Been following this thread for a bit, pretty interesting. I’m a bit opinionated and have had a hard time keeping my yap shut. My childhood best friend recently retired from a PD in NorCal, my father in law did 35 years in Nassau County New York after two tours in Viet Nam, my brother in law did 20 years with NYPD, and another close friend retired from Oakland PD.
Here’s the opinion piece. A lot of LEO’s feel like the law doesn’t apply to them. They’re bullies. My HS baseball coach was a Portland OR cop and he assaulted me on the field in front of my teammates - 24 year old man assaulting a 15 year old kid. Later, he was charged with taking liberties with female cadets - he was banging recruits.
My LEO friends tend to be cool dudes but they have stories. My brother in law had a partner that wrote a shit load of tickets, and every one started with something along the lines of the stop being initiated because of a left turn on a red light, followed the car, driver threw something on the floor of the passenger seat, car pulled over, then arrest for whatever reason.
There is a reason Americans distrust cops. I’m sure the number of bad apples in law enforcement reflects the percentage of bad apples in society, but LE seems to attract a particular breed of miscreant - those that want to be above the law, take short cuts, and do what they want.
I am not saying @Kpac20 fits this profile, and I know @Frank_C takes his job seriously, but it seems like many on this thread don’t get the resentment many Murricans have towards LE.
Unfortunately, I’ve had many opportunities to interact with LE. While many of them were professional, the majority were assholes. Just saying.
On another note, both of my grandfathers started their military careers as enlisted men and both retired as USN LCDR’s. My maternal grandfather was one of the last enlisted men to become a Navy Pilot - he started as a mechanic. He was based in Guantanomo for a while.
My paternal grandfather was the Chief Petty Officer on the USS Enterprise, and the first person ever to serve flapjacks on an aircraft carrier - was in 14 of 21 sea battles in WWII.
Back to @Kpac20. Kid has a great opportunity to make a difference in this world. I do think he has an addiction issue, but I think everyone is an addict. But, highly recommend we all do what we love and the rewards and success will come.
Be patient grasshopper.