommended it to anyone and I secretly hoped one
of my kids would do it one day.
They would have been a 4th Generation Cop.
But today, all of that is over. I wouldn’t wish this job on my
worst enemy. I would never send anyone I cared about into the hell that
this profession has become.
It’s the only job you can do everything right and lose everything.
It’s the only segment left in society where it’s cool to discriminate and judge, just because of the uniform you wear.
This job is a walking a time bomb and you could get cancelled or
prosecuted on the very next call, even if you do everything right.
Doctors kill 250,000 people a year. They call them “medical
mistakes” because society understands that they do a very difficult job
under high stress and they must make the best possible decision in the
moment.
Law enforcement is tasked with the same and we are highly
successful. Despite the most violent society we have ever seen, less
than 1000 suspects are killed a year. 96% are attacking us with weapons
and all but a few others are attacking us with their cars or their fists
and more and more with simulated guns so Benjamin Crump can help their
family win the lottery.
Now, the little we have, we are told they are going to defund us or
even abolish us. Citizens with a political agenda will reign over us
and all you have to do is wake up and put on a uniform to be a racist.
This weekend I received death threats for just doing my job. It would have been outrageous a decade ago and made national news.
It’s over America. You finally did it.
And while I know, most Americans still appreciate us, it’s not
enough and the risk is too high. Those of you that say thank you or buy
the occasional meal, it means everything.
But those of you that were silent while the slow turning of the
knives in our backs happened by thugs and cowards, this is on you.
Your belief in hashtags and memes over the truth has and will
create an environment in your community that you will never expect.
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