Protect & Serve

[revelarts]

Rev, I'm going to jump in here without quoting anyone. I have long ties to police in Chicago and suburbs. My uncle was a lieutenant in Chicago during '68 riots. My brother was on a suburban force, (pop 50k) for just about 30 years. Uncle was 'old school' meaning bad old days in Chicago, yet he himself was very involved with the kids from the districts he'd worked on when he was on the streets. He didn't have kids, so both my aunt and he were like our favorites, they'd do anything for us. He also was like that for kids in the community. When he was retiring after 40 years, a bunch of folks showed up at his party-including kids with cards and telling stories. Their parents thanked him, also telling stories about how he'd bought food, one an old used car to keep a job, would help kids with homework, etc. Most of these folks were from the West Side of Chicago and the Shakespeare District. Neither great neighborhoods even back when. Some of those 'kids' were my age when my uncle died, 4 of them showed up for his wake.

My brother had his bachelor's when he started as a cop-in a city that required a bachelor's or military service. He was on patrol for about 3 years, then became a detective. He'd also completed his MS. He became juvie detective, spent some time in the high school. Became a member of regional advisory force, SWAT, and started teaching SWAT and police driving at U of I. Taught police management at Northwestern. Also was a sergeant, lieutenant, then deputy chief. He turned down being chief-way too many headaches and politics. Truth is, other than the education and more promotions, pretty much was like my uncle regarding working with community.

He's so glad he's not part of it anymore. He feels like the police have no choice now, they are going to be reactive for the foreseeable future. To be proactive is asking for problems that they can't afford. What this means is that they will be vigilant in stopping and arresting when indicated, but will avoid dealing with things that may be questionable and if they have a judgement call to make, it will be to not get involved. Some will have unfortunate results for the community. Some may lead to kids that might have listened, to not have that voice warning them to move away, not toward trouble.

He would not recommend anyone to become a police officer today-indeed he spoke to both his son and my son about other ways to use their degrees in law enforcement-not in police work. That was 8 years ago, even before the shootings. That was heartbreaking for him, he'd been a recruiter for the department for nearly 20 years-now he just couldn't do it. He'd considered it a calling, much like teaching. He saw the best part of his job in prevention of crime, whether talking to homeowners or being in the schools. He worked a lot in the community to establish outlets for kids, especially teens that didn't fit well into sports and activities at the schools.

I don't think these were exceptions to the police, they were the norm. My brother's friends that are cops, several are chiefs in smaller suburbs, really run the same way. They want good relations with the community. They want to identify kids, especially boys that are having a hard time at home-to get some social services and to find some positive activities with adults that might keep them out of trouble.

There are bad cops, trust me, you wouldn't want to be around the bro when one slipped through the screenings. They have a year to get rid of bad cops without cause-keeping the union out of it for the most part. The three biggest problems? 1. lazy and wouldn't do what was needed, forget about above and beyond. 2. power crazy-they are attracted for the power over others, they figured out how to avoid in psych eval, which catches most. 3. corrupt-stealing and intimidating, related to 2., but in it for gain over power.

Your Uncle's view is to bad. But it seems various areas have various views. 2nd handily I've heard a similar story of an old cop in Texas that was advising a young guy not to go into the police work in his town and was almost in tears because his dept had become so corrupt. He told him that good cops wouldn't be happy there.

but on the other side of that coin in post number #702
There are 3 other cops who believe police work in their towns CAN still incorporate the things your uncle was talking about.
various locals are different I'm sure but the SWAT team leader and his team in Kansas City made a 180 to do exactly the types of things your uncle mentioned and it transformed his team and the area they worked in.