A while back I wrote a diary about working with cops. The other day during a meeting at the law enforcement center I brought up the topic we have been avoiding for months. The big elephant in the room: the mounting ill will law enforcement is experiencing from the public.
From what I can infer, they have been deeply affected by it but they don't get it. They. Don't. Get. It.
What they get is a deep seeded resentment and victim-mentality. And huge paranoia. Connect a few dots and you can see that this paranoia is potentially very dangerous.
At the meeting we civilians (chaplain volunteers) were all given dash board placards so we can park at scenes in our civilian cars without getting ticketed. The placards prominently display the LE agency badge and logo. The new guy who just finished a stint with the statewide Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as an investigator (and is now a lay minister within his denomination) warned us all with solemnity and sadness that none of us should display the placard or any other signs that we work for LE outside of official duties because it will render us vulnerable to hostility and, very likely, harm because cops are so poorly mistreated by the public these days (his characterization, not mine).
Another guy (not a chaplain) piped up to affirm that cops are in grave danger at all times because people are constantly confronting and disrespecting cops wherever they go.
I said, "Really? Really? Can you name me more than one instance of this happening? Specifically?"
The first guy (the new guy) said, "Oh, it happens all the time. All over."
I said, "Can you be more specific? Because that sounds pretty serious."
The second guy said, "Do you know any cops? Any who are friends or family?"
I looked around the room at the cops and said, "Yes."
Second guy said, "Well my son is over in (name of nearby municipality) and he says it's really bad over there."
I said, "Like what. What happened?"
He said, "It's just really bad. You all should watch your backs."
Others joined in the conversation as I said that we really ought to talk about the events over these last 6 months that have been so prominent in news. How are our agency's cops doing with all this? I said, "It seems to me that LE has a huge amount of respect and gratitude in our culture and if the cops get the notion that they don't have the support and backing of the vast majority of the culture then they are sorely mistaken."
Another cop said that the media and the public are making cops back away from their duties for fear of getting into trouble.
One of the other chaplains then said that if the result of the multitude of videos and reports of cops getting emotional and out of control is getting in the way of cops acting professionally then that is damaging to the other cops who proceed professionally. But there seems to be an increasing amount of hyper-aggressive over reaction that might be adrenaline or what ever after a car chase. There is no need for some of the stuff we are seeing and hearing about. That comment did not go over well. I iterated that communities need cops to do their jobs and if they are backing away then we have a problem not only in the ranks but in the community.
Finally one cop admitted that he's seen it. He told a story of a dangerous high speed chase involving multiple agencies. When the suspect was finally stopped this cop was first to get a hold of him and cuffed him right on the freeway. And another cop ran up swearing and tried to boot stomp the cuffed and prone suspect. The story teller said he had to protect the suspect from the other cop saying he wasn't going to have any of that on his watch.
I said that that is what the public and the critics want: professional restraint, not vigilantism; assertive engagement, not shrinking violets; situational awareness, not paranoia. That's why we have professional law enforcement and that is why the public has given them such authority, power, respect and gratitude. Everyone, the public and the LE agencies, will benefit if LE has a good relationship with the public.
Then I drew a parallel to my own profession -- clergy. We have a lot in common with cops since we are given a lot of authority and power and trust. And the headlines have not been good to the profession. But the most egregious issue above all the instances of abuse of that authority, power and trust was the circling of the wagons, the denials and the cover-ups.
I don't know whether we accomplished anything in that meeting. But what stuck with me the most is the fact that the cops are deeply shaken by the shift in mood by the media and the public. And far too many of them are not ready for a reformation but are instead getting dangerously paranoid and/or are shying away from their sworn duties.
In my denomination, abuse issues are preemptively addressed ad nauseum and if any abuse is found no one comes down harder or faster on the abusive cleric than his fellow clergy. Because, of course, we need to protect vulnerable people but also because the profession is severely damaged by those bad apples. When LE learns that, then everyone will be better off.
