Ever since the June 2020 protests over George Floyd's killing and the Black Lives Matter movement, I've wondered how police forces around the country would fare, whether they'd be defunded in the Defund the Police campaign, and even more than ever how hard it is to be a police officer nowadays.
I've been disillusioned recently by how many people from my high school ended up being a doctor and getting a M.D., especially those in the Honors classes and AP classes. Everyone has a good reason, of coure, to get a good job and have financial stability, but it seems unbalanced that all the smartest and high-achieving people in the schools choose to become doctors and lawyers and engineers (and more recently, computer programmers). What about all those tough jobs like teachers, nurses, and police officers? Not that doctors and lawyers don't work a lot or work hard, but the latter group of jobs are more fundamental to our society, and have a reputation for not getting paid very well, making them even more attactive to high-achieving people.
I read a recent article in Time magazine (yes, I still read news magazines even in 2021!) by Melissa Chan about police departments struggling to recruit black cops, and one police academy in Jefferson City, MO trying to recruit more black officers. My first reaction was "duh, of course after all the BLM events, black people won't want to join what's increasingly being patrolled as the enemies, the other team." The article made me think too, who really wants to be a cop nowadays? It's a physically demanding job, you deal with criminals and potential lawbreakers, you have to carry a gun because the job is inherently dangerously, and there is actually a risk of dying on the job. Oh and the job has a bad reputation nowadays. According to the article, 260 law-enforcement officers died on duty in 2020. That's more than a "hit-by-lightning" or "eaten-by-a-shark" random chance event, that's a significant amount. Add to that the general populace doesn't trust cops nowadays. I just got called out of the blue by a law firm investigating the police officer who cited me for allegedly jaywalking in downtown L.A. 3 years ago, apparently that officer is the target of a criminal investigation. They're like referees in a baseball game: nobody talks about if they police do a good job, but eveyone will criticize them if they do a bad job. It sucks to be a GOOD police officer (unlike the cop who stopped me) because no matter how good of a job you try to do, you're always one bad interaction away from disgrace and giving all cops everywhere a bad name. Every time a bad cop ends up on the news, all cops everywhere get a hit on their reputation. Lawyers already have a bad reputation with the public, but we still get work from corporations and big businesses, and we don't necessarily have to deal with ordinary people each and every day who are propounding "Defund the Police" demands and "All Cops are Bastards" (a truly unproductive overreaction to the police unrest over the summer).
I guess my point is, as much as society is down on police officers (and I'm not a cop-lover neither, I see plenty of bad police work) I'm grateful to those who do the work and continue to try to do a good job despite the current environment, especially those (as pointed about by the Time article) who stepped up to the challenge specifically because of the George Floyd protests to show that policing can be done in a better, more responsible way. According to the article, police departments everywhere are updating their training to show what are the correct ways to make arrests, restrain assailants, etc. Andrew Yang once suggested that all police be required to be get a purple belt in jiu-jitsu. Seems another difficult standard to uphold just to be an officer (and why police departments likely need MORE funds and not less funds to incentivize more training and get better officers). Only with better job perks, better pay, or better reasons to join the police force than just "responding to the call" or "proving to society things can change" (very noble reasons, but most people's motivations are better aroused with cold hard cash) will you get more capable, high-achieving people to join.
Despite the Derek Chauvin being on trial for the murder of George Floyd even now, policing still has to be done- crime doesn't stop. Hopefully we'll get enough good candidates (and black officers!) to apply and become good officers, so people like me who live off the work of others should be thankful for officers, or the good ones at least.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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