"I Hate Cops"

I was talking to a friend the other day and she said she hated cops. She quickly made sure I understood she was ok with policemen. The difference as she saw it was that policemen were professionals that went about their business with a respectful and evenhanded manner with a respect for the rights of their community’s citizens. Cops were policemen that thought it made them special and better than the average bear. I really can’t argue that. Cops, by her definition, are the one’s who give the profession a bad name. Their authority makes them cocky. These are the “Only Ones” David Codrea talks about. My pet peeve is those officers that classify non-police as “civilians”. This usually is with a tone that implies they are better and stand apart from those they serve. OR worse imply they rule rather than serve. I tell them we’re all civilians, and that when you forget that it all begins to fall apart. That attitude is the core of a cop saying “I’m the only one with sufficient training to handle this gun” just before he shoots himself in the leg.