Salute an officer today

When the foundations of law and order break down, we are left with anarchy. 

Police officers, Chicago police officers in particular, have one of the toughest jobs in the world. I wish we lived in a city where we could all walk the streets without the fear of getting gunned down, but I've become fearful. Fear magnifies the problem, encouraging more and more of us to take the law into our own hands, making the jobs of those who are paid to maintain the peace ever more difficult.

It's become an increasingly dangerous spiral. I feel as if we're circling the drain with greater rapidity and I see no resolution.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/07/its-not-us-vs-the...

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Permalink Reply by Maurice on July 10, 2016 at 3:37am
Strongly disagree that it's one of the toughest jobs in the world. They're not all patrolling Englewood.

This year, I'll salute them with a massive property tax increase that pays for their pensions.
Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on July 10, 2016 at 4:12am

Doesn't really matter where they're patrolling in this city. The fear and violence is spreading nationwide. Unfortunately, its a part of our times. Now I do agree that IPRA is a joke and needs to be reformed or replaced, which would be a really good starting point.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 10, 2016 at 1:45pm

It IS a tough job, regardless of neighborhood. Some areas are tougher than others. Fearmongering doesn't make it any easier.

Permalink Reply by Maurice on July 10, 2016 at 4:34am
Fear is spreading, not violence. Also, cable and internet news are spreading. Probably not a coincidence.

Violence has been declining nationally for many years:
https://mises.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/homi...

This includes violence against police officers:
http://jobsanger.blogspot.com/2015/09/police-officers-do-not-have-m...

As individuals, we should try not to feel hopeless. As a nation, we should try not base public policy on anecdotes instead of data.
Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on July 10, 2016 at 5:19am

Agreed that the amplifier of social media distorts our perspective of reality. But we have to consider the effects of this media on our thinking.  It seems those who want to build walls are gaining a larger share of our mindspace over those who propose building bridges. I find that frightening and yes, I admit to losing hope. 

On the one hand, we have the law and order proponents and on the other we have the peace / love / fairness advocates. These issues were never settled and have metastasized and become widespread in Europe and the US today.

I'm optimistic about the decisions Americans will make in the next election but recent events have been pretty depressing.

Permalink Reply by V W on July 10, 2016 at 5:32am
More people would be quick to salute if more law enforcement officers would be willing to acknowledge when they or a fellow officer screws up.

And also, how many other thankless professions don't insist on this kind of hero worship? If I decided I was getting too much criticism and scrutiny at my job, and that accountability was just too hard, so I was going to conveniently "stay fetal" to prove a point (which apparently is that I can't do my job unless I have unquestioned discretion to do whatever I want) I would be fired and no one would cry over it. It's not the 1950's anymore, police are not entitled to that status quo, they are taxpayer funded government employees and they are well compensated for what they do and get a lot of nice perks. Those benefits should come with reasonable burdens in the form of transparency, accountability, and being held to a higher standard- and not being above the same laws they enforce.
Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on July 10, 2016 at 5:50am

I'm sure 99.9% of the men and women in blue are fine, upstanding public servants, otherwise they wouldn't be entitled to their position or our respect. But Jason Van Dyke ruined the party and the repercussions will be felt for years. The effects on their morale must be huge. Rightfully so, the tragedy exposed systemic failures in accountability. 

Public officials, clergymen and police officers fall into a special category of moral obligation. We give them our trust. As Maurice pointed out in his link, fishermen have the single most dangerous job, but they are not faced with having to make moral decisions as a part of their job either.

Permalink Reply by V W on July 10, 2016 at 6:25am
If you polled the 99.9% of those good cops, how many do you think would concede that there are any systemic failures at all? How many of them would even agree that Van Dyke did anything wrong at all?

I'm certain you'd find a sizeable chunk that are vigorously opposed to any reforms and who would defend the officer in the majority if not all of the high profile incidents of alleged police brutality.

The problems persist and instead of conceding anything many officers now are playing the victim because the public dares to question them. So they retreat into their insular echo chambers of their close knit factions and become that much more stubborn and resistant to any notion that things need to improve on their end.

All I'm hearing from most police when they opine on this all, is the All Lives Matter refrain. Or "why don't you go protest all the blacks killing blacks." Which is just missing the point.

And what seems stronger than ever is this us vs them mentality.

Until that starts to change the scrutiny will continue.
Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on July 10, 2016 at 8:23am

I have no problems with scrutiny. It should be expected that any public servant will be put under a microscope. That comes with the turf (or should anyway). I do have a problem with crucifixion, however. You can't paint all of them with the same brush. I think body cams will help. I think more women in uniform would be a good idea. Maybe new leadership will help, too. I think we're agreed the status quo is not acceptable.

Permalink Reply by Ken Gray on July 10, 2016 at 12:32pm

I think that perhaps we are forgetting NO ONE, not cops, not citizens deserves to be gunned down, especially gunned down because they wear a uniform.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 10, 2016 at 1:48pm

+1  It's not just cops. Sometimes firefighters and paramedics get shot at. 

Permalink Reply by V W on July 10, 2016 at 12:33pm
I'm glad we agree the status quo is unacceptable, now if only we can get the majority of police to accept that.

I'm not calling for crucifixion, I think the staunch "police can do no wrong" supporters mischaracterize the aims of the BLM as being anti police, when the reality is they simply want necessary reform so that the police are doing a professional job and so that the bad apples aren't being covered up and coddled. The anti police thing is a convenient strawman.

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