my father and some of the best people i've ever known were policemen in washington d.c.. it's a thankless job, underpaid, overworked, constantly being second-guessed by people who sit at home on their overstuffed couch, and judge people for their behavior-that they'll never encounter, or have to make split second decision about.
they have their bosses in one ear, the media in the other, the citizens on their asses. damned when they do, damned when they don't.
when they're in a situation, well, they shouldn't be there. but when someone else is in a situation, who are they screaming for? the cops...but they're never around when you need them, right?
my father was there for the vietnam protests, the farmers protests, the politicians drunk in limos with women who weren't their wives, drunks, crooks, the dregs of society trying to kill them...he'd been stabbed, shot at, assaulted, etc, etc
we all know the saying, walk a mile in their shoes..yeah, but who actually does that?
i watched my mother go thru 20 years of worry about my dad, working doubles, round the clock, dealing with all that. yeah, they all suck.
fact is, they don't. i know it for a fact.
a friend of ours was a k-9 cop. he made the mistake one night of running after a guy down the alley, and leaving the dog in the car. the dog tore that car apart trying to get to him, because he got his ass beat-lost his four front teeth to a baseball bat. was off work for weeks after that.
yeah, i'm sure paul had that coming.