What happened to police officer respect

[DBlain]

It is driving me nuts that so many people in our country seem to no longer have respect for police officers. I doubt very many start their shift hoping to get into a fight for their life with a member of the community they are trying to protect. From an early age I knew that if you were stopped by the police you answered them politely, you did not run, you did not cuss, you did not punch them and you most certainly did not try to grab their gun, just saying.........................

[EarthAngel]

Many years ago in my neighborhood everyone knew the cop on the beat. He would be genuinely friendly to all the kids and it is a shame that the police have stopped walking neighborhoods. It gave a different perspective of them...not only the one that would pull you over for a traffic infraction.

Too bad we can't go back to that simpler time.

[DBlain]

ahhhh the good old days, but then the suburbs took over, to hard to walk a beat, but I do still see some walking around NYC and even Detroit inthe areas where there are still city streets and lots of pedestrians. LOL if they walked around here they would see no one, since everyone comes and goes through their garage entries.

[Yorkiemom1]

Disrespect for authority crosses all boundaries, including but certainly not limited to, police officers, teachers, senior citizens, etc. It seems, in MY opinion, that children have been and are currently now indoctrinated to challenge any "order" given by anyone that would be considered "authoritative" or "in charge" of a situation. I used to have a yardman that had a masters in education, quit teaching because he feared for his life in the classrooms he was teaching.....no respect for his position, his knowledge, or what he was so very capable of TEACHING the irresponsible, smart mouthed, rebellous thugs that were running ruff shod over his class room, as well as the few students that were actually trying to learn. His hands were tied as far as dicipline, and if he did manage to get some hooligan down to the principle's office, he found his car keyed and tires flattened in the teachers parking lot. Then, one day, he was caught in the parking lot by some thug with a knife..... This abuse runs rampant in all areas of our society. Instead of kids being raised to respect people in authority, they are being coached to challenge and question and defy anything anyone says to them, with the common mantra, "Dont take no chit off nobody". It seems to be the prevailing train of thought that "might makes right".... When Dr.Spock came back 35 years after he first wrote his book on how to raise bold children that are strong, independent, exploring and developing their own limitations without a firm parental guidance system, and question the sources of reasoning or authority they may encounter, and shook his head and announced publically that he was solely responsible for the ruination of 2 generations of children and he did not know if our society would ever recover from that.... Who in the baby boomers generation would have ever taunted, slapped, spit, attacked verbally or physically, or challenged a teacher, a policeman, or anyone their senior, just because they were "tuff enuff" to do it?

[DBlain]

you are so right, a lot of my friends that are teaches hate it now, and mainly because they do not get back up from parents and the admin is so afraid of law suits and bad press they don't have the teaches back as well. As a kid if I got in trouble at school I was more afraid of what my parents would do and have to say, my parents felt if I was in trouble I did something wrong, not the other way around.

Plain and simple if that man in MO stopped and answered that cops questions he would still be alive, he may be in jail, but he would still be alive.

[DBlain]

I was in a pretty nice restaurant a few months back, white table clothes, wine, double digit entree's etc. There was a table of about 6 16-18 year old girls almost screaming their conversation. I finally had enough and said since this is a nice restaurant could they try to keep their conversation to below screaming, well the Fbomb starting flying and they got louder and of course the restaurant never said anything either because I guess did not want to offend any "patron" All I know is when I was their age I would not have had the money to eat in such a place and if I did and an older person asked me to keep my voice down I would have been mortified and lowered my voice and said I was sorry.

[yorkiemini]

My son is in the military and whenever we are on base with him I used to ask why all those young men suddenly stand erect and salute him every time they see him - sometimes takes forever to get across the base.

His comment was, first they are in basic training, and that they are learning that to be successful they must be polite and respectful and recognize authority. Those who do that well do very well and in his case get to fly very fast and expensive planes

Those that don't are not successful in that environment. He did comment recently that in the past the drill sgts did not have to teach those lessons like they do now. It is a different generation and many of today's generation want nothing to do with the military. They see it as too archaic ---right up until they need them

[megansmomma]

As for the police, I have personally witnessed some pretty horrible behavior from our towns police officers. Here's a for instance, a few years ago I was helping look for a dog that has run off during a rescue transport. I had received an email and it just so happened that the dog had escaped just a few blocks from my home. So I offered to help look for the poor lost girl I was driving around and spotted a police SUV in a school parking lot so I drove over to where he was parked....alone in the middle of a summer afternoon and he was just plain outright rude. He was the village canine officer so I thought he would have some compassion instead he scolded me for bothering him. Not only that but he intentionally let his dog bark wildly at me and chewed me out for approaching him with the dog. First off, growing up my best friend's dad was an canine officer so I had been around police dogs for a very long time. When I was in my early 20's this same girl dated another canine office. So just a little experience and know he gave the dog the command to behave that way. Total crap...IMO. He was also indifferent to the situation and I drove away feeling horrible. What happened to the police acting kind or compassionate? It just lead me to think how this cop would have treated others with his authority. I was just a woman looking for a rescue dog that was spotted in that general area.

This entire subject really gets me going. There is such a lack of respect on so many levels and it's just broad sweeping. There is no respect for even our President. I believe that whoever is elected for an office especially the President of the United Stated there should be respect offered. Facebook makes me crazy with the outrageous images of the President and First Lady that I see posted and passed around. Why is this considered acceptable? It just trickles down from there. The adults can't act correctly so why should the children behave any better? SMH......

[yorkiemini]

Oh golly! Well, respect has to go both ways. The police are PUBLIC SERVANTS and sometimes have to be reminded of that. You were treated terribly and I would complain, big time!

[yorkietalkjilly]

So many people no longer respect any authority figures but especially police that I wonder that any truly qualified men and women still want the job. And I imagine that no amount of training can cover some of the situations they find themselves in.

Don't you wonder how those communities that seem to detest them so much would like it if they just all took a even a week off the job to see what life would be like without them? Besides being law enforcement officers, most of our police are certified first responders and they all have a horrible, thankless job to do that ends in mounds of paperwork before they can go home, don't get paid nearly enough, have constantly worried families and now have the obvious hatred of so many the country over. No wonder they are over-stressed at times.

Have you all read that the Detroit mayor has told his citizens to arm themselves as their police force is so understaffed now that they cannot properly respond to emergency calls when crimes are being committed against Detroit citizens? And with the possibility that every time they shoot to kill someone they might need to face state and federal murder charges, it could be even less young people will want to become police. It's a very scary situation as more cities are on the verge of bankruptcy and cutting back and less and less police candidates joining the force that with another financial crisis, this country be without adequate police coverage and we have to fend for ourselves when someone breaks into our home in the middle of the night, stalks our daughters/beats up our sons, steals our cars or begins to shoot up the neighborhood.

Police tell Detroiters to buy guns in city riven by race issues and crime | Money | theguardian.com

[CocoGabrielle]

I think respect is a 2 way street. You shouldn't expect it if you aren't willing to give it. Also, its harder to change a negative first impression.

[DBlain]

I live about 40 miles north of Detroit and go there very seldom because it just is not safe. It's very sad, just today a man was high jacked and even though he gave away the keys to his car, the high jacker stood over him and pointed the gun at his head, some very brave woman that was watching started screaming at the guy and he wound up just looking at her and then jumped in the stolen car and drove away. The victim was just moments away from death and most feel that if the woman had not screamed the man would have been dead. Drive by shootings, kids being killed when sleeping in their bed or playing on their front porch is a weekly thing. There are many people that live in Detroit that would kill you if they thought you looked at them in a bad way, fights break out over baseball jackets, over ex girlfriends, over the pettiest things. The demographics of Ferguson is much like Detroit, it's sad but many have little respect for life, you have to wonder while getting punched in the head if all those factors did not flash through the officers mind when he decided to protect himself and not take a chance.

Residents of Detroit, the ones that like to commit the crimes, brandish guns like others might carry a pocket knife and think nothing of whipping it out to prove a point, so unfortunately the only way to live in that type of environment is to get your own gun and be prepared to use it.

[DBlain]

In thinking more about this I realize that the word respect has several meanings, in looking at the definition, I guess I am addressing more the second part of what Webster says the word means "a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way" I would think that those of you that are parents especially of teens understand this, often kids might not agree with someone in authority but in order to live in society or a family unit they need to respect the title and obey the rules. While I am not saying that police are above the law I think when push comes to shove the law of our land would say that you need to comply with their authority. Perhaps a better way of thinking of it, is there are just times where you have to comply with those in authority.




1re·spect noun \ri-ˈspekt\

: a feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc.

: a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way

: a particular way of thinking about or looking at something

[Yorkiemom1]

Originally Posted by CocoGabrielle

I think respect is a 2 way street. You shouldn't expect it if you aren't willing to give it. Also, its harder to change a negative first impression.

Unfortunately, some people consider "respect" as "I can do anything I want and you have no right to stop me or challange my actions". Then they add a defiant attitude and a little smart mouth beligerance, then squeal like a hog under a gate when they are treated "harshly" or "roughly" or without their own narrow, skewed definition of "respect". If a teacher tells me to get rid of my chewing gum, I do it because the teacher is in charge of the classroom. If the teacher tells me to quit passing notes, I do what I am told to do, because I respect her position.....she has earned my respect by virtue of being in charge of that class. I was grocery shopping and some little brat that looked to be about 5 years old, was shoving cans of beenie weenies in his baggy pants. The manager saw him, approached him, told him he could not do that and told him to take the cans he had already shoved into his pants, out.....that little monster cussed the manager out and actuaqlly threw cans of beenie weenies at him, one can hit the manager over his eye, cutting him. He made a break for the front door, but was caught in the parking lot, where his mother was waiting for him in their car. She had the unmitigated gall to cop an attitude and get all hysterical that her little son was attacked and "disrespected" by an adult that should know better than to attack poor little hungry children..... PUHLEEZE!!!!!

[yorkietalkjilly]

The two policemen I know say most young men on the street - when it's just them and the cops - rarely comply with a kind or gentle request unless a TV camera is on them or a reporter is nearby. In reality, they say, inner-city youth and criminal adults of today generally only respond to harsh authority and ignore a cop as weak if he's too nice. They said the reality of the life of the kids and criminals is so tough and harsh, they don't really recognize anything but raw power out on the streets, though behind the scenes and one-on-one, they may be different, even as they are scared to death of being found out being nice to a cop. It can get them cut, beaten up or killed.

I don't personally know if that's true but these two guys speak plainly, have no reason to tweak the truth they live, have been in police work for over 25 and 30 years each respectively and I respect their insight and honesty on the reality of the streets. Each has lost brothers in the line of duty and one of them has delivered two babies and saved kids in harm's way. Both are heroes many times over, both have been shot and have both fired their weapons in the line of duty.

Riding the street is apparently not what the politicians, sociologists and media would like to think it is for a cop on the beat dealing with big, tough street kids, the mentally ill, wife-beaters, pedophiles/kidnappers, drugged out dopers, gang-members, chronic criminals, murderers and would-be cop-killers. I can't imagine why either of them loves his job.