Police in Crisis
Police officers have a tough job: They must keep their cool when arresting people, when mediating altercations, and even when being shot at. And the only way they can do their job is if they are generally seen as paragons of virtue by the public. Absent that perception of snow-white integrity, police will quickly be seen as the enemy of the people — just as radical leftists such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa desire. In fact, one of the only things holding the thin blue line together is the relationship of trust between police officers and the communities they serve and protect. When that trust is compromised, law and order begins to break down. Once it breaks down, police have two choices: Use brute force to obtain public order, or simply allow bad elements to range virtually at will — much as in how corruption, kidnapping, and murder are commonplace in Mexico and other countries.
Politicizing Police Actions
Problems occur and police increasingly take on the mantle of “enemy” when police are judged to be unfair, unthinking, cogs in a government wheel that is meant to oppress rather than protect.
Recent events illustrate this very well. The death of George Floyd was used as a pretext by anti-police activists to foment riots in more than 200 cities across all 50 states. And while this appears to be a case of a relative handful of bad cops giving all cops a bad name, the result has been violence, destruction, and a growing death toll — including among its victims civilians and police officers alike.
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