Firefighters and teachers rightfully get huge amounts of support and love in our society. Firefighters save people’s lives from car accidents, fires, and health events. Teachers help train our next generation up to the most advanced level in human history.
Police do not receive the same support, despite doing an equally important job for similar pay levels. In fact, it may be one of the least popular / supported jobs in the country. This is probably because the police have to enforce the laws that we voted for against us. If a police officer interacts with us, it is usually after we have screwed up.
There are a lot of bad people out there who are very dangerous to the rest of us, either because of mental issues or addiction to hard drugs. There are a lot of good people who have had a very bad day. There are normal folks who just don’t care about some of the laws that are democratically elected officials have passed. Police have to deal with all of these people, all day long, for a forty year career. Many become understandably pretty jaded about people since they experience so much bad stuff.
Some people lately have begun blaming police officers for the laws that are being enforced. People get angry when they get a speeding ticket, or when immigration laws are enforced, or even when a robbery is stopped. A police officer’s job is to enforce the law whether the police officer agrees with it or not.
Police officers can make mistakes just like any of us. Imagine being a cop and being in high pressure, dangerous situations each day. Sometime your judgement will slip up. Would you want to be publicly crucified by politicians when you were just trying to do your job?
In many cities, police officers have been instructed not to enforce certain laws. This is leading to an explosive situation where the democratic processes of electing officials and setting laws is being set aside. It is very important that police officers always enforce all of the laws and that the politicians do their jobs and change laws if needed.
Police officers do a very important job protecting all of us from ourselves. We may not always like it, but we should cut them some slack when they do it. If we don’t like the laws they are enforcing, we should work to change those laws.