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BEING A COP IS A PSYCHIATRIC DISORDER
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Original Message
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These are some incredible statistics from TIME magazine:
Police in the U.S. are almost always armed, yet over 225 died in the line of duty in just one year - ONE YEAR! - compared to about 70!! unarmed bobbies in Britain who died in the last 30 YEARS!!!
And furthermore, avoiding an arms race with criminals (virtually all guns are illegal in the U.K.) has helped keep Britain's firearm-murder rate to less than one-thirtieth the U.S. level.
[link to fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com]
A renowned Harvard Law professor, an African-American Harvard Law professor, one Henry Louis Gates Jr., was arrested two nights ago entering his own home. The white police sergeant is trying to not apologize for the mistake, claiming that it was understandable somehow that under the circumstances, he was doing his duty to protect citizens.
Right. Except that after they realized that it in fact was Professor Gates' home, they still handcuffed him and booked him and held him in custody for four hours because they didn't like his attitude! The charges of “loud and tumultuous behavior in a public space” were subsequently dropped.
I've already written and posted and reposted my article entitled "SAY IT: RACISM IS A PSYCHIATRIC DISORDER!" so many times that I will only link to it this time. But now I would like to get even more offensive to the baby souls who blindly love blind authority and live with intense fear of the Other: "SAY IT: BEING A COP IS A PSYCHIATRIC DISORDER!"
Come on: SAY IT!
First of all, tell me which experience you have more often - whatever race you are - feeling really comforted by the presence of police nearby, or feeling intimidated and maybe even harassed? Be honest, even if it's only to yourself.
Personally, I have never committed a crime. I haven't even gotten a traffic ticket in 20 years. Yet, when I see a cop, I feel uncomfortable. I see a person, almost always a man, with a gun and a wooden stick in a militaristic uniform, a man who has chosen a profession, not even drafted, but chosen a career in which the job description includes the possibility of having to kill someone. I think, what does that guy do with that level of aggressive intent inside of him if no crime is being committed in his proximity? Does he offer to help you find a parking spot when you're late to pick up your kids at school? Does he remind you to buckle up for safety or cross at the green, not in between? HA! More often, he gleefully gives you a $100 ticket to go with his "Come on, make my day!" attitude if you dare think about protesting the unfairness of the letter of the law sometimes.
I remember watching The Three Stooges back in childhood, hosted by "Officer Joe Bolton," a kindly-looking actor in a policeman's uniform. My earliest impressions of cops were based on TV fantasies about dedicated cops who loved good people and hated only nefarious criminals. I loved cop shows. Then, I grew up and saw the docudrama "Serpico" (I even met the real Serpico at a lecture in college) and I realized that benign cops were the exception, not the rule.
Just to round this out, although I have never committed a crime, I have been the victim of crimes, several, in fact - break-ins and robberies of cars and property over the years, and once, a mugging in which I was jumped from behind by two men, in front of my own home, beaten, knocked unconscious and brought bleeding to a hospital. In that last one, unlike in shows like Law and Order or CSI, no cops even showed up to talk to me for FIVE DAYS!! The cops were on the scene when I was taken to the hospital, but it took them FIVE DAYS to come and pretend to investigate. I even told them I thought I might know who did it, and they basically shrugged, just as they did every time my car was vandalized.
So, scream if you want, whoever wants to, but think about it. That's all I ask. That's all I ever ask.
THINK ABOUT IT!
And don't waste on-line space writing to me about a good cop you know, or about exceptions. There are always exceptions... except when you don't have the change for the meter and you have to urgently run into a coffee shop to pee!
Officer Joe: "Don't worry, Sir, I'll watch your car for you while you run in to take care of nature's business."
Thanks, Officer Joe!
(Yeah, right!) NYUK! NYUK! NYUK!
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