Maybe. But you overlook the real issue, and that is society. You won't find police pointing guns at people for no immediate reason in Bel Air, or other swanky neighborhoods. The key is to base your actions on the needs of the situation, not by some blanket rule. If you approach a car with your hand on your holster, it shouldn't take a well-trained officer more than a second to react to sudden moves, pull his gun, aim and fire. If the person in the car already has his hand on a gun as well, then there is going to be a problem and you can't eliminate that unless you simply shoot the occupant in the back of the head as you approach every car. You can't eliminate risk and you fail to see that polarity creates polar opposites. The role of an officer is SUPPOSED to be as a friendly neighborhood Constable On Patrol, keeping the peace, diffusing situations, and helping people. What you propose is the militarization of the police into virtual S.W.A.T teams treating every person and every situation with the highest suspicion. All that will get you is MORE people killed, police included, by utterly eroding trust in your police and creating widespread fear and mistrust of them as a potential hair-trigger assassination squad.
And I disagree with the bold above. The role of the police is /enforcement/ the rest of it's secondary. Personally, as a law abiding woman who has children in the world, I enjoy that the police are busting the criminal asses and throwing them in jail; or killing them if they're so stupid or violent as to warrant it. I simply have /zero/ patience nor sympathy for criminals, much less the ones who would attack police - if they're willing to attack an armed officer, they will abuse the innocent and largely helpless citizenry. Police should be highly suspicious - the vast majority have a family to consider and an obligation to make it home every night. AND /we/ the law abiding public should ******* realize how stressful and dangerous their jobs are and not get "offended" if they have guns drawn to protect their asses. I'm a military brat, MP's will come up on you guns drawn and frankly it's not that big a deal - shouldn't be for the police either, but the criminals have used the D and SWJ's to push this narrative that police are not fighting a war - they are though, and it's a deadly one, probably even more lethal that a modern "actual" war frankly...
You must be young. The role of an officer is to KEEP THE PEACE, that is why they call them COPS (constable on patrol). If they can diffuse or resolve a situation without an arrest or worse, all the better. Of course, if a crime has been committed, a law broken that demands action, they are there to enforce the laws. You were never pulled over for speeding? You broke the law. Never had one just give you warning? That is because he was a good cop who used his brains to apply whatever was the best fit to that situation, not to merely just "enforce the law" and hand out tickets all day.
The police are there to KEEP THE PEACE (a Peace Officer), and is supposed to be a friendly and valued member of the community that makes the citizens feel safe that he is watching out for them, not some super-SWAT hard-nose agent ready to bust heads if you look at them wrong! You can enforce the law while still being nice about it. I know it is just a TV show, but try watching an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. That is how cops were when I was young. They were nice people who happened to also be an officer of the law. If something has changed them, then maybe we need to address THAT.
Likely what has changed them is the modern world, full of liberals, liberal ideals and liberal problems. The police are overworked, underpaid and underappreciated, and it started RIGHT AT THE TOP with our former President, Barry The Jackass Obama. If you ask me what the problem is now, I would say that his attacks on the police, the vilification of police officers, people like mayor of New York Bill DiBlasio who routinely derides and besmears his own police force, makes it harder to get good men, so you end up with that kid who wrongly held a gun aimed at a guy's heart needlessly for almost ten minutes because he is under-qualified to do his job properly, and if cops start doing that routinely in simple traffic situations and elsewhere, opinions of the police and cooperation will go through the floor.
Is over 40 is considered "young" these days? I will admit that I was raised in a military state, and that a great many of our police officers are ex-military and us "older folk" are actually quite accustomed to seeing /tanks/ driving around on the roads so we're not as "scared" of weaponry as you lower 48 pussies who think the mere sight of a weapon is a "threat." lol
I don't have even the slightest problem saying that our boys in blue are "enforcing the law," seeing them as "hard-nosed", and /still/ being friends with them, unlike criminal pukes... I have nothing to hide, I have no reason to argue with police because I know the terrifying pressure they're under, because I know that enforcing is hard work, that they are shit on by assholes who don't want to pay for their crimes, etc. You've got the wrong god damn state to be woofing that police aren't respected or appreciated, there is /no/ question that us Alaskan's (Anchorage of course) doesn't - in fact when the lower 48 and former president went off on police we in Anchorage started a massive campaign to show our officers how much we love and appreciate them and we regularly let them know, all over the place, their facebook page is filled with thank you's, we thank them on news report comment sections, etc. Bunch of these around town too, this is the end of my driveway right now:
Our officers thrive on it too, they have a 99% return of stolen property rate, they solve 98% of all murders, and they apprehend the criminal in 80% of all break-in's/car thefts. I constantly encourage unloved and abused (aka wrongfully fired) officers from the lower 48 to come up here and work for us - we are chronically short officers.
Nine officers have died on duty in my police force since 1921 (before we even became a state, our very first police chief was murdered on duty and we've been hyper sensitive ever since.) Disgustingly I have been alive to witness the effects the death of six of those nine officers has had on my neighbors and friends, my entire life I have had police officers very close; neighbors and family members. My city (Eagle River, annexed into Anchorage) being where all the generals, officers, and a good number of the policemen live. (There are actually seven officers on my street.) Personally I think they have every god damn right to defend themselves with whatever protections they want, including having guns drawn when they pull someone over if they wish. I, as an understanding and good citizen, and a mother who see's their young kids, have no problem what-so-ever giving them the leeway to be, at all times, ready to kill in order to defend themselves, and by very real proxy, the rest of us citizens from criminal dirtbags.
Why /shouldn't/ the police act as if they are in a war zone - when the criminals hunt them for sport, ambush them for "street cred" and out of hate, and will kill them rather than take responsibilities for their crimes? A few years back we had a wolf pack that was eating small dogs and attacking humans, we sent the hunters out to kill the alphas - they wasted half the pack in a few days and we north Eagle River folks are grateful for it. It doesn't mean we hate wolves, nor wildlife, however, we will /not/ stand for such injustices to our citizens (pets are considered like children up here, we have custody and visitation cases over them in divorces no joke.) If I had /my/ choice, I'd ask that the police (and military) hunt these criminal filth in the city down like ******* dogs and kill them all, put an end to the absolutely terrifying death tolls coming out of big cities and put the "fear of God" into these criminal pukes. How ******* dare they! We would not allow /ANYONE/ else to kill 16,238 citizens and 150 officers a year (holy **** that's out-*******-ragous) without declaring it a war, why is it so god damn different? Why can folks not admit and realize that there /are/ warzones in our country, that the danger to officers and citizens is /very/ real - and let the police act accordingly? How does one justify letting these criminal ***** terrorize our citizens like invading armies, killing, raping, and stealing, and simultaneous expect the police to be "nice" - outrage when one of these filthy degenerate bastards reaches for a gun, and that includes "appearing" to reach for a gun, and gets rightfully ventilated - it's disgusting how "considerate" of criminals folks are.
It is not hard to avoid death from an officer, follow their instructions, keep your damn hands in view, keep your ******* cool, and be polite - it's not even about being "respectful" just be polite... Hell I question officers when they pull me over for stupid shit like snow covering my license plate light when some jackass just flew past me speeding. I've gotten into "arguments" (civil) about if a truck is legally required to have a bumper or not (******* insurance companies... I paid a $500 ticket for that because I didn't feel like going to court so I suppose I lost the argument by default heh) I've almost always had a gun in the vehicle (very common up here because there's a lot of military and hunting and frankly a bear might rip the door off your vehicle pretty much anywhere up here, including downtown Anchorage.) I have never even given it a second thought that officers approached with their hand on their weapon, or even with weapons drawn once because my vehicle matched a suspect's or whatever. (It's not me and we'll get it sorted out no worries - is my philosophy there.) I was not "afraid" "worried" nor "outraged" because duh look at what officers are dealing with, the lowlifes of the world, of course they're defensive and nervous; shit they have every right to be "worried" "afraid" and "outraged" they're being actively /hunted/ just for doing their damn job thanks to BLM and the former President - it's absolutely disgusting to me.
Meh enough raging, I best get stuff ready for grilling. I think I'll go see if the officers next door want some brats and a beer heh
