This morning I'm taking it easy - sitting and doing a little bit of hand sewing on a quilt. I've got the Internet scanner on. I don't bother with listening to police calls for my little suburb as usually on a weekday the most exciting thing going on are the writing of speeding tickets. The scanner is set for Minneapolis, which is usually pretty action packed.
When there is bad weather, particularly cold and wind, a dispatcher will periodically relay that information to those officers out in their squad cars. About an hour ago the temperature was -9 with a wind chill of -30.
About 20 minutes ago one of the dispatchers called a squad car that was close to the police station downtown. She said that there was a homeless man wrapped up in a sleeping bag huddled in the doorway of the building across the street. She said that it was probably the same man that usually slept in that spot, but he hadn't moved all morning and she was worried about his condition. Would the officers please check on him.
About 10 minutes later the officers called the dispatcher back to report that the homeless man was OK. They had tried to get him inside out of the cold, but he had refused help. Apparently they had tried to help him on other occasions and the man wouldn't let them. The dispatcher said she would watch to make sure he was OK until the end of her shift.
Now I don't know what the police are like in New York or Los Angeles or Ferguson, Missouri. I just know what they are like here. Here they check on homeless people and try to get them out of the freezing weather. Sometimes they can help. Sometimes the homeless don't want to be helped, but just want to be left alone. But the police try.
So Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and all of those people who feel the need to protest police brutality, you might want to look elsewhere for a place to do your race baiting and your police badmouthing. The kind of thing that happened today is not an isolated incident in my neck of the woods. It is the norm.
All we ever hear about is the bad. Maybe some of the good that most of these officers do should be publicized as much as the bad that the few do. Seems only fair.
Opus 2024-395: Built, Not Chosen
2 hours ago
As a group, I don't like cops, but there really ARE a few good ones out there.
ReplyDeleteGorges...I don't think anyone is fond of dealing with the police, but I have found that dealing with the cops in my area has always been a positive thing. But then, I have never been arrested, so I can only look at it from that point of view.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking for myself, I truly believe that there are far more good law enforcement, then bad. I can't imaging going to work everyday and not knowing if I will be going home. Duane
ReplyDeleteDuane...I've gotten to know some of the officers here - mostly from the places I worked and from just around the neighborhood. They have never been anything but kind and helpful to me. And I agree. Going to work everyday and never knowing if you would be able to go home takes a special kind of person.
ReplyDeleteLove, Mom
I have become of the mind set of keeping a low profile. Why make waves?? Silence is golden. Those two idiots want attention all the time. See but not seen.....
ReplyDeleteRob...I agree about keeping a low profile, which is pretty much what I do with the possible exception of getting a little mouthy here on my blog! I suppose that's why I get along with local law. I'm not standing in the middle of the street shouting obscenities at the cops, nor am I living my life so they have to be called to my apartment. I just get tired of the good cops being lumped together with the bad. As far as Sharpton and Jackson go, it is in their best interest financially to keep racial differences in the forefront. If there were no problems between races, both would be out of a job.
ReplyDeleteThe police in your area are pretty sure that if they wake up someone sleeping in a doorway they are not going to be shot by the person they're trying to help. It runs both ways. If police are in danger for their lives from the people they are protecting, then their good intentions have to be tossed for their own safety.
ReplyDeleteDana...It sounded like the person the dispatcher was concerned about is someone known to the police, in which case they knew it was safe to approach and check to see that he was OK. We are not a crime-free area, and I'm sure there are many circumstances in which the officers are in danger of their lives. I guess my point is that I am finding that the local police are more apt to try to help a person than to do harm. All you ever hear about are the ones who are bullies and probably shouldn't carry a gun or a badge. I hear about and have experienced much more of the good side of law enforcement and it irritates me that the good is rarely reported but the bad always is.
ReplyDeleteMy family and ancestors were ALL either police, fire department, or in construction. I find it impossible to even wrap my mind around all the people in the world today with a chip on their shoulder along with a gun in their pocket, screaming for special treatment when there's absolutely nothing that could satisfy them.
ReplyDeleteUh.......that was Lotta Joy up there....I don't know why my dog is showing up everywhere I leave a comment tonight. That's from YEARS ago.
ReplyDeleteLotta Joy
Dana...Sorry it took me so long to respond here.
ReplyDeleteI think that those of us who are of Caucasian descent are supposed to feel guilt for what our ancestors did or didn't do centuries ago. Guess what. I don't. I have no control over whatever happened in the past. The only thing I have control over are my own actions. So when I see those people who are foaming at the mouth over real or made-up grievances, they can go pound sand. I treat police officers, fire department personnel, etc. with respect. I sure as hell would not want to be out there doing their job. And I have appreciation for all that they do for me. Yes, there are bad people in every profession. But mostly you get what you give. If you want to give disrespect for the law, don't expect to be respected by them. I am just so tired of hearing about what is "owed" to different groups of people. Nobody is "owed" anything. You want it - work for it. Otherwise, shut up.
Kicking my soapbox back into the corner now.
between my dad and I at one time we knew most cops in our town since we were kids. Now the new cops are a different breed, they seem to be aggressive, miserable and mean spirited. The human part seems to be getting submerged.
ReplyDeletedenis miller...I hear of the kind of thing you are talking about happening all over. I can only speak of my own area and my own experiences, which have been good. Here I still see signs of compassion and a willingness to protect and serve. It is truly a shame if that is not so elsewhere.
ReplyDelete