As you know I'm ex RAF and at no time did I decide I wanted to help others and I certainly didn't want to sacrifice myself. I wanted to get my hands onto big powerful jet engines, play with really fast, loud aeroplanes and travel all over the World and get paid for it. I looked cool in the uniform as well.
Most of that sounds great apart from the pedophile bit (those people should be shot) you forgot about the following. Starting a riot by tazering a disabled 16 year old with Asperger's syndrome for looking threatening. Shooting an innocent Brazilian Electrician in the back because he looked dodgy and he ran away. Pepper spraying a pregnant woman then tazering her because she wouldn't lie on the ground after being stopped for a minor motoring offence and got a bit lippy (baby later died) Smashing the window of a 78 year old man and dragging him out the window over the broken glass for doing 47 in a 40. Shooting a dog that was barking because its owner was being arrested for merely filming the police assaulting a member of the public. Arresting members of the public for trivial crimes that almost fit the tick boxes the CPS set out with deliberately grey areas. Dishing out tickets to motorists to meet targets (I was a victim of this I got done for using a mobile phone whilst driving & I wasn't) I could go on and on and on. No doubt your a really nice guy and probably a good police officer (most are) but what happens when your colleague is a bit dodgy or your told by your boss to do something you don't want to do. Do you refuse or drop your colleague in it for being a bit pervy with a drunk girl who was being a nuisance? Probably not because you can't change the world you have a good job and you don't want to be targeted. The fact is that all high ranking police are in the old boys club (the masons) and look after their pals even if their pals are dirty stinking perverts or crooks. Its the ones at the top that are at fault and the ground troops just follow orders SS style As I said I have a few good mates that are police and I know the score, I'm probably jealous that I'm not one. If you can't beat them join them lol.
I must say that I have met some really good police, the two that came when my camper caught fire were excellent, very supportive and helpful. I couldn't have better. I know that sometimes they have a difficult job to do and it can be unpleasant. The bad ones spoil it for the rest.
You are so right about the bad ones spoiling it for the rest. These make the news as good news doesn't sell newspapers and all the rest of the service is tarnished by them and people become blinkered. There are idiots in the service without a doubt but all I can say is that the vast majority are trying to do their best, in difficult circumstances and under extreme pressure mainly from internal politics by the bosses. The average cop loathes the corrupt. For what it is worth, I have been able to 'unemploy' two incompetent cops, I've had the pleasure in charging a cop who used PNC for his own ends, I've 'strongly advised' a couple who think it's a competition to make arrests, I've challenged cops who turn up to work late and that is without the day to day issues and with me questioning with the backing of the law, bosses tactics. For this I was accused of being racist once, sexist once, bullying twice and more than once accused of being a non team player by the bosses. Yes there are some rude cops but, whilst not totally excusing them, they may have been on duty for 8 hours without a break dealing with one, two or even three similar incidents on my list before arriving getting to the job where the member of public has been waiting three hours to report a theft of milk. The police do not spend enough time with the victims but that is not because they are uninterested, it is because of workload. Humans are the most complex thing on the planet. Gentle yet violent, caring but selfish, understanding yet intolerant. The cop have to deal with the negative extremes and they too are only human. But at the end of the day no matter what I put, the haters will always hate. One day i'll get round to putting why I believe the Police organisation is struggling but so far I've not got it down to 10 pages and my fingers are still bleeding. As one experienced cop said to me many years ago 'Society gets the Police service it deserves.'. It's only recently I've started to understand that one.
