CUT THE POLICE DRAMA; FIX STUFF BY BEING REAL FIRST

Interesting that crime rates are far FAR lower now than when I was a policeman, 1972-1983. Policework is much safer now. There is far less violent crime.

However, unlike when I was a policemen in the seventies and 80’s, the police seem to no longer look at the job as service call environment---protect & serve, except perhaps an emphasis to protect themselves. “Come home safe”- is the daily refrain, spoken in somber tones, as if every shift is a sortie out to armed enemy territory.

Look-- being a police officer is no more dangerous than driving a truck, and less dangerous than clerking a gas station. Come on. Let's put away our Oscar Awards. We; the public, seem to be  the enemy combatants. It isn't true, of course. There isn't nearly the crime now as there was back in the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s. They have invented, through policy, what they view as law. “The subject failed to obey commands”, “so I feared for my safety and shot him”-- what is all that? That's not the law. Service?

The service calls are provided, but often with officiousness, harshness, unfriendliness, even hostility, belligerence, challenge--NEVER let anyone feel an upper hand.ANY hint of disrespect is calculated as resistance.  No concern over who is paying the taxes and thus the police salary & benefits... no credit to the fact that the police work for the public, not the other way around. They seem to feel, truly, that they are at war-- that danger is constant, from all corners. That's a lot of baloney. It's a relatively easy job, but highly comp,ex and varied-- requiring fast decision making and the ability to multitask. Big deal. Ready to shoot to kill at all times. They feel, rightly or wrongly, that they are not a service entity, but are likened to an occupying military force, in a hostile war zone. The public are universally suspects or probable enemies. All must be carefully watched, guarded and suspected. At every moment, the police are in fear they will potentially be attacked, maimed, murdered. How can they function, thinking and feeling like that. How did we get to this and how do we get back? Something isn't right.