30th March 2015, 9:52 PM
This is going to be contentious, I'm putting it right out there.
The recent rash of "Swatting" (as well as general responses by police to situations around the nation) have really made me think about a few things. I think we all recall that 80's and 90's cop dramas showed how dangerous law enforcement is, and how criminals always have the advantage, and no one wants their loved ones getting that phone call. However, I think maybe it's time to consider a different side.
Many have already argued that police are using too much force and escalate their responses too quickly to reasonably determine a threat. The counter is, these days, that this is the ONLY way for police to stay safe, precisely because they can't possibly know who's going to be a threat to them.
I'm starting to think maybe the correct solution may just be, and I know this is terrible, that police should "suck it up" and accept that they may lose their life at any time. I intentionally put that in the worst way possible. To put it another way, the job of police officer, sheriff, what have you, has always been one that's dangerous, and probably a lot more dangerous in the past, and yet the basic protections citizens were promised FROM such officers were still put in place, knowing all of that. Everyone's so afraid of death these days, of an officer getting gunned down in the line of duty, that perhaps we've forgotten that the job of police officer is, um, "supposed" to be very dangerous. That's the price you pay when you decide to protect the innocent. I wonder if it's just irrational to be someone who wants to stay a police officer and also demand that they be able to escalate things in a way that could easily result in hurting those they've sworn to protect, basically making whether or not the person they kill in any one incident a complete unknown to them before they take it to that point. The only reason "Swatting" works at all is because police are taking what they feel is the necessary precaution of not tipping off the party in question one bit so they can stage their attack with the element of surprise. Maybe the ONLY way a police force can work well without endangering the citizens they're supposed to protect is if they are forced to not take these escalation precautions, to be forced to leave themselves open to attack again and again, night after night, for the sake of preventing oh so many wrongful deaths by police action.
Cold as it is, I think maybe this is the only way the police can work, have EVER worked, and if any officers aren't comfortable with these risks in the name of a safer pursuit of justice, they should turn in that badge and retire right then and there.
This is probably the worst thing I've ever said.
The recent rash of "Swatting" (as well as general responses by police to situations around the nation) have really made me think about a few things. I think we all recall that 80's and 90's cop dramas showed how dangerous law enforcement is, and how criminals always have the advantage, and no one wants their loved ones getting that phone call. However, I think maybe it's time to consider a different side.
Many have already argued that police are using too much force and escalate their responses too quickly to reasonably determine a threat. The counter is, these days, that this is the ONLY way for police to stay safe, precisely because they can't possibly know who's going to be a threat to them.
I'm starting to think maybe the correct solution may just be, and I know this is terrible, that police should "suck it up" and accept that they may lose their life at any time. I intentionally put that in the worst way possible. To put it another way, the job of police officer, sheriff, what have you, has always been one that's dangerous, and probably a lot more dangerous in the past, and yet the basic protections citizens were promised FROM such officers were still put in place, knowing all of that. Everyone's so afraid of death these days, of an officer getting gunned down in the line of duty, that perhaps we've forgotten that the job of police officer is, um, "supposed" to be very dangerous. That's the price you pay when you decide to protect the innocent. I wonder if it's just irrational to be someone who wants to stay a police officer and also demand that they be able to escalate things in a way that could easily result in hurting those they've sworn to protect, basically making whether or not the person they kill in any one incident a complete unknown to them before they take it to that point. The only reason "Swatting" works at all is because police are taking what they feel is the necessary precaution of not tipping off the party in question one bit so they can stage their attack with the element of surprise. Maybe the ONLY way a police force can work well without endangering the citizens they're supposed to protect is if they are forced to not take these escalation precautions, to be forced to leave themselves open to attack again and again, night after night, for the sake of preventing oh so many wrongful deaths by police action.
Cold as it is, I think maybe this is the only way the police can work, have EVER worked, and if any officers aren't comfortable with these risks in the name of a safer pursuit of justice, they should turn in that badge and retire right then and there.
This is probably the worst thing I've ever said.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)