You and I have gone around on the level of villainy that we each see in law enforcement. I have defended law enforcement, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think there are ever any problems with it.
This is an instance where I believe there to be a real problem, a real stonewalling, and a very destructive overtone from law enforcement that refuses to fess up, take ownership, and restore the public faith in the department.
Good law enforcement officer hate situations like this, because the multiplier effect is astounding. This incident will be read about far and wide, and it will reinforce mindsets.
That does nobody any favors. Even the officers in that SB Sheriff’s department will suffer immeasurably due to this perception. (and I’m not trying to reference this as merely a perception - there was a real problem here IMO)
It's easy for a "good law enforcement officer" to "hate this" when it's a few counties or states away.
But when it's in HIS department, and HE was present....the good officer often turns out to have been (ahem) looking the other way at the time.
The problem with these ‘isolated incidents’ of police killing unarmed and cooperative citizens is that with so many of these things happening anymore, they’re no longer isolated incidents. Call it a syndrome, call it a trend. Whatever. But anymore when I hear of a cop getting killed by the side of the road somewhere with the killer driving away I pause and wonder if it was self defense?
Really, if a reasonable but skilled person were stopped by a police officer who had a bee in his bonnet to kill someone would they be out of line killing the police officer in self defense? And after doing so, who in their right mind would wait around for the cops friends to show up and possibly execute him on the spot?
I recall a story from a friend that a Naval officer from Virginia Beach, Virginia was stopped a couple years ago by a Tennessee trooper who didn’t like Navy types and determined to ‘teach him a lesson’. The trooper ended up in pretty bad shape and the officer, a Navy SEAL, went back to Virginia.
So I hear things like cops getting hurt near certain military bases and I just wonder if maybe a bully with a badge ran into some military justice?
In any case, the bottom line here is that the US anymore is becoming a place where you don’t feel safe in some places but you feel even less safe when you see a cop. Just like in most of the rest of the world. Forgive me if I’m not a big fan of that kind of situation.