Update: Poll results 8:30 PM Central. One percent responding are cops, two percent are in law enforcement but don't consider themselves cops, six percent work directly with law enforcement, the rest are none of the above. We can assume the numbers over represent the first three groups given the diary title, so I'm not sure what we can draw from that. But let's cut them in half to be safe, which would mean on a given day that's a little busier than normal with one-million visitors, 5,000 or so would be cops, another 10,000 or so would be people working in law enforcement but who are not cops, and 30,000 would be people who work directly with law enforcement such as court clerks, judges and parole officers, and probably lots more like security guards, EMTs, or even tow truck operators for that matter.
Keep in mind, this is a huge community. Name a relatively common occupation and odds are there's hundreds or thousands of people here working in that field. Meaning we have cops who are reading our diaries and comments. I know because I've met several of them in person. Off the top of my head I can think of a couple that regular readers would recognize from the reclist, one from Florida and another in Illinois. You may not know they're cops when you read those posts, but you'd know from their diaries that they're committed progressives and you'd like them personally, a lot, if you knew them.
But I'm posting this diary because of personal bias: my extended family includes a detective and a parole officer. Both started out on street patrol. And they are so opposite of the bad cop stereotype you hear and read about lately that it's freaking ridiculous. I've seen drunks wagging a middle finger in their face screaming to sue them, to hurt them in all kinds of wild ways, promising to get them fired, and it doesn't bother them like it would me. They seem to have infinite patience for that stuff.
They deal with people suffering from serious mental disorders and behavior problems. The detective has been involved in investigations that put away some truly dangerous people, the kind you really do want safely locked away. The parole officer once worked on a crisis hotline and has soothed people down who were so grief stricken, so depressed for whatever reason, that they had a loaded gun in hand and were thinking about using it. Let's talk it about briefly below and take a poll, I'm curious about the numbers.
They've both dealt with people who are radically delusional, people swearing they will hunt them down and kill them, and yet they do everything possible to get those folks to safety and get them help. Not to mention the usual stuff cops have to deal with in the course of a career; the very first person on an accident scene with screaming kids trapped inside a wreck, the first person a rape victim or an assault victim or someone who accidentally caught on fire sees when they call 9-11.
I understand it's easy to get pissed off and maybe even fly off the handle. It's human nature to get frustrated, especially as the incidents of police brutality and stupidity seem to be accelerating. But imagine for a second that you're one of those good cops or you have a good cop in the family and you go to this community you enjoy ... and read a comment where someone professes they give up and assume all cops are evil head-crackin Nazi thugs. Or dysfunctional authoritarian control freaks. Or an abusive lunatic one dose away from a murderous 'roid rage.
I saw a comment here, not long ago, to the effect that shooting the two officers in NYC was understandable, I know the person who made it did so in the heat of a moment and didn't mean any harm. But I was still glad to see other readers quickly hide it. Because think of the icy chill that might run up someone's spine if they read something like that right before strapping on their vest and hitting the street in a squad car.
It is true that positions of power can attract an unsavory element - shit, look at DC these days. But people don't always go into law enforcement because they're control freaks who fantasize about shaking down or fucking over innocent citizens, many do it because they genuinely like helping others, especially helpless victims of violence. And yet maybe we've become a little bit lax about recognizing that sometimes.
If you are a teacher for example, and you were to read here that teachers become teachers because they like abusing little kids, especially coming from a place full of folks you otherwise admire and respect, that can land hard. Lumping in the good with the bad, especially in the context of another, horrible tragic story about some poor brown kid being ruthlessly shot down or beaten up, isn't just counter productive, when it comes from people you hold in high regard, it can hurt.
On the other hand a qualifying statement like "I know most cops are good people ..." might come to seem like a throwaway preamble, too cliche or time consuming to bother with on every observation about police brutality. But I bet it's not so cliche to those good cops reading it. It's an important distinction between them and the ones who are screwing things up. And if you take the time to make that distinction, guess who might be among the first to rec your diary about police over-reach and defend you in comments?
Most diarists and commenters here do indeed take the time to do that. I guess my point is why not keep it up, or follow suit, even when we're in a hurry?