“The Lousy Cop”
As I’ve said before, most of the comments on the Journal Star’s web site are useless rants by citizens who can barely put a legible sentence together, but every once in a while a little nugget appears. This comment appeared in the “You Page” section, where the editors try to find worthwhile comments amongst the drivel.
I think it’s worth reprinting again.
“Well, Citizens, I guess you’ve got me figured out. I seem to fit neatly into the category you placed me in. I’m stereotyped, characterized, standardized, classified, grouped and always typical. ‘I’m the Lousy Cop.’ Unfortunately, the reverse isn’t true. I can never figure you out. From birth you teach your children that I’m the bogeyman and then are shocked when they learn and identify me with my traditional enemy, the criminal. You raise cain about the guy who cuts you off in traffic, but let me catch you doing the same thing and it’s picking on you. You know all the traffic laws, but you never got one single ticket you deserved. You accuse me of coddling juveniles until I catch your kid doing something. Then it’s badge happy.
“You take an hour for lunch and several coffee breaks each day, but point me out as a loafer if you see me having just one cup. You pride yourself on your polished manners, but think nothing of interrupting my meal with your troubles. You’ll shout ‘foul’ if you observe me driving too fast to an emergency, but complain to the Peoria Journal Star if I take more than 10 seconds responding to your call. You’re a witty conversationalist, but you bore me stiff with your vast knowledge of law enforcement and what occurred on traffic stops when you weren’t even there. You call it ‘part of my job’ if someone strikes me, but it’s ‘police brutality’ if I strike back. You wouldn’t think of telling your dentist how to pull a decayed tooth, or your doctor how to take out your appendix, but you’re always willing to give me pointers on law enforcement.
“Your language and actions towards me would assure a bloody nose from anyone else, but you expect me to take it without batting an eye. You cry, ‘Something has to be done about all this crime,’ but, of course, you can’t be bothered with getting involved — or claim you’ll get a gun and do it yourself and cause yet another murder in our great city of Peoria. You’ve got no use for me at all, but of course, it’s OK if I change a tire for your wife, deliver your child, resuscitate your family member or work overtime to deal with your problems.
“So, Citizens, you stand there on your soap box and rant and rave about the way I do my job, calling me every name in the book, but never stop for a minute to think that your property, your family, or maybe your life might depend on one thing, me the lousy cop.”
August 10th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
I have to admit that I have been guilty of complaining about the police. What isn’t addressed here is that there are good officers and there are bad officers. This may be one of the good officers who has to suffer because of the actions of the bad ones. Hopefully this will be thought provoking for the “all police are evil” people but I doubt it. Some attitudes will never change.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Great post to reprint.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Amen. But let’s take a moment to reflect on bad cop moments to keep it in perspective. The UCLA Taser incident, Rodney King, and locally, that Officer Jordan guy (of recent Beachler’s related fame).
When the only thing people hear about cops is related to something like what I’ve mentioned, it’s no wonder why the general attitude is the way it is: good cops get no attention.
But then again, you have the idiots who think the rules of the road apply to everyone but them. That kind of mindset will remain regardless of who gets the attention.
August 10th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
After reading the post it reminded me of the type of life lesson emails that people tend to forward to their bulk list. So just on a whim I googled “The Lousy Cop” and yep there was post after post of the same “poem”. Here’s one of the links http://www.policepoems.com/YesMeTheLousyCop.htm
August 11th, 2007 at 1:23 am
I’ll remember that the next time I see a cop put on his lights to run a red light, then turn them off and continue on at a regular pace.
Or the next time I see one pull out of a parking lot with no blinker, or change lanes without signaling.
Other than that, hey, good show, mates.
August 11th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Way to sniff that one out, CP. Oh well, sentiment remains the same.
August 11th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Just for fun in the next week count how many cops you see when you are driving, then count how many are talking on cell phones. Law enforcement has changed and so has the quality of the officers, unions make performance the back burner for promotions and getting fired for mis-conduct is almost impossible. Race and sex will often dictate who gets promoted to give the department a more diverse appearance. The force these days is somewhat less of a force than it used to be.
August 11th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I’m former LEO- so I can say I have a little experience in this. Requirements to test for police work lean STRONGLY on physical fitness, and not mental fitness. This is why most cops now are pumped up muscularly, and big surprise, don’t have a lick of common sense or decency.
I know many GOOD, HONEST people who tested but never became cops, because they couldn’t run 2 miles, or bench press their own weight. But empty headed, ignorant, self centered jocks become cops every day.
August 11th, 2007 at 10:38 am
It does have that Spamish ring to it … good pick-up, CP. However, whoever posted it obviously agrees with its sentiments.
“Your language and actions towards me would assure a bloody nose from anyone else, but you expect me to take it without batting an eye.”
Actually, yes … that’s exactly what I expect from a police officer. I understand that the stress and strain of the job may sometimes push an officer over the line, but we should continue to expect our police officers to maintain dignity and decorum. It would be nice if they had the same expectation of themselves and their fellows.
I’ve often heard law enforcement officials talk about how low expectations and lack of accountability lead to criminal behavior. That conclusion certainly applies to many street thugs, but it should also apply to the police themselves. It certainly seems like local police & sheriff’s departments have pretty low expectations and a glaring lack of accountability - witness Scott Jordan on the West side of the river and Jeff Bass on the East side.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I’ve talked to my cop buddies about many of the things people always complain about (red lights and intersections, phones, et ceter) and they’ve always told me there are many things they do that the public doesn’t always understand.
For example, one told me they do use lights to get through intersections and shut them off afterwards because often times it is quicker to get places without them on because the public does not know the rules of the road when it comes to emergency vehicles - pull over to the right lane. He told me many times drivers will often stop in the lane, pull over to the left or do nothing.
As for phones, another told me many times cops are on phones because of calls. That they are calling witnesses, their bosses, dispatchers or whoever and that it’s not always the wife or girlfriend.
Now, I’m not making excuses for wrong and bad behavior and do think cops should set good examples, but they are human. And I would bet that if any of us were followed for any given amount of time, it would take less than five minutes for someone to spot us making these same mistakes that we condemn others for.
As for Reno, you name a few bad things, but ignore the countless good things cops do on a daily basis. How about listing a few of them.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
I wouldn’t have reprinted this post had I known it was not original, but the message remains. More and more I get the impression that people think the cops are the bad guys. It’s probably always been like that, but I see it even moreso now that the Journal Star allows comments and more people are taking advantage of it. Add “it’s the police’s fault” to my list of general comments that always appear on the Journal Star along with Peoria blows, fence off the south end, it’s all blackies fault and it’s all whities fault.
The irony of the Journal Star republishing this on the same day that they reported Officer Jordan being reinstated did not pass me by.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Funny, Mr. O’brien, I thought the tenor of that comment was explanatory and positive overall. Unless you’re referring to the last paragraph, which was in reference to the general public, not police officers. Maybe I should have clarified. Oh well.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Reno,
No, no. You’re right, it was a positive note, but my issue is how repeating the few bad ones over and over again just adds to the steady drip, drip, drip of bad things while the good things aren’t reported.
Sorry, it was I that should have clarified my statement better.
August 11th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I believe most cops are good cops. But the minority is much too large and reflects very badly on the rest. I appreciate they put their lives on the line and do a job most of us wouldn’t touch. But they are public servants, and they must be held accountable for poor performance, which includes poor judgment, sloth, thuggish behavior and the like.
In the past several years, I have personally witnessed and/or am intimately aware of situations in which Peoria cops have lied; ignored a violent situation (gun involved) one block away because it was easier to bust two college kids for underaged drinking (not even disorderly conduct or resisting, just drinking); stopped a white teen driver who has dropped off a black classmate in a black neighborhood, searched the car for no reason (intimidation of a kid who has done nothing, has no record, the car belongs to parents who have no arrest records), hassled the driver with twenty questions and then, finding nothing else, gave the kid a seatbelt ticket (never stated to the driver until 20 minutes after the stop, but on the police report, the officer claimed he noticed the driver wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.)
You know how easy it is for a cop to pull over a car with a burntout tail light and turn it into a two hour search that turns up nothing? Hell of a lot easier (safer?) than actually dealing with a real criminal.
August 11th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
For many people, police and lawyers fall into the same category: professions they love to hate until they NEED one of them. When the need arises, they are suddenly your best friend. I have a great deal of respect for police officers. They have a tough job. Now, my fellow lawyers . . . I’m not so sure
December 31st, 2007 at 5:33 am
It’s not our fault we mistrust everyone, and people think that we are mean, the accadamies now train us in a para-military like style. We need to stop being the corporate slaves and return to being the civil servants. I don’t know abou you, but the corporate corruption in my city is always being overlooked, yet the citizens are guilty until they can prove that they aren’t. I do feel for them at times.
I’m a veteran (MP gulf war) and a 26 year city cop, I fear for the people though, that in the near future the city, county, state and federal government’s will merge us together nearly as one single unit. The military is becoming more like police and the police more like troops. Then there will be no freedom just corporate tyrany. Trust me the New World Order is comming and we need to pick the side of freedom.
Sorry if I sound way out there, but when you look back on a long military and/or police career and see the direction we took and the direction we are heading to, it’s hard not to see the government using us as tyranical pawns.
No more I say, no more!