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Don’t Forget: Cops Are Still the Good Guys
Although the line continues to blur between who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, let the record show that as of today, the Police are still the good guys. No one can argue that a few of our police officers, over the past few years, have had trouble grasping this concept. Some just took the “good cop-bad cop” scenario a little too far. We had a few, in some areas, who thought a better phrase might be “good-cop-corrupt cop.” And as is human nature, those who choose to be dirty are the ones who get the headlines. For every cop that goes bad, 10 hard working, honest cops suffer from their actions. But let’s face it, who wants to read about a cop who has thirty years on the job without a blemish on his record? There’s a few of us, but that story will get lost in the pile as soon as one of the bad cop decides that it’s okay to do something stupid. Now those are the stories that sell papers!
Guess what else happens with these stories? They also set the mark for how our kids will develop their attitudes about law enforcement officers. As if being a cop isn’t hard enough already, let’s make it even more difficult. There is nothing like watching the news and seeing a story about a police officer who does something beyond human reasoning. This weekend I was watching the news, with my eight year old, and we see a story about how Florida Deputies had handcuffed a five year old in Kindergarten because she was combative. Excuse me; a couple of cops could not handle a five year old little girl without handcuffing her because she was too combative? Give me a break. And we wonder why some people have lost their respect for law enforcement. There is not an excuse, a story, a policy, or anything else that would justify those actions. They should be fired immediately.
Anyone who knows me can attest to my love of the law enforcement profession. I have been around the job since I was about 7 years old. I still believe that there is not a more noble profession than those who put on the badge to protect the rest of us. And you can bet that living up to the old slogan, “to protect and serve” is still the main reason that most get into the business. They deserve better pay, better working conditions and anything else that we can give them for the sacrifices that they make. However, when one of them (us) decides to go bad, we need to make a shining example of their terribly wrong decisions. Police officers who violate the law, on duty, should be held to a higher standard than the average Joe. In fact, I have more respect for a two bit thief than I do a cop who goes bad. At least the thief pulls no punches as to his intent. But, a cop who commits a crime while on the clock tarnishes the badge to a dullness that can take years to buff back to its intended shine. In some cases, these acts of indiscretion have tarnished the badge of the entire police department and the by product is a community that has no more faith in the cops than they do the thugs.
Over the last 27 years or so, I have known a few police officers who committed the ultimate sin when it comes to law enforcement. While I was disappointed in each of them, I was waving the flag as hard as I could concerning their quick prosecution. It’s the only was that the profession can ever hope to survive. But more importantly, and a heck of a lot more often, I have known hundreds of cops who knew exactly what was expected of them and did it without question. Many of them did it so well that they lost their lives in the process. They are my heroes, they are my idols, and they are what will continue to protect us from those things that are bad. Police officers are still the good guys. Make no mistake about that!
For further information, visit www.voice4victims.com
If you are interested in having Mr. Hall speak at your next club or group meeting, please email contact information to:
SHall BadgeNotes@aol.com
042405
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