I think most cops got into the profession for two reasons - to help people and to chase bad guys. The world has changed a lot and the society seems to think cops are the bad guys. We tell someone to stop, but they don’t. They run, and we chase them. We catch them, and they fight. We fight back and they get hurt. Somehow that’s our fault.
If a car flees from us then most of the time we don’t chase them. It’s dangerous. If they crash and hurt someone then it’s our fault. Society thinks that if we don’t chase the bad guys then they won’t run and no one will get hurt. Most people don’t seem to understand how ridiculous that sounds.
When I first got into law enforcement I was a State Trooper. My policy about chasing bad guys wasn’t very restrictive. I just had to drive with due regard for the safety of the public. I heard chases by my current department on the radio. If the bad guy ran a stop sign or two then they would call off the chase. People figured this out and now more people are running. Some bad guys run from Sheriff and get caught. After they are caught they make statements like “You’re not supposed to chase me if I do ________.” The Sheriff Deputy laughs and says “My car is blue, not black.” (our cars are black; theirs are navy blue)
This mindset has spread to juveniles. We have a group who think it’s okay to go into stores and steal without even trying to hide it. When confronted they resort to physical violence against the store clerks. This past Sunday morning a handful stole a car, drove it to another location and broke into a house and stole another car, drove both cars to a third location and dumped one and stole a third car. They also broke into several cars and stole cash and at least one gun. They eventually wrecked one of the stolen cars and we never heard from them or saw them again.
Even if we catch them, they will most likely get probation. Those are all property crimes in the eyes of the justice system. Insurance can replace stolen items so no one seems to care.
Moving on to my actual calls for service. The majority of my calls are disturbances between adults who act like children. We show up and no one wants to talk to us. They want us to solve their problems and then get mad when we can’t. They give us orders instead of asking for help. They make poor decisions about the company they keep but it’s our fault when they have a problem with those people. They rarely want to press charges so even when we make an arrest the case falls apart.
Another large chunk of my calls involve people who are mentally ill. Most of them have self-inflicted mental illnesses from drug abuse. They hallucinate and cause problems with their neighbors or the General Public. They call and report things that they are imagining as being real. Some of them get very upset when you bring up mental illness and whether or not they are taking their medications. The end result of the call is that there is no crime and we can do nothing to help them. They get pissed off and slam the door and call again within 24 hours to report some other nonsense.
Domestic violence calls fall under the disturbances I described above. I hate those because the majority of the time it’s the same people over and over and the victim never ends the relationship.
A smaller portion of my calls, but the ones I hate the most, Arwen parents or foster parents call 911 because their teenager is out of control. They want us to take the kid away so they don’t have to deal with them. They don’t want to press charges for damaging property when the child breaks things, but they want the kid out of the house. Essentially, they want us to be the parent. They really don’t like it when we tell them that it’s a parenting issue and they need to figure it out.
That covers about 85% of what I do. The other 15% is what I actually enjoy doing. Working traffic accidents and helping victims of random crimes is actually enjoyable. Over the years I have just developed a negative feeling towards work. Most of the time I can’t put my finger on it; I just know that I’m not happy to be there. I’m trying to fight my negativity and not give in to the bitterness and cynicism that seems to take hold of many officers as their career progresses.
My only shred of hope is to get on our community policing team. Those officers don’t respond to 9-1-1 calls. They go to community events, neighborhood association meetings, and any other public event that might improve the police department’s relationships with the community. Just last week the community policing team in my Bureau went to a kid’s birthday party. He has a terminal illness and wants to be a cop so they spent some time with him. That sounds way better than going to disturbances and calls involving mental people.
This unit is tough to get on because it’s a pretty awesome job. All of our specialty units and promotions factor in seniority and I’ve been having a hard time overcoming my lack of seniority. I’m getting close. There’s a good chance that I might make it onto that team before the end of this year. I’m just having trouble being patient.
So, you asked and there you have it. All of my negative thoughts towards my job. I don’t get to chase bad guys and I only get to help people about 15% of the time. That’s not exactly what I expected.
Man, I sound bitter…