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What is it with cops lately? Before someone jumps down my throat in their defense, I’ll state the obvious: Yeah, they’re only human, prone to the same mistakes as the rest of us, yadda, yadda. Nobody expects them to follow a higher standard than everyone else. Just don’t think they’re above the laws they enforce.
This goes way beyond the bad apples throwing off a stench of police behaving badly. For example, members of the LAPD going postal on the (for the most part) peaceful protest over immigration reform.
And Green Bay, Wisconsin where the young fellow was shot in the back several times. The D.A. cleared the officers involved of any wrong doing by ruling it a suicide. Ever heard of anyone wanting to die by running away? Surely that deserves a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Closer to home exemplifies a less deadly but still serious malaise. Several years ago, a couple patrons in a nearby tavern witnessed a kid breaking into the grocery store in the village of Eden. We had to complain loudly and bitterly during a 911 call to get sheriff’s personnel to even respond. Till then, their attitude seemed to be; we’ll get around to it. To their credit, half a dozen squads eventually arrived to apprehend one unarmed teenage perp.
Recently, I came back from vacation to find out a small business located in the same building where I work had been burglarized. According to the owner, the city detectives who investigated appeared rather inept.
They claimed they couldn’t dust for fingerprints. (Something about a lack of flat surfaces.) When asked about DNA evidence from blood found at the scene, the primary stated it would take a year to match the sample to a suspect.
Is this true? Or is someone too lazy to do their job? Complacency on the line here isn’t going to get it. Time was, you could count on those sworn to protect and serve. Apparently, that time is waning.
Now they’re more concerned with protecting civil codes and serving citations. Guess the good old or rather, kinder, safer days really are gone.
