Last edited Thu Jun 4, 2020, 11:07 PM - Edit history (1)
"So what kind of person, exactly, needs or desires...
approval from someone/group that is clearly causing immediate harm?
And is that the kind of person we need in our police?"
I will share my opinion, based on a lot of things in my experiences. First keep in mind that there will always be exceptions to the rule to what I say. Having had experience with both the military and police environments - most people join these organizations with the intent to do the right thing. For instance, when you join the military - the intent is not so much with the desire to kill people, as it is the desire to serve and do right by your country. You accept the fact that the requirements of duty might force you into a situation where you might be required to kill people, you accept that. Hell, there are situation where you can be put in a situation where it can be damn near guaranteed that you will die - you have to accept that, it's part of the devil's bargain that you made. But before you even get to that point, you have the training, the training that helps you understand and appreciate that you are part of a group, a core of people that you work with, train with - and understand that if necessary you will put your life on the line for them. And conversely, they for you. There is, if you would, the brotherhood of trust. None of you think or believe that at some point in your career that you are going to do awful things, illegal things - that's not something you think of....but it happens. It has always happened...and sadly, it will continue to happen. Life is not black or white, there are often times those ugly shades of gray. That is why we also have the UCMJ - to help reinforce the training and guidance you received during training - but what is an academic exercise does not sometime play well in real life situations.
"approval from...." it is not so much that you need the approval from someone or group as much as there has to be an awareness that you will have their back in certain situation, and they will have yours. This is not some blanket approval that you're going to be there to cover wrong doing - no, that is not what someone bargains for or ever hopes to be put in that situation, but for doing your job there is that element of mutual trust. YES, there are bad people that do bad things and you hope that you have the personal moral strength to stand up and do the right thing; not only for the people that you are there to protect but also in support of your own character. Most of us will never have to face that moment of personal judgement but some people have had to face that issue...and what do you do? Do you know what you would do or would have done - it is easy to say ....oh yes, this is what I would have done, there is no doubt about it....but you don't know until that moment of true arrives. Everything you invested in - everything that you have been a part of is now put at risk. {For the rookies, they just didn't know better...for the veteran, he had an obligation to do the right thing}.
"And is that the kind of person we need in our police?".... The question implies a wrongness is inherent in the people that are in law enforcement, I reject that. We need good people in both the military and the police. We need those types of people that are willing to put their lives on the line to protect ours. The type of person that is willing to run into a building on fire, take care of a person with a contagious disease, confront an armed man with the intent to kill, or any other extreme examples that you are willing to consider. Not everyone has the character to do that, but some do, and they step forward to do what most of us probably would not want to do. What we hope and pray for is the type of person, male or female or other that has the moral character to do the right thing. What we want is also a system that has the ability to recognize and weed out those types of people that have a character flaw that makes them unfit for the role. We also need in place a system that has the ability identify those people that have a 'strong man' identity that tells them that once they have a gun or a badge that somehow they have been blessed by God with the arbitrary right to take a life without consideration of the "right or wrong" of the situation. We don't need people like the officer that put his knee to the neck of Mr. Floyd, but we need the officer or person that is willing to die to protect your right to life.
In my opinion, the vast majority of military or police don't start out evil or with a complete or partial disregard for someone else's right to life. But some where in all the years of doing the hard work that most of us could never do - they become hard and a minority of them lose sight of their humanity. As a military person or police person, you don't want to be partners with such a person - and you hope that you (if confronted by that situation or person) have the character to do the right thing by making those with the authority to do the right thing, aware of these types of people AND they are removed. But in some cases, and I hate saying this, the system itself not only wants but needs some of these inhumane types. Not saying it is right...but it is life.
My opinion....wish I could say it better... but hope you understand what I am trying to say... good people sometimes do bad things; we need a system that helps identify when good people start to turn bad; even more we need a system where weak people are not given power that they neither understand nor can appreciate the harm that they can do. And a system that does not punish those that standup and do the right thing, by identifying those that should not be in the positions that they are in....it's hard.
As I think about what I wrote, our current President is a case in point.
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