Hey everybody,
So I've been a SuperHeroHype member since 2005 under a different screenname. When all the national news media frenzy started back in August with the Michael Brown killing, I created a different screenname (the generic "Ilikecomics123") in order to just post solely about police related matters on the "Riots in Missouri" thread and "Abuse of Power" thread. I figured, since I'm a police officer since 2010, I could shed some light on how law enforcement works and what being a police officer is really like.
Since posting on these threads for a few months now, I've decided it's time to move on and just stop posting.
It's getting old... and just plain frustrating...
I read every page of both threads and honestly it's just tiring and exhausting. It's a constant back-and-forth back-and-forth between the police sympathizers and the anti-police sentiment.
Neither agree... so what's the point?
The idea of "We need to have this discussion in order to work together and find common ground" is just not paying off...
Every time I post information about my experiences and what it's really like being a cop, I just have some poster on here disagree with me and throw a bunch of news stories links at me about how bad the police are and some statistics they found off Google in order to disagree with me.
Are there bad cops out there? Sure!
Are there horrible people out there in the world in general? Yep! All over, in every profession, of every race, nationality, gender, religion, etc...
So I've come to one simple conclusion, one honest truth...
if you disagree with the police, don't like the police, hate the police... then you should quit your job, apply to police departments, get hired, get through academy, make it through field training, and then do the job yourself.
Seriously though, think about it...
I'm a cop. So if I went up to a doctor and all I did was whine and moan and complain and protest about how that doctor (and all doctors like him) do their job.... eventually I would expect the doctor to just ignore me because he's the doctor, and I'm not, and why should he have to listen to me?
And that's kinda how I feel...
Actually, no, that's how I feel...
I'm tired of telling the anti-police people "this is how it is being a cop", and then they say "NO ITS NOT! I KNOW WHAT THE POLICE ARE LIKE! ME! I KNOW! ME, THE GUY WHO DOES NOT WORK IN LAW ENFORCEMENT! I KNOW! I KNOW MORE THAN YOU!"
Sigh....
So tonight at work (2:30pm to 11:30pm) we had a 4-car vehicle collision...
...a robbery in which a female coerced a male into meeting her. The male complied only to find out the female had two other males waiting for him, so they beat the crap out of him and stole his belongings...
...another robbery in which two suspects approached a victim, pointed a gun at him, and demanded his phone. The victim refused. So the suspect shot him in the chest... Suspects then fled. Victim got a nice hole in his chest.
...right after that, another robbery in which 5 suspects beat the crap out a victim and stole his phone.... victim's face was totally busted...
and a ton of miscellaneous calls in-between all of those major ones (disorderly conduct calls, alarms, thefts, stolen vehicles, etc.)
So I care about the community I serve...
I'm not racist, even though all the people I serve are a different color than me...
I do the best I can to be fair, even-handed, but at the same time, I want to put away the criminals and make the community a better place...
But I also go to work every time thinking "If I roll up on one of these calls, and the suspects have NOT fled yet, and they point their gun at me, or they decide to try to bust up my face.... yeah, not happening"
If they point a gun at me, I'm shooting them. My last day and night qualifications were 95% each so I'm confident I can hit them.
If they try to beat me up, as soon as I think I might lose consciousness, I'm shooting them. End of story.
I have a wife at home. I like my life. I'm not losing it.
So one of these days, maybe even tomorrow night (when I work again), some thug (AND YES THEY ARE THUGS PLAIN AND SIMPLE) might try to shoot me or beat me to a pulp.
And when they do, they're going to die. Not me.
I'll probably only be given a split second to make that decision, and guess what, I'm going to choose ME to live, not the thug.
And then guess what?
You'll all find out who I am because my article will be on CNN or MSNBC or POLICEONE.COM or some anti-police/anti-establishment website and then everyone here can play Monday morning quarterback and disagree over whether or not my actions were "justified" or "too aggressive" or "excessive" or "blatantly racist!!! call al sharpton!!"
And the thug's mom will be on tv crying about how her son with prior charges for armed carjacking, armed robbery, assault, etc was such a good little boy with so much potential and always put smiles on people's faces.
And then the twitterverse and facebook will gobble up the story of me shooting someone and everybody will have such important, earth-shattering opinions of it, because nowadays with social media everybody is an expert in everything and everybody's opinions matter so much....
Then everyone will say, oh that cop, that cop Ilikecomics123, he's such a horrible person. He's dirty. He's crooked. He's just as bad as the criminals.
So the thug was unarmed and only beating on Ilikecomics123? Oh Ilikecomics123 should not have used deadly force on the poor poor thug... what's the big deal? Taking a beating is not so bad. It's just fists. No big deal. It's like a bee-sting. It'll heal quick.
Oh, Ilikecomics123 was losing consciousness, you say? Or the thug was 200lbs heavier than Ilikecomics123 and his blows were causing Ilikecomids123 to black out? Oh, no big deal there either. I'm sure the poor likable thug was only going to beat Ilikecomics123 until he passed out and then kindly kiss him on the cheek and say "fare thee well, good sir"
Oh, Ilikecomics123 shot the poor friendly thug because he committed an armed robbery and when Ilikecomics123 found him the poor friendly thug refused to listen to directions and reached inside his waistband? OH NO! Ilikecomics123 shot him and the poor friendly thug DIDNT HAVE A GUN??? Oh Ilikecomics123 should have used his psychic powers to know that the poor friendly thug didn't have a gun even though the caller who called 911 told the police dispatcher he did have gun and did commit an armed robbery and Ilikecomics123 has stopped people, plenty of them, who hide guns inside their waistband, BUT IN THIS SOLE SINGLE CASE, Ilikecomics123 should have known with his psychic powers that poor friendly thug was not armed this time and he was simply reaching into his waistband to pull out a beautiful flower to give to Ilikecomics123 as a sign of peace and trust....
Oh, Ilikecomics123 gave 5 traffic tickets, did 2 terry frisks, and had 1 arrest today and all the people involved were African-American? And Ilikecomics123 is WHITE??? Oh, Ilikecomics123 is racist for sure... even though Ilikecomics123 works in an area where THERE ARE NO WHITE PEOPLE! NONE, ZILCH, ZIP, NADA! Yep, Ilikecomics123 is racist for sure...he's unfairly targeting African-Americans. He needs to somehow bus in white people so he can somehow change his statistics involving traffic, stops, and arrests and make them look not so racist....
Oh, Ilikecomics123 encountered an African-American suspect who pulled a gun and pointed it at him and Ilikecomics123 shot him. But then the next day, Ilikecomics123 encountered a white female suspect who pointed a gun at him and he didn't shoot her? Although we have NO IDEA what happened in either encounter and have no idea the multitude of reasons why the black suspect got shot but the white female didn't, we will conclude Ilikecomics123 is just plain ol' KKK racist again. Yep, he certainly is...
Oh, Ilikecomics123 encountered a suspect who pulled a gun and pointed it at him but Ilikecomics123 DID NOT USE HIS DEPARTMENT ISSUED TASER to subdue the suspect? What a horrible cop Ilikecomics123 is!!!! Ilikecomics123 should have known that a taser is an appropriate response to handguns which fire bullets. Tasers are the end-all-be-all of law enforcement use of force and tasers should be used against all handgun encounters... because everybody knows tasers NEVER miss, NEVER malfunction, PENETRATE any amount of clothing, ALWAYS subdue every person on God's green earth...
Oh, Ilikecomics123 tased someone and they had a heart attack and died due to the taser??? Ilikecomics123 is a MURDERER. And the suspect was black? Oh, Ilikecomics123 is a MURDERER and a RACIST. What was the reason for tasering the suspect? He was under arrest and resisting? Who cares? Crime doesn't matter!!! What matters is you killed a guy by tasering him and because of his past medical history of heart problems, Ilikecomics123 should have used his psychic powers again to know that the electrical discharge from a taser could have killed him....
Man, I could go on and on and on, but Ilikecomics123 sounds like a crooked dirty no-good, filthy cop.
I (the anti-police protester) have never been a cop, but I definitely know Ilikecomics123 is a scumbag...
And all the cops he works with are dirty too...
And the criminals need protection from them...
And these things are the things I think and I feel, but I'm definitely not going to become a cop myself ... no way ... never ever ...
because, what if, I then found myself on MSNBC or CNN?
No, no, no... never... I (the anti-police protester) would never ever make a split second decision that would ever be seen as ANYTHING but completely justified and beautiful and reasonable and amazing in the hearts and minds of all people...
...
...
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Any ways, thanks for the lively discussion on this thread and the "Abuse of Power" thread.
I'm out.
It's 3:45am and I got to go back to work at 2:30pm so I can go deal with more robberies and shootings.
Ya'll have a good one and keep on discussing whether or not I'm doing the right or wrong because I'm arresting too many African-Americans in a 100% African-American populated community....
Or if I'm getting beat up, I should, you know, just "take it like a man" or something because I didn't feel like being punched in the head anymore so I shot the suspect...
Or, you know, if a suspect grabs my gun or something, I should, you know, just give it to him, like a gift or something. Maybe wrap it up with a bow first before letting him have it...
Ya'll let me know what you collectively decide...
Peace out!