Good Cops And Bad Cops...What Does The Job Call For And What Is It Funded By?

A police officer by definition is an occupation that is supposed to enforce the law. Many of the laws are unjust and they call for that officer to initiate violence against someone over a victimless crime. When cops do this on a daily basis, should we still see any of them as good? The common officer, by occupational duty, is going to frequently initiate violence against a variety of people throughout the day for victimless crimes.

So when we talk about the “are there any good cops” discussion, what definition of good are we going by? Mine? Yours? Sally's? John's? What makes a person “good” in your eyes? Is it, at the very least, someone who doesn't initiate force against peaceful people? … If so then, by definition, cops don't really seem to make the cut do they?

Can we not make a distinction and separate John Smith from his occupation of being an officer? Can we not say, hey John you might be a nice guy but your occupation as it stands is a bad one? Hypocritical at the very least in that you are paid with extortion funds from people who you claim to be keeping safe.

Perhaps people wouldn't have such a problem with officers if they didn't routinely witness them to be above the law and be seemingly held to a different standard of rules than us simple peasants. When we take a look at private security, who no doubt have to deal with a variety of characters on a daily basis, we never hear about them harassing the mentally disabled or shooting any of the family pets on the properties that they go to, do we?

Jimmy might toss 10 people behind bars one week for possessing a plant, then he'll turn around and buy some homeless lady shoes and anyone witnessing will say, look! Jimmy is a "good cop!" because he's doing something nice. But what does his job call him to do all day long, every day that he shows up for work? Just because they detain folks who should be detained (who are violent), or whether they carry out the random act of kindness that happens to go viral, doesn't negate the wrongful actions that they've committed many times over in enforcing unjust laws on a daily basis... does it?

I have known many officers throughout my life, worked with many, been taught by many, and I can say that as people – out of uniform – they are usually generally nice in that they are easy to get along with and don't initiate violence against me or anyone else who is being peaceful. But when they get that costume on, things change, and they are then called to kidnap and harass various individuals in instances where perhaps outside of the costume, their moral compass would direct them to do otherwise.

I prefer the cops who choose to focus their occupational attention on uncovering corruption within their own department, who spend time investigating credible threats, and who go about detaining violent individuals who seek to initiate harm against peaceful others.

And I would prefer them private.