Not really I went out this morning and shot video of the local PD delivery toys and food to local families, many of the victims of violent crime. https://vimeo.com/115406862 Some of you might remember the bank robbery pursuit that ended with three dead including a hostage. I covered that story and the husband of the hostage that died was out with the PD today delivering gifts. Video is too long and my editing skills aren't all that good yet but I think it gets the point across.
You have made a very valid point. FWIW, I am now shooting with a group of current police and they are truly nice guys. They have taught me a lot about shooting my defense rifles and about humanity in general. They have begun to shift my opinions in a very uncomfortable, but productive, way.
The vibe I have gotten from LEOs hanging out with them is it's us against them. One even told me that's what they are taught from the very beginning.
Yea cops suck Yet about 40 of them, along with a similar amount of family and friends, spent their morning spent their morning delivering gifts to about 45 families yesterday. Many had been victims of violent crimes, the woman speaking near the end of the video lost her sister in a triple homicide, she now cares for her dead sister's daughters. This is an annual event, going on 15 years, started by officers. At the first house I went to, a Sgt. whose brother helped start the effort, told me he wasn't going inside as they had raided the house the week before. Guess they still thought the kids inside deserved a bit of holiday cheer. Stockton at times has also been in the running for the most homicides per capita. They get more contacts than a lot of other departments.
I will bet that if you really start questioning them about exactly what they mean you will find out that it's not "everybody" but everybody within that part of society that they have to deal with. My son-in-law and I discussed how he and his officers with the New Mexico state police had meetings and talked about their feelings and opinions on having to deal with the dregs of life on a daily basis. It gets really tiresome. I'm personally not surprised that many of them become jaded and negative.
You know, I've been reevaluating that whole 'us vs them' mentality, as of late. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of that attitude at all, HOWEVER, and in light of the recent executions I can see how it perpetuates within the industry. Mr. Brinsley had well over 100 'likes' BEFORE the murders, quite possibly much more than even that. Since then, there have been an insanely large amounts of threats and FTP sentiment that has expressed joy over the executions on social media. Can any of you seriously sit there and say you blame individuals in a given profession to think they can only depend on each other to stay safe? As for the 'taught' remark above, let's clear that up right away, no way is that taught from any legit Agency, I can see it being engrained, tho, by their peers. And yet, the masses there probably blame everyone but themselves for their City's problems, where are the community leaders (ie. the Jackson's and Sharpton's) to help retrain that community?
It is to a major extent and that doesn't come from the cops alone by any stretch. You also need to consider the "them" cops spend the majority of their time around when at work. Also - I don't know of any job dealing directly with "customers" that doesn't have a pretty large us and them type mentality, the restaurant/bar business is really obvious about it.
I have found the "us vs. them" evaporates quite quickly when the officer realises that they are dealing with a human and not one of the fucking animals they have to deal with on a daily basis.
