I love the police, at least about 99% of the time. State troopers, who patrol the highways are generally fair, and I have never been stopped going my usual five miles per hour over the speed limit. Long ago, there was a “Support your local police” group, which I gladly supported and joined. Locally, I know the chief on a first name basis, and he runs an excellent department.
In Philly, I knew Frank Rizzo, and he was superb as a cop and Commissioner, even though the press hated him. His force loved him. Just thinking about cops, makes me remember a lot about the late Frank Rizzo. Frank was a beefy, muscled, six foot four, South Philly Italian, who took nonsense from no one. During the Philly riots, a friend was down in North Philly watching the action, and this was before Frank made Commissioner. Wade was on the phone talking to friend Pete and myself, and described Frank knocking the rioters heads together and throwing them, literally, in paddy wagons and having them hauled off to jail. Once, Frank Rizzo went before the city council and requested money to buy two big red buses, which he would have armored and filled with artillery, the best communications, and anything needed to put a quick end to any troubles. “I can get to any place in Philly in ten minutes with these busses,” Frank promised, but they denied him his busses. My daughter was once in the Hahnaman Hospital on North Broad St, and she heard a commotion down on the sidewalk below. Frank Rizzo had just died in the same hospital, and crowds had congregated to mourn his death. He was such a good Police Commissioner, in spite of appointing his inept brother Fire Commissioner, that when he ran for Mayor, he was easily elected. Good cops don’t always make good mayors, and Frank didn’t.
Uniforms of any degree or style, seem to change the wearer’s personality. Boy Scouts. soldiers, cops, or even backwards collars preachers, unfortunately seem to give the wearers a certain amount of pomposity and ego. Cops are not immune from this, and in a small number of cases, police become haughty and insufferable because of the uniform and the power it bestows. These creeps should never have been made officers, and rogue cops must be gotten rid of immediately, regardless of seniority.
Unfortunately, cops have a very small influence on crime. Why? Because most cops drive around in air-conditioned patrol cars, and when something happens, they rush to the scene to fill out reports. In a car with sealed windows, nothing can be heard, and little seen. On days of yore, cops walked a beat, and were aware of just about everything which went on. Crime was greatly diminished when cops walked rather than rode. Would be robbers, rapists, and criminals of all sorts can hide in bushes, behind walls, and be virtually invisible till their dastardly acts are committed. If cops had beats and walked them, regardless of the weather, I can assure you that city crimes would be greatly reduced.
The old expression that “Speed Kills,” is wrong. If I go 85, when the speed limit is 75, and it is an interstate highway with directions separated, a wide, multi-laned highway, or when there is little or no traffic, speed doesn’t kill at all. Lack of driving skill, icy roads, congestion, or drunken driving kills, but not speed, unless it is practiced under those dangerous conditions. I am certain that seat belts have saved lives, but to force everyone to wear them is preposterous. Air bags may have saved few lives, and some say none, but have caused a lot of ruined ears and child deaths. Now there are air bags on the sides of cars as well as the front, I am sure just to satisfy the idiotic bureaucrats and makers of air bags. Statistics show that most highway deaths and severe accidents, are usually caused by intoxicated drivers, not speeding drivers, and air bags cost a lot of money. Why not let air bags be an option rather than compulsory?
In large cites with large minority populations, cops are put to severe tests. Law breakers, robbers, rapists and arsonists hate law enforcement, because it interferes with their occupations. It is difficult not to have racist feeling when the TV shows endless criminals being caught, described, or wanted, when they are black males, which they usually seem to be. Cops are humans like the rest of us, and eventually they get tired of the crime, violence, and brutality which comes with bad neighborhoods in large cities, and I can’t blame them. When a black man, at night, threatens and appears to pull a gun, no one can blame a cop if he shoots.
Cops and firefighters are very important parts of our civilization. Firefighters place their lives in danger daily, and in large cities, many times a day in busy engine companies. Have you ever stopped to realize that firefighters and cops are in most danger from those who pay virtually no taxes which support them, and are responsible for the huge majority of calls for their services? I have never had fire or called for police protection, but I am thankful that they are there if needed. Even in my small town, the lowest income, trashiest people, are the ones who are violent, and in need of fire and police actions a hundred times more often than the taxpayers who pay their salaries. Fire fighters die when slum buildings collapse, or maybe they die trying to save the life of a person whose life may be far less valuable than the firefighter’s who gave his to save them.
One last observation: I cannot for the life of me understand why there are female firefighters and police. They are far weaker and less brave than a male, and as far as I am concerned, there should be no female soldiers, firefighters, or police. I guess I must be a sexist.