Law Enforcement or Military Occupation?

For the last few weeks I have been noticing so many stories about police corruption and wrong doing. While reading some of these stories I have reminisced through my own experiences with law enforcement and through the observations of one of my best ‘devil’s advocates’ ( good friend), I have come to realize that there is much more to the story. 

Within minutes of seeing news of a local police chief arrested for public intoxication, one of my friends, 18 year old son mentioned that he was thinking of joining law enforcement. My initial reaction should have surprised me, and in fact in hind sight it still does, however in the moment I felt a panic rise up in my gut and real fear for this young man, not that he would be injured, but that something had to be fundamentally wrong with him to want to go into that industry.

Pleasant View Police Chief arrested

Now before you react - remember this is my knee jerk reaction- that in hind sight surprises me, and isn’t the one I choose to create my future with, but it has a lot to do with this story.

I also use the term industry, we don’t consider law enforcement as an industry really, it stands out among other industries in that the culture that is not only allowed there, it is encouraged. With the exception of fire fighters and soldiers, the culture of the ‘brothers in arms; and ‘ one of our own’ is not really encouraged in other industries. Look at healthcare where that culture of physicians always having each others backs has been regarded as something to weed out, something that corrupts the system. However, when a police officer is killed in the line of duty, there is mass media coverage, funeral parades and the dead  officer becomes a saint. Now I say this because I happen to know that many other industries have much higher injury and even death rates, such as the construction and mining industries to name a few. 
There are even websites that profess the memories of those fallen

Now once again- before you react, hear me out.

Why the difference in the way we the public perceive the authority of law enforcement from other industries. Why do we

as a public believe that the law enforcement that we currently have in place makes us safer? 
According to Tennessee's own reports crime statistics are up, prison rates are up 15%

A little run down of my personal experience with law enforcement.

In my younger years, I had the opportunity to interact on a personal level with the infamous sheriff Fate Thomas on a regular basis. I was married to his mistresses’ son. It was no secret either, Fate and his pack of sheriff deputies would frequent the bar she owned on the old riverfront, those were the days.

My first husband was convicted of selling LSD to an undercover officer, before I was 18. That officer wasn’t worried about the minor on the streets with no options, he was worried about getting his quota of arrests, he needed to buy the LSD a total of 3 times to get a 3 strikes your out conviction, however my ex did exactly what he had to do, he sold enough LSD to get us place to stay and off the streets then never sold again, just 2 times. But this was never heard by the judge. No worries though, enter the infamous Sheriff Fate Thomas - yes I do believe that my ex was on one of those multitudes of indictments that he eventually went to federal prison over.

My second husband was violently abusive, creating several instances where I was held in separate rooms by police that invaded my home, not to help me - but to get their arrest, it didn’t matter when he got out, or what he did when he got out. I quickly learned that the police were not there to help me, but to harass me into helping them meet their quota, through out those years, while many of the police officers in that small town knew what went on behind closed doors in my home, not once did one of them ever offer to help me and my daughters. No pamphlet, no advice, no cards left for battered women, not even any knowledge of a shelter, I was advised to stay with a friend for a few days.

That abusive husband just happened to be Iraqi too, so around September 18th or so a new kind of law enforcement started to drive by my home, started to follow our cars, started showing up wherever we went. These same law enforcement officers made sure to let us know we could not buy life jackets at the local k-mart. We had a little bitty fishing boat that we planned on taking out on the lake with the kids, according to the state law you have to have so many life

preservers on board so we went to buy them. We didn’t make it out of the parking lot before being pulled over and the life jackets were ripped to shreds, and no we were never even acknowledged when we wanted reimbursement for them.

One night when I was driving home from work, it was about 10:00, I had just picked my infant daughter up at the sitters and was very tired after a 12 hour shift. I saw the baby blues and pulled over, knowing I was not speeding, 5th gear had been out on my car for some time. The Patrolmen proceeded to yell at me and reduce me to tears while my infant roared in the back seat, he was telling me to shut my fucking kid up. Yup that is what he said. After about 20 minutes of verbal abuse worse than even my father was capable of, he issued me a warning for speeding, even though 5th gear was out on my car.

I also raised 2 teenagers who were determined to take the most difficult road to adulthood, no matter what we did. Many, many incidents of police searching my home, looking for anything they could find to create more and more chaos in these kids lives. Proof positive that incarceration within our current system creates more victims than actual crime does. Police pointing to parents, judges pointing to agencies, agencies pointing to the police, it is a vicious cycle once someone finds themselves locked into this system.

These are not all my experiences, but through my reflections I realized that there has never once been a time when police were called and became involved that I did not regret it. No matter who called the police, they have never helped any situation that has escalated to the point where our training says we need to call the police.

There are many people across the country who agree with this. Parents who would not be burying their children if they had not called the police, family members who watch the brutal treatment of prisoners that every once in awhile gets caught on video tape, children whose parents are taken away in handcuffs for non violent crimes that are hurting no one, to name just a few.

So that is my initial reaction in a nutshell, now lets bring in the devil’s advocate - the one that rounds off such a biased description of our mighty men in blue.

After spending some time with the young man who had some desire to go into law enforcement, I saw that this is a kid who really wants to have a positive impact on the world. I saw the starry eyed kid who wanted to be the hero, who had visions of making a difference and a naivety that I remember in myself at that age. I could feel his excitement that he could do something that impressed others, I could feel that desire to  please those around him and take care of everything. He is a kid that believes in his values, in his view of the world and still sees the best in the people he comes into contact with. I imagine there is a percentage of those types that get into law enforcement, however the  very small amount of research I did pointed to more ex military join law enforcement, it is really no longer a place you get hired ‘green’ with no experience. Over the years local law enforcement departments have changed, it is not the local boys growing up and getting into the academy. It is mainly the soldiers coming back from overseas, they already have very impressive training. Are soldiers bad? Not when they are defending the people, but when they occupy a territory, they can be extremely dangerous, as they are trained to be.

That wise devils advocate also brought to mind what a tough job law enforcement is. In reality an officer of the law has taken a pledge to serve and protect the community. I do believe that many officers believe that the actions they take against the people is protecting the community, I truly believe that they

believe they are right. I also believe that the soldiers under Hitler believed they were right. Physicians also pledge to do no harm, yet we have no problems demonizing them for the problems within healthcare, which in reality have had little to do with decisions that physicians have made. In other safety sensitive jobs across the nation, we have integrity training, ethics committees and  a pretty good understanding that no one is above the law. But when we enter the arena of public service in any form, we see a new attitude. One where authority is wielded randomly and there are no checks and balances, when the public demands checks and balances, it takes months of political foot dragging and an internal culture that encourages the corrupt cycle to continue indefinitely, because it is actually to their advantage.

I think that there are many high stress jobs, traffic control at the airport, surgeons, technicians in nuclear power plants, people that work in emergency rooms across the nation. All of these jobs require nerves of steel, yet when one breaks no offers them a deal, jury’s do not take the stress of the job into consideration, they expect more out of the people that enter these high stress positions, just as we the public have every right to demand more out of our law enforcement, without advocates reminding us how terrible the job is. They make the choice to stay in it, if criminals are held responsible for their choices than law enforcement should be too, after all it’s only fair. We demand checks and balances in other high stress environments, we should be able to do the same here.

Still more, the wise devil’s advocate reminds me in the back of my mind. Law Enforcement is right there with teachers in salaries. The pay sucks. The argument is ‘ these guys put their lives on the line and we should be grateful to them, we don’t pay them enough so the public must make up for that’. Well why don’t we pay them enough?

 Oh, yeah, they have incentive packages - that is how we get employees to be productive. Only in this industry the

incentive packages have to do with how many beds are filled in prison, how much cash and possessions can be confiscated, how many traffic violations they issue per month. The structure of incentive packages makes sense when we look at a company that is selling commodities, however when physicians get bonuses based on how much revenue they generate that seems to leave a bad taste in the public’s mouth. People are not commodities, whether it has to do with healthcare or law enforcement.Prison beds should not be on the yearly budget to be filled, and confiscated funds should not make up the majority of a departments budget. In any other industry the public would demand reforms with this kind of blatant profiting off of the misfortune of others.
How Detroit went broke

I do not like the perception I have of our law enforcement here in America. I would like to be able to change that, I would like to believe that devil’s advocate and meet a good officer of the law, or public servant for that matter, but I think my experience is clouding my vision on this subject. I have rubbed shoulders with those in authority as well as those considered criminals, I trust those considered criminals more than the authority. I have personally experienced the results of police brutality- that first husband was beaten so badly for public drunk he lay in a coma for 3 months 2 years before we met. I have watched with my very own eyes those in authority commit vile crimes against humanity, as well as violent crimes against innocent victims, with no repercussions. I have witnessed laws being blatantly broken by those in authority, those who believe that their position is an elite specialized trained law enforcement officer rather than public servant. I have little faith that my mind can be changed, however there is a naive hope that I can create the future belief that I want to have.

I would like to see law enforcement that recognizes people as humans, with rights that are covered under the constitution, rahter than work so hard to violate our human rights.
I would like to see officers who are paid enough that they feel the job is worth it,, officers who don't complain because they have chosen a profession that deals with the criminal element of our society, as physcians do not complain about having to deal with sick people all day.
I would like  to see officers  speak up when they witness brutal power trips within thier own departments, officers who felt that they could speak out, officers who take pride in protecting the public from the real criminals.
I would like to see ethics committees overseeing our task forces, our prison system, our court system. History has shown us that without the checks and balances corruption has a playground to run rampant in.( remember the infamous Sherrif Fate Thomas).
I would like to believe the propaganda that police and law enforcement are here to help,  those 3 words have become dreaded predecessors to some of my most trying moments in life.
I would like to believe that police officers care about the people they deal with daily, see them as people, treat them as people.
I would like to see that police officers really are here to serve the public, rather than pirates that have free reign on the highways.
Local investigation about 'policing for profit'

I most would like to see a clear line that I am able to draw between a criminal and an officer of the law.

I look forward to the devils advocate wisdom, I am sure she will make other points clear for me to roll around in my head and try to fit into my twisted view of our law enforcement, this is not sarcastic, this is real- I want to live in a country where our police are respected and proudly supported, we just aren't there yet.