Why I Didn't Become A Cop: An Introduction

This should probably serve as my partial introduction to the Steemit community, there is more to me than just this issue, that is why this is a multi part introduction. A main focus of mine is the idea of justice. In that study comes many things. You have the ever growing police state, the increasing militarization of the police, the ever expanding lists of laws and restrictions, the growing corruption, and out front of it all the brutality we see every day. Police are not the shields of the people but the very violators. 

Below is my story of pursuing, naively and wrong headed as it was, a career in law enforcement.

In 2009 I decided to pursue a career in Law Enforcement. I attended a law enforcement training center in Jacksonville Florida and graduated in 2010, receiving my state certification a few weeks after graduating. I applied for and interviewed for positions all over the State of Florida. I was offered a position but had to turn it down due to the terms of the employment contract. Since that time; because of my experiences in the academy and in my interview process with multiple agencies, my interactions with officers and agents of many different departments, my view on police has drastically evolved. While I do not believe that humans, as we are now, can suffice without some sort of security services, at one time I did. And while at one time I made the case that the only role of government (should it exist at all) should be that of protection of the people and their inherent rights, now I have concluded government to be the transgressor and violator of many rights while casting a faux blanket of security and safety over the people’s faces; it stands in violation to it’s own laws.

Multiple times every single day police officers around the world break laws they are expected to punish others for breaking. Killing, assault, breaking into homes, cars and businesses, theft, rape, and even more so the smaller misdemeanors like speeding, not wearing seat belts, jay walking, and everything else many of us lowly folk get citations and cages for. Even these small victim-less crimes show the monumental hypocrisy of the enforcement arm of the State. Their violations may not go completely unnoticed or unpunished, but there is sometimes a vast disparity between the punishments of police personnel and everyone else. Like this guy.

They get paid whether you live or die, they get paid whether you get your stolen stuff back, they get paid whether or not you like their “service”, whether or not they actually did anything for you. They can be fired sure (though it takes quite a bit before that happens), but the government protects the entirety of the system they work for. The system will continue to provide bad service because they can. They are not beholden to market forces of profit or loss or consumer desire. If an incident occurs and an officer can be found guilty of committing a crime, the public is still responsible for restitution to the victims. Since police funding comes from revenue generated by ticketing and by the appropriation of tax monies agreed upon by the government, it stands that all their funding comes from theft. Until people come to realize better alternatives to today's policing system, they can continue the beatings, the killings, the imprisoning for victimless crimes, while being paid for by the very people they beat, kill and imprison, as well as the rest of the citizens.

My journey into Law Enforcement began as nothing more than the idea that “I wanted to help people”, that is the cliché answer given by a lot of officers to reduce their job down to their belief that they are the protectors of morals and well-being in the community or state. It was mine as well. My time in the academy and interacting with my trainers and officer instructors taught me a few things about the career path I was about to enter. It taught me of the institutionalized violence justified by officers for their own safety. It taught me the normality of aggression and brutality in the profession. It taught me the helplessness people feel around the police. Remember every encounter with an officer at least one gun is present and with the proliferation of immunity from persecution for using their weapons of unarmed people in unprovoked situations, that can and does lead to a very dangerous situation. 

I still want to help people, but I can't justify stealing from them and brutalize them in that idea. I did not become a cop because I refused to lower myself to giving up principle for a paycheck. I refused to steal from people. I refused to enforce laws that abolish, limit, restrict or regulate peaceful people from living a life of purpose free from the force of government. I recognize the need for security in the world, I also recognize the hypocrisy of that goal in the current system of laws and their enforcement. There is a better way to go about the safety and security of people and property. 

My time in the academy and riding with officers revealed a lot of ingrained and learned behaviors that lead us to what we have today, the attitudes of the officers and the attitude of the public towards police officers. In my interview process I learned quite a bit about the real meaning of the "thin blue line" and its mentality within law enforcement. I will, in time, share those stories with you all. 

As I said in the beginning there are many more pursuits in my life and many more issues to tackle and stories to tell. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to contributing more in the future. 

Best regards,

Travis R. Wilson