The Shadow
Dear Editor,
Before anyone bashes police and starts calling for their abolition, please watch this video that commemorates the local policeman.
They provide the most basic of services in all civilized society and in critical situations, they are the most needed and wanted!
A police officer has to be a jack of all trades. They endure at times the most degrading of abuses and they still are expected to not take it personally.
A police officer is expected to be diplomatic. They have to try to settle differences.
If a police officer is strict in maintaining law and order, he/she is arrogant. If police officers are laid back in their duties, they are negligent and incompetent.
If police officers are friendly, they are unprofessional. If they are cold in their demeanor, people construe that as haughtiness.
Police officers are required to make instant decisions in highly stressful situations. If they react too quickly, they are immature, too emotional and reckless. If they are deliberate and cautious, they are negligent and lazy.
Police officers, if they act too proactively, they are brutal. If they arrive too late or not at all, they are callous and cowardly.
Police officers are required to be the first at any scene. They often have to play policeman, security, paramedic and counselor.
Their knowledge of guns and its application has to be immense. They have to know how to use the baton in certain ways so that they inflict the least amount of harm possible in subduing a dangerous suspect.
If a policeman takes abuse, he/she is weak. If they hit a suspect, that is brutality.
They have to have knowledge of forensics. They have to follow all standards of protocols while their controllers, the attorney profession, follow none.
While attorneys enrich themselves off crime, police officers do the “dirty work” and struggle to feed their families on their salaries.
Kudos to the local and state police!
Very Truly Yours,
Harsha Sankar
Valley Ridge Road, Covington
