When People Tell You They Hate Cops, Believe Them!

As the daughter of a law enforcement family, it takes a lot for me to criticize local policing. Mainly because I've seen up close how dealing with the public, good and bad, can take a toll. Negative evaluation seems to be the standard point of view these days and I'm not sure it's always well deserved. Ask any Law Enforcement Officer and they will tell you that they hate bad cops even more than the average person. Mainly because it just makes their job of connecting to their community that much harder in terms of overcoming the stigma of bad press.

Cops in general take a lot of heat for the misbehavior of their co-workers, deservedly or not. Many times, the blemish of impropriety can lead good cops to throw in the towel rather than be associated with flagrant misbehavior. And it's getting harder and harder to find good honest law enforcement prospective professionals that want to put themselves through that wringer. It leads to the question, why would anyone want to put their life on the line on a daily basis for a community that judges an entire department on the actions of a few bad apples?

Now add on a national trend of a younger generation that seems to have less and less respect for societal norms and an antagonistic attitude towards authority figures and you have yourself a dicey prospect for attracting new recruits. Every day there seems to be a new national story about a teenager brutalizing an Uber driver or a group of young people committing crimes indiscriminately and seemingly without repercussions.

Tune in to the Austin Rhodes show weekday afternoons at 3pm on AM580/95.1FM to voice your opinion and hear the latest from the CSRA.