I actually think things are better for the LE world than it was in previous years as far as ethical behavior and professionalism. The digital age has been a double-edged sword in regards to public opinion of LEOs. Let me explain:RPBrown wrote:I do not want anyone to think I am bashing cops here as that is not my intent (son in law is a cop). But when my kids were young, they were always told if they needed help to look for a police officer. With all of the things that have been going on, at least here in the DFW area, I would almost hesitate to make that same statement to my grandchildren. Not only do we have officers doing illegal things such as mentioned here, but now we are having several reports of people impersonating police officers. I know that the greater majority of the officers are honest, law abiding people, and I have the utmost respect for them. However, how are we or the kids especially, supposed to know which ones to trust?
With social media, web based news sites, and smart phones, negative encounters (and even skewed and over hyped normal encounters) are quickly sensationalized and spread rapidly, and easily. One can simply search from Google and find great numbers of examples of morons with a badge that tarnish its credibility. It would be easy to paint a bleak picture and make it easy to resent and be suspicious of LEOs everywhere.
On the flip side, the same ones and zeroes that bring you the internet, also bring us in-car video (except HPD's patrol units.....), body mics, pocket recorders, body video cams, taser-cams, in car GPS locators (cut's down on loafing off...sort of), and in car navigation to reduce response times. Technology has provided a host of less lethal force options as well as online continuing-ed training and webinars to up training and professionalism. The requirements for being an LEO are tougher now than they were 20 years ago. The pay is better, and the training is more extensive. The digital age has allowed for more thorough background checks to be performed, and also has made it easier to contact a wider variety of references for police applicants. The passing requirements of police academies are going up as is the number of required hours. I think these factors all combine to improve the hiring pool and allow agencies to field a more professional force which can be better monitored with all the new techno-gadgets.
I think the "thin blue line" is less tolerant of "dirty cops" than it has ever been before.
I'm sure in the pendulum of LEO opinion, some are too quick to condemn and some are too quick to condone certain behaviors. This is likely because of the lens with which we study the incidents...Call it one's worldview or paradigm. But, I think between the IA units, media attention given to incidents, publicly elected judges and DAs, and evidence captured on camera/mic, WE, as a citizen body, get things more right than we do wrong when it comes to handling the bad apples with a badge.