‘You won’t need to abolish us – we won’t be around for it’: Why many police officers like me are quitting the force

Loading

Yup:

The nasty words we, the police, get called all the time have now turned into rocks, bottles and gunfire. It’s over, America: we are leaving.

This is the hardest thing I have written.

I grew up in a law enforcement family. My father worked his way up to the rank of Captain at the Fort Smith, Arkansas, Police Department. As a kid I remember going with him on Friday to pick up his check and I was in awe of these super heroes he worked around.

My dad sacrificed a lot and so did my late mother. Whether it was the week-long surveillance or wiretap or chasing drug runners across the country, he gave it all for my family and worked plenty of extra details to never let our family be without. Some would call that privilege but where I grew up, it was called hard work.

The kids at school thought it was cool what my dad did and while he sometimes asked me if anyone gave me a hard time, they never did. There was respect among all… even the kids in shop class.

I didn’t grow up wanting to be a cop but one fateful night, as a freshman in college, that all changed.

I went on a ride along and my life’s journey would never be the same.

After four years of college my dad wanted me at an agency that respected that education so I moved to Tulsa (Oklahoma) at 21 years old and never looked back.

I didn’t know anyone and all I knew was what I saw my dad do, work hard and treat people with respect. I saw a lot of other cops working hard as well and doing all they could to keep the community safe.

27 years has passed and if you would have told me the condition of law enforcement today, I would have never believed you.

It’s not that law enforcement has changed for the worse but everything around it has.

The mentally ill used to get treatment and now they just send cops. Kids used to be taught respect and now it’s cool to be disrespectful.

Supervisors used to back you when you were right but now they accuse you of being wrong in order to appease crazy people.

Parents used to get mad at their kids for getting arrested and now they get mad at us.

The media used to highlight the positive contribution our profession gave to society and now they either ignore it or twist the truth for controversy to line their own pockets.

There used to be a common respect among criminals. If they got caught, they understood you had a job to do but now it’s our fault they sit in handcuffs rather than their own personal decisions.

If someone attacked a cop, they were seen as such. Now we martyr them and sue for millions.

We used to be able to testify in court and we were believed. Now, unless there is video from three different angles, no one cares what you have to say.

With all this talk about racism and racist cops, I’ve never seen people treated differently because of their race. And while I know that cowards that have never done this job will call me racist for saying it, all I’ve ever seen was criminal behavior and cops trying to stop it and they didn’t give a rip what their skin color was.

I’ve seen cops help and save any type of race, gender or ethnicity you can think of and while that used to mean something, no one cares anymore.

I’ve been called every name you can think of and many of them with racial overtones and it’s never come from cops. I’ve watched African American cops take the brunt of this and even talked one rookie out of quitting after he was berated by a lot of cowards that had the same skin color as him.

I’ve heard words I never heard before being a cop.

Uncle Tom, Cracker, Pig and the N Word just to name a few. I’ve heard them thousands of times and never once did I see a police officer retaliate.

They just took it.

Despite that, it’s been the greatest opportunity of my life to do this job. I would have recommended it to anyone and I secretly hoped one of my kids would do it one day.

They would have been a 4th Generation Cop.

But today, all of that is over. I wouldn’t wish this job on my worst enemy. I would never send anyone I cared about into the hell that this profession has become.

It’s the only job you can do everything right and lose everything.

It’s the only job where the same citizens you risk your life for hate you for it.

It’s the only segment left in society where it’s cool to discriminate and judge, just because of the uniform you wear.

You never get to explain.

You can never reason with them.

The nasty words have now turned into rocks and bottles and gunfire.

I’ve watched it happen to those around me and I have seen the total destruction of their life.

This job is a walking time bomb and you could get cancelled or prosecuted on the very next call, even if you do everything right.

No profession has to deal with that.

Doctors kill 250,000 people a year. They call them “medical mistakes” because society understands that they do a very difficult job under high stress and they must make the best possible decision in the moment.

Law enforcement is tasked with the same and we are highly successful. Despite the most violent society we have ever seen, less than 1,000 suspects are killed a year. 96% are attacking us with weapons and all but a few others are attacking us with their cars or their fists and more and more with simulated guns so Benjamin Crump (an American civil rights attorney) can help their family win the lottery.

I’ve seen cops risk their own lives when they shouldn’t have… just to keep from taking one.

They never get the credit that other professions get.

Cowards are all around us. From chiefs to sheriffs to politicians, no one has our back.

Now, the little we have, we are told they are going to defund us or even abolish us. Citizens with a political agenda will reign over us and all you have to do is wake up and put on a uniform to be a racist.

This weekend I received death threats for just doing my job. It would have been outrageous a decade ago and made national news.

Now, it’s just a Monday.

There will be more threats, more accusations of racism and more lies told about us.

I used to talk cops out of leaving the job. Now I’m encouraging them.

It’s over America. You finally did it.

You aren’t going to have to abolish the police, we won’t be around for it.

And while I know most Americans still appreciate us, it’s not enough and the risk is too high.

Those of you that say thank you or buy the occasional meal, it means everything.

But those of you that were silent while the slow turning of the knives in our backs happened by thugs and cowards, this is on you.

Your belief in hashtags and memes over the truth has and will create an environment in your community that you will never expect.

If you think Minneapolis will never turn into Mogadishu – it’s coming.

And when it does, remember what your complicity did.

This is the America that you made.

Read more

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
21 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

My only wish is that those that pushed for this insanity are the first to need a cop.

@Deplorable Me:

They won’t be. The wealthy left can afford their own security. Those like Malig-Nancy Pelosi have federal security.

But the barrios and the black neighborhoods are in for a shock when they call 911 and there is no officer to send them. You just got robbed? Call a counselor who can help you deal with your loss. You just had shots fired at your house and the bullets went through your living room wall? Home Depot has a sale on drywall.

@retire05: I’m sure there will be plenty of new customers needing security. Hopefully they will refuse to protect those who had deemed them racist murderers.

Yes, the poor neighborhoods will suffer first and the most, something I’m sure Democrats are poised to exploit as well.

@Deplorable Me:

I’m sure there will be plenty of new customers needing security. Hopefully they will refuse to protect those who had deemed them racist murderers.

Sure, all those police officers are licensed thru their state. So why not go to work providing private security (at almost twice the pay, I may add) instead of dealing with Democrats that require you to be harassed, bullied, threatened and even, in some cases, killed at a much lower pay.

Yes, the poor neighborhoods will suffer first and the most, something I’m sure Democrats are poised to exploit as well.

Of course they will. As it stands now, the poor neighborhoods already require the largest number of police on duty (federal guidelines of on duty officers per 1,000 residents) and per the crime ratio.

This very drive proves that nothing good ever comes from the Democrats and their agenda for America.

If the police DO walk off their jobs in huge numbers – which they should, given how badly they are being treated by a public scared silly by the prospect of Black Rebellion – what happens next?

Yes, rioting, and especially looting – the favorite pastime of chronically criminal “elements” – will spread like a Chinese virus, and no corner of society will be immune to it.

Yes, the exceptionally rich will “purchase” their own police, but there aren’t enough of them to matter at the voting booth, while the rest of law-abiding citizens will be left to fend for themselves, and they WILL vote out who they blame.

Yes, the middle class have guns, and they’ll use them.

The question is: What will the President and Congress do about the disintegration of “Law and Order,” about the social digression into vigilantism, and about the total failure of government to maintain the peace that will be the result.

Is this the destiny of smaller government? That it loses its capacity to provide even a minimal semblance of control over a population bent on criminal activity?

Isn’t THIS the sort of thing that Trump promises to avoid with his “powerful” application of Federal strength that will take back America from the hoodlums?

So, I’m waiting…

@George Wells: If our electoral system works properly, the President won’t have to do anything. Citizens will vote out the incompetent idiots they currently have ruining their lives and put people who care about their safety and well being in office.

But, that won’t be the end of it. Democrats have allowed this political violence (and that’s all this is) to get out of hand and it will have to be put down violently. That is the true shame of it all; innocent people will be hurt and killed.

@Deplorable Me:

If our electoral system works properly, the President won’t have to do anything.

But wouldn’t it be better if Trump DID something?

You know that the Democrats won’t “put down the violence,” as you put it, so Trump will have to do that. And how will he? Forcing the military to do police work is a dead-end, as has been already discovered, and forcing the National Guard to take over a Democrat-governed city in a Democrat-governed state will precipitate a constitutional crisis that will take many months to sort out at the Supreme Court. Do you think Trump wants that battle? Every time Trump has made that bluff it has been called, and he has backed down because he knows what comes next, and he doesn’t want that for good reason. So guess what happens. The rioters will be eventually paid off to go home, and the tax payers will foot the bill. So what’s new?

@George Wells:

But wouldn’t it be better if Trump DID something?

Like what? Send in troops? The left is dying for him to do that; they are willing to sacrifice lives and livelihoods of citizens to try and create political contention.

By far the best solution for the citizens is to kick the fascist-sympathizing Democrats out of office as far as they can be kicked. Accountability is the cure; that’s what our system of government is built upon. Of course, they should have seen this coming long ago when these governments failed to support law enforcement.

@George Wells: Hey George. I agree. While I’d like to see something forceful be done, it’s really not a good look.

There’s been enough propaganda to suggest that the riots were fomented by police just so Donald could roll in the tanks and take over the country permanently, which is of course ridiculous.

But I do like that Trump has required the states to act like States. Anything that comes badly out of the Chaz situation well be on the shoulders of the Washington state government, and not at all on Donald Trump.

We went on some rockhounding expeditions recently. Our big find was astrophyllite, and we are going to a rich claim that will have smoky quartz and amazonite in a couple weeks!

I’ll admit this is very addictive stuff.

Hope you’ve been well.

@Nathan Blue:

The amazonite-and-smoky-quartz combo is one of the most spectacular lookers in all of complex mineralogy. Good luck finding some!
Also, I’ve picked up some pretty nice astrophyllite in white matrix from Russia – cool star-bursts of the crystalline astro against the white comes across like a negative of snowflakes, though the astro is actually 3-D in the matrix. Fun science!

As for the police problem, it has grown a long time to get where it is today, just like the race problem that didn’t just happen overnight. The double-whammy is that they both feed off the same race-hate, and no solution will ever work while so much hate flourishes.

Sure, Curt. Give up. That’s a solution that makes a problem worse if there ever was one. So you WANT anarchy? And when we are reduced to a squabbling pack of rats that come in two different colors, how long do you think it will take the Chinese or the Russians to step in to knock some sense into our stupid, self-destructive obsession with our own self-importance. In the direction we’re going, the best we can hope for is a full-blown civil war, with a BEST-CASE scenario of the country divided up like a pile of red and blue confetti tossed high to land as haphazardly as the electoral college divides up the map. Wonderful solution!

And look at Despicable Me’s solution. He’s accusing the Left of wanting an armed confrontation, but HE’S itching for a fight, too. Wants a real knock-down, drag-out, kick-ass-and-take-names bruhaha, and if that sort of response won’t start a full-blown race war, nothing will.

If you can’t see that to get past this terrible predicament that our dalliance with slavery centuries ago has earned us, we will have to make true peace in our hearts and minds with each other, then we are truly sunk. Then, when the communists shove THEIR shite down our throats, lets see if you like the taste of that better than reconciliation between neighborhoods and across the isle.

This is not going to be won with guns and bullets. Anybody with half a working brain should see that plain as day.

@Curt:

From your comments last, I am reminded of the tens of thousands of healthcare workers who have been infected by the COVID-19 virus exactly because they were never issued adequate PPE (that “N-95” mask isn’t much better than a vegetable strainer when it comes to stopping the passage of a virus that has a maximum diameter half of the mask’s exclusion spec). They knew it. Yet they stayed on the job, knowing their risks and that some of them would die as a result. They are today’s heroes.

I’m also reminded of the over 50,000 servicemen and women who took up arms to fight a misguided war in Vietnam, feeling that their ultimate sacrifice, if it came to that, was for the freedom of all Americans. Those are heroes too, as were our servicemen who died for their country in every war we have ever waged.

That magnificent dedication to flag and country is something that requires a certain amount of youthful naivety and idealism that fades as we grow old and our childhood brainwashing wears thin. So don’t feel guilty, Curt, if your proud 34 years in uniformed service to your fellow citizens have left you soured on the sparse thanks you have received. You deserve a rest. It’s time for someone else to take your baton and run with it. You have my thanks for your service.

We each and every one of us can do but so much in any capacity. Curt has done his duty. We can only hope that when Curt has left his post, someone else will take up the challenge, someone younger and less cautious, someone not afraid to do what needs to be done, no matter the cost. Today’s problems will be solved by tomorrow’s children, not today’s veterans. We’ve at long last done enough.

Funny how it takes reaching the precipice to teach us to value the lives that in out youth we were so quick to jeopardize…

@Curt: Didn’t know you were a cop. Thanks for trying. To hell with those that want you to take a bullet instead of shooting some scumbag. I know a lot of people will suffer due to no fault of their own, but there’s NOTHING you or any other cop can do about it. The PEOPLE will have to learn and vote the garbage that brought this upon them out of office. Sue THEM.

@George Wells: People like Curt have no other choice. Almost every means to subdue a suspect has been taken away from them and they are expected to get shot before they use deadly force. Bullshit on that.

And yeah, since the problem they are “solving”… systemic racism… doesn’t exist, the solutions are going to get cops killed.

What happened when the solution to arresting so many petty thieves was to raise the allowed theft to $900 before it was arrestable? Thefts BELOW $900 skyrocketed. The same will happen with resisting arrest and fighting cops; they’ll know they’ve got a much better chance of winning and that the government won’t back the cops, anyway. So, yeah… when government tells you they don’t want cops but babysitters, then it’s time to take care of one’s self.

@Curt:

Let the country have first a few weeks of nightly riots and looting, then a couple more weeks of round-the-clock rioting and looting, and see if the sentiment of the country doesn’t change to one more to your liking.

Unfortunately, the world won’t ever join hands and sing Cumbia in harmony, so there really is no peaceful, civilized solution to the fact that there are simply too many people on the planet. Some have to go. World Wars, pandemics, race wars, genocide, bioterrorism, weapons on mass destruction… we have plenty of preparatory experience and we know full well how to practice what Darwin preached.

Mankind hasn’t yet learned how to control either its instinct to reproduce excessively or its proclivity to kill excessively, preparing the way for what cosmologists have suspected for several decades: That life forms that develop deadly technologies (as advanced species sooner or later must do) inevitably exterminate themselves a fairly short time after they obtain the power to do so.

Nuclear missiles are soooo effective!
Blessed are the cockroaches, for they shall inherit the Earth.

No, Curt, it isn’t your fault. Didn’t mean to suggest it was. You and yours are just taking the next step toward the end, as all the people who are giving up.

@Curt:

Thank you for your service. Blue Lives Matter…

@Curt:

I am hearing the same thing from all the cops I know in Austin and Houston. They are ready to walk.

Now the officer in Atlanta has been charged with First Degree murder. This is simply a sacrifice at the alter of political correctness and the DA Paul Howard trying to save his political ass in his upcoming run-off with another Democrat. Of course, it is also to detract from Howard’s own troubles. He has also been accused of sexual harassment by two women, one he demoted when she refused his advances.
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/gbi-opens-probe-fulton-paul-howard-over-use-nonprofit-funds/cgSq6UgzmHbCfGNJcxMJ6O/

@retire05: Gotta love how just a week ago Howard charged that a taser in the hands of a trained officer was a deadly weapon but in this case, a taser in the hands of a running drunk is NOT lethal.

He has ruined this case. Most likely the officers will now get off scott-free, inciting MORE riots (of course, there would be riots if they were found guilty as well, so…).

@Deplorable Me:

Gotta love how just a week ago Howard charged that a taser in the hands of a trained officer was a deadly weapon but in this case, a taser in the hands of a running drunk is NOT lethal.

Video is out with Howard declaring that, according to Georgia law, tasers are a deadly weapon. It was just recently that four Atlanta police officers were fired for using a taser (again, a deadly weapon per Georgia law). The double standard here is monumental.

Let’s not forget that Howard has an ulterior motive; his primary run-off and the charges against him. Where is the #believeallwomen movement to take this clown out? Oh, that’s right, Howard’s a Democrat. Democrats are immune to #believeallwomen.