Yesterday I was at AOSHQ when Ace posted about the Trump MAGA Rally in D.C., and the lack of protection given Trump supporters by the D.C. police. The officers literally stood around as Antifa and BLM animals started assaulting Trump supporters.
Naturally, the comments were feisty, and the conversation quickly turned into “all cops are bad,” or cops are “Nazis and Stasi,” on my favorite; cops are “pigs.” Now anyone who knows me understands I hear worse things walking to the building in the morning.
In twenty-six years, I have been assaulted, threatened, had my family threatened, and called every name in the book, so the comments themselves didn’t bother me. I effectively said, “Have a great day,” and logged off.
What did bother me, at least a little bit, were the continuous attacks on every police officer in every city and town in America. It couldn’t just be some members of the D.C. Police; every single cop in America is a corrupt fascist.
Obviously, I disagree, but I can understand their anger. Regular readers here know I am no cop apologist; read any of my True Detective Stories. There are some awful police officers in my department; people who should never be issued a badge, let alone a gun. There are officers who joined the force solely for the power trip, or were bullied in high school, or just wanted a paycheck while doing as little as possible.
There are also officers who truly want to help people. The officers who stay late on a job and don’t ask for overtime. The officers who sit with victims in the courtroom as a means of support. The detectives who drop everything and run seven blocks because our friend was just murdered.
In twenty-six years, I have seen twenty-five police officers killed in the line of duty. One was a friend, one was a coworker, and one was a former coworker. I have seen awful suicides, unspeakable homicides, and children who have been sexually assaulted. I was a half a block away when someone opened up with an AK-47, and was twenty feet away when another jackass fired into the air with an AK on New Year’s Eve, 2001.
Oh, and in twenty-six years, while working in some of the most violent neighborhoods in the city, I have exactly zero use of force complaints. Zero.
None of these events make me a hero, but it also doesn’t make me a Nazi. If you have a problem with an officer – or group of officers – hey, have at it. But insinuating all cops are bad, corrupt, or incompetent, is painting a group of people with a broad brush.
P.S. – I turned off comments for this post. Not because I feared angry comments – like I’d care – but because I didn’t want this to be a praise-fest, either.
The O.K. Corral 