To Serve And Protect

I respect the police. I really do. They do an important and often dangerous job. In principle. But what about reality? Because the only cops I see on a daily basis are holding a radar gun at the bottom of a steep hill, or just as I come off the ramp of the highway. These guys aren’t there to stop crime, which is the job they were hired to do. They’re there to bring in easy money for the city I live in.

Several years ago a friend of mine was working as a clerk in a small store. She was robbed and pistol whipped. She got the make and color of the car the assailant drove and she even got part of the license plate number. Did the cops follow up trying to find this car? No. Apparently, it wasn’t worth the effort.

On the other hand, some time after that I had the misfortune of walking into a bank during a robbery. No one was injured. No shots were fired. But when the police showed up there were 8 of them, guns drawn even though the robber had long since left. They took my purse for fingerprinting because the robber had rifled through it looking for money. They dusted half the bank looking for fingerprints of the robber.

All that effort and resources for a bank robbery where no one was hurt. But my friend working in a convenience store who got robbed AND PISTOL WHIPPED? Well that wasn’t worth the time. Of course those cops with the radar guns at the bottom of that hill I guess that must be worth the time.

You see it is against public policy to allow bank robberies. Banks are an essential part of our economic system. Convenience store clerks on the other hand well, it looks like they’re disposable. I mean, if you rob several banks, you get to be on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. You rob several convenience stores and you get to be on the “BIG FAT NUISANCE LIST”. Tsk tsk. All those reports to fill out and file away.

I do respect the police. But I guess I don’t respect the guys making the resource allotment decisions for the police. The motto of our police force here is “To serve and protect”. I’m pretty sure my convenience store clerk didn’t feel she got either service or protection. And when I see some cop hiding at the bottom of a hill with a radar gun, I don’t feel like I am being served or protected either. I feel like I am being taxed and abused.

As I said I have a huge respect for our peace officers. Every day many risk their lives in an ever-growing violent society. But like in all those who serve the public, there is room for improvement. In this violent world we need more protection and less speed traps.