Yesterday I watched the video of my husband getting tased as part of his instructor's training course to carry tasers for work as a police officer. I couldn't watch it without crying. I doubt I'll ever watch it again. If you've never seen someone you love in such a situation, I can assure you... It's VERY difficult to see! He doesn't take it lightly and neither do I. Should he ever have to tase someone, it will be because he has exhausted all options leading up to that.
Today I watched the video and listened to the audio of a good friend who is a police officer (with a different department) as he and his fellow officers faced down a suicidal man with a gun... And the action they were forced to take. It's not sunshine and roses that a 63 year old man in chronic pain couldn't walk away from the situation but he wouldn't back down either and the officers did what they had to do.
Over the past week we've gotten updates from Andy's cousin (and his wife) who is a police officer near Ferguson, MO. His department is on the short list to be deployed there (and some may already be responding). Despite what the news channels are or are not reporting, a "non-peaceful" faction of the protestors has released personal information such as addresses, makes and models of vehicles etc about officers and their families and have encouraged angry "protestors" to target them. It gets real when you get the call to be the guardian of your cousin's children should anything happen!
Having people you care about in the field of law enforcement is very challenging for a TON of reasons but it's made EVEN HARDER when people make ignorant broad-sweeping comments, posts, or off-hand remarks about "cops" and how corrupt, dirty, militaristic or inhumane they are or how they all have itchy fingers to hurt someone. Anyone.
It's disgusting to me that people can't be sensitive to the fact that they are the first ones headed into the erupting chaos to sort it out. Or that they forget that officers act on the information in front of them. If that information is a Molotov cocktail being hurled at them or a cocked revolver being trained on them, they have to act to protect themselves and others. Police officers don't have the luxury to opt out when things are bad and only getting worse! It's also amazing to me how quickly people forget the fact that they are spouses, children, parents and loved ones of real people. They disregard the fact that despite being able to suit up and handle the worst situations imaginable, THEY ARE PEOPLE.
This week has been intense with all of these situations coming home to roost. But it's not been made any easier by the insensitive actions of others.
Are there bad cops? Yes. Are there poorly trained cops? Yes. But that's the extreme minority!
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