Paul Harvey.
Paul's father was an LEO who was killed in an attempted robbery, by the way. When Paul was 3 years old.

I have always admired anyone who's chosen to be police. I've always thought they were nuts, but that's beside the point.
In my younger days, I had regular run-ins with the police and I always treated them with respect, even when I was getting dragged off.

To the point...
That respect was earned by an old-timer, Freddie Volosky. He caught us kids being kids 100 times. If we were riding our motorcycles without helmets, he'd slide the car sideways in the road, walk up on us, and tell us to get our asses home and get our brain buckets.
We knew not to run from Freddie, and he was always fair. More than fair.
He taught us. And he looked after us.
He was a damned fine man, and even as kids, we knew it.
[Reply]

I've had this discussion several times at S.H.I.T. herfs, when we were kids we would get busted drinking beers at the beach and have "pouring out parties", or do something stupid and the cops would tell us to go home, partying too much... which one of you is ok to drive... get him home, cops were different but the times were different. I grew up in a small beach town that was mostly military and NASA families, cops didn't pull their guns, there was never a murder until just 10 years ago or so.

When I was a kid cops didn't worry about people pulling guns on them, we were afraid of the cops and that was our job, to be afraid of the cops, we didn't have to like them but we sure as hell were respectful to them, now every other P.O.S. is pulling a gun or trying to run or God only knows what, then again we weren't jacking cars, robbing people, selling meth or murdering people.
[Reply]

Tears For A Cop - God's Version
Submitted by Ruth Benallie. Author Unknown.
(Featured in the Bridge Newsletter -- National Police Suicide Foundation.)

When God Made Peace Officers

When the Lord was creating peace officers, he was into His sixth day of overtime. An angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of idling around on this one."

And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order? A peace officer has to be able to run five miles through alleys in the dark, scale walls, enter homes the health inspector wouldn't touch, and not wrinkle his uniform. He has to be able to sit in an undercover car all day at a stakeout, cover a homicide scene that night, canvas the neighborhood for witnesses and testify in court the next day. He has to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black coffee and half-eaten meals. And he has to have six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands....no way!"

"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord. "It's the three pairs of eyes the officer has to have."

"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. "One pair that sees through a bulge in a pocket before he asks, "May I see what's in there, Sir?" (When he already knows and wishes he'd taken that accounting job) Another pair here in the side of his head for his partner's safety. And another pair of eyes here in front that can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, "You'll be alright, Ma'am....when he knows it isn't so."

"Lord, " said the angel, touching his sleeve. Rest and work on this tomorrow."

"I can't", said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound drunk into a patrol car without incident and feed a family of five on a civil service paycheck."

The angel circled the model of the peace officer very slowly. "Can it think?" she asked.

"You bet", said the Lord. "It can tell you the elements of a hundred crimes, recite Miranda warnings in its sleep, detain, investigate, search, and arrest a gang member on the street in less time than it takes five learned judges to debate the legality of the stop...and it still keeps its sense of humor. This officer also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with crime scenes painted in hell, coax a confession from a child abuser, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily newspaper how law enforcement isn't sensitive to the rights of criminal suspects."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the peace officer. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."

"That's not a leak," said the Lord. "It's a tear."

"What's a tear for?" asked the angel.

"It's for bottled up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the American flag for justice."

"You're a genius," said the angel.

The Lord looked somber, "I didn't put it there," He said, "It comes with the job."
[Reply]

Perfect. Thanks for posting this. I hope all officers out there realize what a high value we place on their service.
[Reply]

It saddens me deeply every time I see riots, protests, or hear all the negative bs that the media and the public have to say about police officers and law enforcement. I am in that field and the public has no idea what it is truly like to have to make a split second decision that can have enormous consequences. It is tough enough to go to work every day not knowing what the shift will bring and even worse to have that voice in the back of your mind that makes you question if the decision you make is going to outrage the public and possibly land you in jail. If people would simply learn to respect commands and do what the person is telling you, so many problems could be avoided.
[Reply]

"If people would simply learn to respect commands and do what the person is telling you,"

Really? Do you want to have a society of sheep ruled by a police force? Has this worked out before? What liberties do you want to give up for this?
[Reply]

Thank you to all of the LEO's, paramedicts, firemen, etc. on this board. You do a hell of a difficult job every day, despite having to be brought down by a handfull of those that let their power fill their heads a bit too much.

I was brought up to respect people of authority like cops, firemen, etc. If a cop tells me to jump, I'm gonna ask him how high.
[Reply]

Rob, I do believe he works in a prison.
I think that cancels out your questions. :-)
[Reply]

That has nothing to do with a society ruled by a police force. If you would reread my post you might understand what I was referring to. For example, an officer goes to a domestic violence call, you meet the description of the combative subject. He tells you to show your hands, you keep disobeying and keep your hands in your pockets. Thats an officer safety issue, the officer has no idea if your holding a gun or knife. When you get sprayed with oc or get taken down by force you ***** and say it was unjust, but what you dont understand is that hands kill, thats 101. If you had simply obeyed and made your hands visible the incident could have possibly been avoided. Its thinking such as yours thats an issue in society right now. The mentality that police are going around and violating rights just for the hell of it is invalid. People need to look at the whole situation and stop focusing on the damn race card.
[Reply]

Not sure if youre referring to me but I do not work in a prison.
[Reply]

Sorry, Chris. I was and I did.
Got you confused with another brother here that works in a correctional facility.
[Reply]

No problem Scott
[Reply]

It's thinking such as mine for which our country was founded on. I never said that police were violating rights for the hell of it either. Our local LEOs were recently caught pulling people over and shaking them down for money, up went the "blue wall" and a few LEOs were quietly dismissed without reprisals. So there was a reason of course, financial gain in this case. I'm not saying your job is easy either, however it's been a few years since we were subjects of the throne, not citizens. The growing militarization of our civilian police force is an issue in our society today, not my thinking.
[Reply]

I had about a two page response written and deleted it because I like you guys, I think this thread should probably get locked up before feel bass get hurt.
[Reply]

You're probably right.:-):-)
[Reply]