This aged well-2

That “almost” is very important- because the other factor that has fed the “police bad” sentiment is that while I painted a somewhat rose picture of police in “Once upon a time America” that is the experience of White person and a “good ol boy” or “local son” and the police.

Police have, as long as we’ve had records in America, often been bias or even predatory against minorities or those “different”, and in bygone days were often not kind- sometimes even intimidating or abusing- people they didn’t recognize from their community regardless of race etc. there is a history of bigotry and xenophobia there, and in law and the courts as well.

Long ago being an outsider, being different, having a different perspective- it was a lot worse and generally not embraced, even more than now. It was perfectly alright, and the general sentiment, to consider those types of people “undesirables.”

Changes of the last 60 years have helped give these people voices and places in society. Those changes have made them into neighbors and spouses and bosses and friends. So the rosy view of police we tend to see right into the early 60’s in mainstream culture was largely informed by integrated white views, and even then was often a bit tinted and leaned towards a small town view (there were a lot more small towns and most towns were a lot smaller then.)

So once we started to get the view points of other types of people into media and mainstream view- once media and personal ability to document and distribute information and events advanced with technology- we started to see a lot we didn’t like.

As crime became more common, more violent, and often more random- police also became more militarized in attempts to meet force with force. This didn’t help things.

Starting really in the 1960’s but going through the next several decades- America had its “Santa isn’t real and mommy and died lied” adolescence. Coming off the ultra patriotism of WW2 and anti communism- people started to see that America and the government weren’t idealistic fictional “good guys” who always took the moral high ground. The dirt started to be exposed- again exacerbated by new technologies and availability of information. In only a few decades “American superiority” in manufacturing and technology was being exposed as a myth along with our morality. The USSR showed us that we weren’t the “biggest and baddest” either, and wars like Vietnam showed that even in a small nation with a small and relatively technologically inferior opponent- the USA could lose. That on the heels of Korea.

America didn’t know who it was anymore, except for those who refused to see and still insisted that America was the same as all the propaganda they’d digested had said it was. The fuel crisis of the 70’s was another big one that showed America wasn’t untouchable. For many people, this was their first time hearing about these other places in the world. In 2020 plenty of people still couldn’t find Saudi Arabia on a map or tell you what the UAE is.

We started to find out lies past and present. We started to find out about the horrible things America had done and then hidden, abroad to at home from war crimes to experimenting on its own citizens to hiding Nazis and human rights monsters for swag and more.

It’s during this time that in the American consciousness police needed to pick a side. Did they serve the government or the people? Largely- they chose the government. Can’t really blame them as the government pays their checks and all- but- once they figured out the government would hang them out the same as anyone else, they chose to be on their own side. And here we are.

Now it isn’t fair to blame so much on the police. The government started up the drug pipelines that kicked off the new era of crime. The government facilitated and protected organized criminals for political and other reasons. The government stirred racial unrest and destabilized minority communities as part of institutionalized racism to hold back targeted groups and exclude them from “white society”

These are all major causes to the escalations in crime and the dangerousness and prevalence of crime- especially in certain communities. The police did not create the socioeconomic conditions that spurred the primary catalysts that brought us to the present state of feelings about police in America. The police did not cut social services and mental health services. The police did not create a system that ends up having unbalanced justices depending upon your heritage and where you’re from. They didn’t do any of that. They are the front line and part of that system which makes them convenient effigies to pin all our frustrations to.

They’re human beings. They get scared. They get angry. They have bias like we all do. They get tired and by and large most all of them have a genuine desire to help and do good on one level or another. For most people police aren’t your enemy- but they also aren’t your friend. That’s sad- because for a law abiding citizen not causing any harm, the police should be your friend, your ally. They aren’t. And that’s why we get so much “police bad.” Used to be that at least “mainstream white america” could feel good about knowing an officer was near by. But now- you can talk to people of all colors and classes and you’ll find more people who have some negative feelings towards the police than those who only feel good about them most likely.