This Right Here...

There was a time when I automatically thought the police were the good guys.

I guess it was probably back in elementary school. You know, sitting in D.A.R.E. class, singing the cool anti-drug song, competing for cheap prizes; the police seemed cool back then. Cool guns, cool uniforms, just all around cool.

It's funny how things change as you get older.

The police went from protectors to predators as I aged. Maybe that's not the case for everybody, but it's true for me and far too many other people. Our fantasies of Officer Friendly tend to fade into the ether shortly after we realize that no fat white man delivers gifts in the 'hood.

I was thinking about the police and their role in our society recently after I read this article about some truly heinous police behavior in Pennsylvania. The story talks about the corruption and abuse that reigned in one small town police department, and how it ultimately may have cost one man his life. It's a chilling story.

Chilling, but, sadly, not surprising.

Protect and serve is a lie that sounds true. Seriously, how many of us truly believe that the police are here to protect and serve our interests? I'm not saying they don't protect and serve somebody, but I don't think it's me and you. At least not most of us. I think the police were created to protect the interests of the wealthy, and while they may at times protect the poor, working and middle classes, their ultimate job remains the same. Protect those with the most to lose.

When you examine things from that angle, it all makes sense. It makes sense why the police so frequently profile certain communities, it makes sense that they selectively enforce certain laws. It's not about service or true protection. It's about establishing a protection racket where all of us pay for pseudo-protection from an armed group that closely resembles the thugs they are supposed to be battling. A group given the right to make split second decisions about life and death by the same people who they may kill.

The entire system is built on trust and ignorance. I guess you could call it ignorant trust. Most of us are ignorant about how police departments do their jobs, and thus we are operating on blind trust that they will do what's best for all of us. And this is despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

What happened in that small Pennsylvania town may sound heinous and somewhat unbelievable, but really it's not that different from what happens all over this country everyday. Too often police officers are rapists, murderers, liars, thieves and worse.

Even those that are "honest" still have serious issues. Many of them have warped and twisted the law all while justifying their behavior by telling us it's what keeps us safe. And like sheep, we allow ourselves to be herded towards a future where the group with the guns will rule completely over those of us who are unarmed.

That right there pisses me off, and it worries me. The whole operation troubles me, just as any situation with an obvious imbalance of power concerns me. I can see which direction this enterprise is tilting towards, and it's not pretty.

It's not pretty for any of us.





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