The speed limit is 65 mph, but you are going 69. Are you worried? Probably not, I mean, who’s going to be affected by you going 4 mph over the speed limit? You might not even notice that you’re going over the speed limit. You got your speakers on blast, you’re trying to leave that 9 to 5 up on the shelf and just enjoy yourself.
That all might change and you might not feel so relaxed when you see flashing red and blue lights in your rear view mirror. Are you worried about getting a ticket? Yes, and should you be worried about it being something more serious? It seems that is also the case in a world where the men in blue bring great uncertainty with each encounter they have with a given citizen.
To protect and to serve is the creed that is sworn by every man and woman that chooses to join the force. These days that doesn’t seem to coincide with what’s happening to people at the hands of many police officers out there. Don’t get me wrong, there are a great many officers some of whom I know personally that are a credit to their badge, and to their uniforms. However, there are those police officers that are making the headlines; the proverbial rotten eggs that make the whole dozen look bad.
It seems like just recently, we read about Rodney King in the headlines and we saw that vicious video. The video doesn’t depict LA’s finest. It depicts a group of juveniles that are playing out a schoolyard fantasy that they had no power to fulfill when they were younger. The power was afforded to them later; under the guise of being those who enforce the law. Rather than enforce it, they simply broke it. Why did they break it? Was it because they felt they were above the law? Or was it simply because they were given the power to do what it is they were doing?
Each reader of the blog post and every observer of the media will judge for themselves what they portray this grotesque negligence and horrible misuse of power to be. Could police officers despite all their training be just as vulnerable to power in excess as the rest of us could be? Here are some fictional accounts that are quite accurate in their depiction of what excess can do to a person.
Remember Michael Corleone of “The Godfather” trilogy? This was a man of immense power who allowed nothing to stand in the way of achieving exactly what he wanted. He craved people’s fear of him, and he craved more power. Corleone, much like the men in blue, use fear to prey upon the fearful. This is not to say that Oscar Grant got shot because he feared Johannes Mehserle. Often times if rebellious behavior is shown to a person on a power trip then that is taken as a challenge. This could mean that it would be worst for the person posing the challenge to a less than upstanding police officer.
Another example is Tony Montana from “Scarface.” This is someone who was afraid of no one but never had the opportunity or the power to do and take what he wanted as he pleased. Once he gained power, he had so much of it that he eventually spun completely out of control. The excess in power and the rush that it could give someone who has never had it can be an overwhelming experience mentally.
Folks, this might just seem like a ruthless badgering of police officers. Especially when it comes to comparing them to the likes of fictitious criminals, but there is truth to these comparisons.
The long and the short of it is that those who are and who pose as police officers are supposed to enforce the law. We are supposed to rely on them to protect and to serve, not terrorize and kill the innocent. If this is allowed to continue then why have that right granted to us by the law? That right that says every man and woman is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Are they ignoring this right granted to us and assigning guilt as they see fit? Whether that is a yes or a no, it is not their place to do so.
The sad truth about many of those we rely on to enforce the law is that they are as unstable as the criminals they are bringing in. This is a fact that needs no more proof than what is shown to millions in this country on the news and YouTube, what’s heard on the radio, and read in newspapers.
It seems that the less than upstanding police officers use their clubs to make innocent citizens “an offer they can’t refuse.” This makes no sense; however, it is sadly very true.
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