Reimagining a Flawed System...

Having served in the United States Army where the term "Sergeant" meant something, I feel it necessary to comment on what I believe is a flawed system.  So bear with me as I offer up my observations...

Remember the movie, "Fort Apache: The Bronx?"  It was a 70's Paul Newman and Brian Dennehy movie in which the crime wave in New York City was so bad the cops were scared to leave the station house.  Which was located deep into "enemy" territory.  As in, that part of NYC where you didn't go if you wanted to continue living.  I believe it was the "Bed-Sty," or the Bedford-Stuyvestant neighborhood.  That territory where the "Indians" were running wild.  That was the cops' name for the Black gangs in charge back then.

Sort of like it is now?

So with that as a backdrop, here goes:

I wonder what would happen if our police were required to wear Polo shirts, sport coats and khaki slacks in the course of their duties?  No dark uniforms, no array of scary weapons, no mirrored sunglasses, just business casual.   

You know, present themselves in a totally non-threatening, non-paramilitary, non armed-to-the-teeth, non-lieutenant and -sergeant and -corporal sort of hierarchy, but still exhibiting a professional manner?  

Oh, they could and should hide their bulletproof vests under their shirts, and we all know how to hide a concealed carry piece, now don't we?  I've carried one for years without a problem.

And they could keep extra mags and tasers and their other "Batman" stuff in their pockets.  Out of sight, sort of.  Just keep it from being the centerpiece of their existences.  To make themselves look a bit less like an expensive traffic ticket or a trip to the slammer.  

Or maybe even a bullet to the spleen.

Or perhaps stop carrying so much of it.  Maybe have a two-tiered corps.  One displaying a bit less of what some have grown to fear or even hate as the face of policing, and others behind them to bring in the firepower, if needed.  At the other end of a radio call.  If the "casuals" can't handle the problem, then bring in SWAT.  And everyone would know of that capability, should it prove necessary.  Just might be a little less overtly threatening, doncha' think?

Now grab an adult beverage and stay with me here...

I used to design war strategies for Army Intelligence.  The sort of chess we play with real men.  Chess pieces which can bleed.  We moved them around on the "chessboard" of men and tanks and bombers.  I'm used to thinking things out past one or two moves.  I know, for instance, that you shovel $Hundreds of Millions of Dollars to HAMASS over a 25-year period, with no oversight, knowing their stated goal is to destroy Israel, and it should not be a big surprise to see them growing such hate within their offspring.  We are reaping that whirlwind. 

And so are they. 

And with permitting our oldest and most prestigious colleges and universities to hire the most politically radical teachers over the past decades, knowing their disdain for America, it shouldn't come as a surprise we wind up with a generation of Israel- and Jew-hating (and capitalism- and oil and gas- and the rich- and Republicans- and hunting and fishing- and guns-hating) Americans.  

So for a multitude of reasons we Americans have grown a paramilitary* force within our ranks which we pay to hassle us.  At every given turn.  We pay them to stop us.  And question us.  And subject us to all sorts of indignities.  To detain us.  To put us in cuffs, on the side of the road, for "officer safety."  Without oversight, seemingly.  And in many cases just because they can.  

And they are, I believe, in many cases expected to.  The revenue of literally hundreds of our smaller cities across the fruited plain depend upon it.  AAA reported more than 3,600 "speed trap," wide-spot-in-the-road, cities awaiting your pass-through.  And your $Dollars.  We have hired and trained and armed 3% of us to police the other 97% of us, who pay dearly for that 3% (the average misdemeanor traffic ticket here in Taxifornia is now $789.00).  

For the 97% of us who obey the laws, that's sorta' like having to pay the priest as he beats you for the sins...you've yet to commit. 

And we all know that our recent Great Chinese Wuhan Coronavirus Pandemic, coupled with the hard-Left's campaign to Defund the Police, plus permitting BLM and Antifa and the other gangs to burn down our Biggest and Bluest Cities,** without any sort of police response, caused all the good, young cops to run like bandits.  To flee to the suburbs, mainly, where they'd be loved, treated better, paid more, and be much, much safer. 

They left behind an older, more "seasoned," but far more hardened, cadre of police.  Deeper into their careers, closer to retirement, more ingrained in the "Thin Blue Line," and perhaps a bit less schooled in the Constitution and its limitations on their activities.  

Or as I've learned, fearing no retribution, perhaps many of them just don't give a damn. 

So what we have left may well be an "Us vs. Them" mentality, where "officer safety" becomes paramount.  To them.  If they think they're gonna' get shot if they leave the station house or pull over a car, then their value to us is lost.

Remember, they're not paranoid if they think we're really after them.  And I think they think we're really after them!   

The good cops welcomed body cameras.  And FOIA open records requests.  And permitting citizens to lodge complaints against bad cops.  And dash cams, with the video immediately available to the public.  It was the bad cops that fought so hard against transparency.  And still do...

Right now our police look like that guy from Robocop.  All loaded down with gun and taser and pepper spray and baton and camera and radio and cuffs and cuffs and cuffs.  And a half-dozen extra mags for their Glock.  With each having a 16-round capacity where us citizens only get 7 in most states (NY chief among them).  All suited up in a dark blue and ominous looking uniforms.  Mirrored sunglasses.  Enough to make us all afraid of them.  Which I believe is their desire.  Intimidation is their stock in trade.  To intimidate us out of our civil Rights.  

Not only might these cops take money from our wallets, overexcited, poorly-trained cops might take our lives.   

Maybe we could ratchet all this down a notch.  Maybe we could try and make the cops look a little less like they're our enemies and more like the friendly public servants they're supposed to be and used to be (but often aren't).  "Adam 12" may be long gone, but that doesn't keep us from trying.  And maybe we ought to institute a rule that the police need to be out of their precinct houses and out among those they're sworn to protect.  Making visits to churches and schools and parks and city centers and old folks homes.  Let's try and bring back that "friendly policeman" guise, if at all possible.  Try and defuse the bomb before it gets built.

I wonder what would happen if some this newfangled thinking were to somehow creep into local policing?  Not "cop on the beat," exactly, but maybe cop dressed like a friend in a car that looks a little less threatening.  

Maybe cruisers painted a nice light tan instead of the ominous black and white...

We have cops trying to enforce more than 366,000 laws here in Taxifornia, while having only been trained on a couple dozen of them.  The ones that bring revenue into their city's coffers, chief among them, I'm guessing.  Each DUI they charge not only takes a drunk off the road, which is good, it puts $Thousands in fines into their cities' coffers.  And puts a big Check Mark next to the arresting cops' names come promotion time.  This policing for profit has got to change.  

I'm not a cop.  Never was, and don't want to be.  I assume it's a calling, I don't know.  I love good cops.  They fulfill a much-needed and often thankless job.  They take out society's human trash.  They are charged with doing so.  Sworn to do so.  Often at a direct risk to their own lives.  But those good cops, the ones that obey the laws when they're off duty, even, when nobody's watching, need to stand with us mere citizens who are being "mugged" by our own civil servants. 

Let's face it: a small percentage of us need to be eliminated from the gene pool.  Physically.  Or if we cannot "disappear" them, at least let us lock them up.  As much as those on the "Progressive" Left would disagree.

I hate bad cops.  And I'd like to try and wring the bad ones out of the system.  I'm guessing that such "institutional change" would have to come from the top.  Remember when Giuliani took over NYC and instituted the "broken window theory?"  Meaning find and prosecute and jail the guys doing the low level crimes and you prevent them from doing even more and greater crimes in the future?  Like we're seeing when the perps have a rap sheet of 30, 40, or even 50 previous charges.  Why?  

The Chief demanding the Captains to force the Lieutenants to make all the Sergeants and Corporals force the Newby Patrol Officers to treat the public like they're in charge.  Like they're civil servants and we're the ones making their paychecks cash.  Because until or unless that citizen breaks the law, he's the cop's superior.  

A little respect for a change...

*     "Para" in paramilitary means, "close ", or "almost," but "not quite" real military.  Maybe they ought to come up with an entirely new designation for their officers.  Or, maybe just "officer" would do...

**    More than $1.5 Billion Dollars in damage was suffered by those  Big Blue Cities in 2020.  More than 1,300 cops injured.  14 killed.  And our "State Media" simply refused to report it.  Why?