Since my nephew's a deputy sheriff in NE Washington State I like LEOs. Always have. Sure there's a bad cop now and then, but for the most part we should support out local LE's...That includes border, as there is such an agency in Metaline, WA one of our neighboring towns...
Some of this is semantics. There's a difference between liking cops and blindly trusting all of them. Despite how some statements may sound here sometimes, there's no logical way to claim that all cops are like the ones in Chicago or anywhere else where improper acts were committed. But you have to understand the societal history of how police officers have been viewed and treated in this country, and how current events have changed, or should change, the perceptions people have of police. For many generations police truly were put up on pedestals and practically worshipped as the epitome of all that was just and fair. There are still remnants of those feelings present in society today. I know a lot of cops because I work with them a lot. I respect cops as a general rule, but I'm not naïve enough to elevate that to the level of blind faith. The events displaying misconduct of police officers, some of which were mentioned here, demonstrate that the profession simply doesn't deserve to be trusted blindly. There's a fair likelihood that it never did, but we just don't know about all of the misconduct of previous generations to prove that. But just because we realize they don't deserve our blind trust, or even if we've been tainted to the point of distrust, it doesn't necessarily mean we don't support them. Even those that don't trust the police still want laws to be enforced, and they still support the police in that context at least. So this debate can be somewhat confusing at times. Some of the negative sentiment may sound more negative than intended, and some of the positive sentiment may sound more 'worship-like' than it was intended as well. But mistrust doesn't necessarily mean hate, nor necessarily even dislike. The same holds true on the other side of the coin.
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I really don't hate cops, I just distrust them severely. I understand their people, but they will never get my respect or trust if i don't personally know them.
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My uncle is LAPD. He is in whatever department is considered internal investigation now. My best friend, the best man in my wedding, the guy I named my son after, is a deputy for the county sheriff. They understand where and why I stand where I do.
An example of exactly what I mean. Just because chen doesn't blindly trust them doesn't mean he hates them or harbors ill will towards them.
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Constant assumptions shows your ignorance.
Well, he's right that there's bad apples in every group and you can't judge them all based on that. But you aren't judging or condemning them. You're just not trusting until you know they're deserving of that trust. That's a completely different story, and it seems perfectly reasonable to me.
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My uncles an officer as well. My best friends a deputy. Neither of them tell people to blindly trust them. WA is full of corrupt cops. I hope your nephew doesn't look the other way.
There's a few I've met that I don't consider trustworthy. And several I know have told me there are others I shouldn't trust, so they aren't trying to play holier than thou.
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Navy Officers and Firefighters aren't put on pedestals and worshiped the way police officers are.
Firefighters are...we just don't get as butt hurt as the popo.
LOL! Police aren't really put on that pedestal so much now as they're still getting the benefit of the doubt on the blind trust issue. There's still too many people who tie absolute 100% trust into their respect for cops. They don't seem to realize they can still respect the police in general without giving blind trust to every police officer.
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I'm just not understanding where you're getting all of this, "being put on a pedestal" nonsense? Common sense dictates the more cops are put down and criticized for the actions of the few bad one's that are out there, the more the reverse is going to take place when they go out of their way to do something good.
I totally get where you're coming from when it comes to blaming all cops for the acts of a bad few, but you know what else really strikes me about that statement? Back in the days when it was the norm for police to be put on a pedestal, doing something good was never something they had to "go out of their way" to do. Doing good things was the norm. Maybe if that was still true we wouldn't be having these debates about trust.
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