I'm not a fan of seeing cop bashing when the article itself presents plenty of evidence that our justice system is the failing point of our society when it comes to pretty much any crime that falls short of murder.
I've witnessed first hand how incredibly demoralizing the job is. I've got a family member who has been an RCMP member for almost two decades now and it is sad to see how the job gradually eats away at one to the point of not really feeling like you have anything to contribute. I understand the general public not having an appreciation for what they do, but when the system you work for craps all over and unravels all the good work you do because courts let every perpetrator paint themselves as a victim and gives them a billion chances.
I've watched this individual's ambition slowly fade. They were never on board with playing traffic cop (aside from catching impaired drivers) and felt there was far better work to be done. I think the law abiding average joe would say they carried themselves as a great example of what law enforcement officers should be. Tons of drug and crime ring busts, theft recoveries, stints as GIS, offered a role in major crimes before they were even 30 (decided to pass it up). I recently saw an article about a pretty big theft recovery from their community, and I asked if it was their handy work. I fully expected the answer to be yes, only to be floored when they said "nope, is there even a point anymore?". When I asked them to elaborate, the answer was basically "this dude is a 45 year old career criminal, I've charged him dozens of times and in fact he had over 100 pending charges before this recent bust. I don't even know what it takes to land a piece of poo like this behind bars anymore. Best case scenario I charge the guy, it moves through the court quickly and he's back on the street with some sort of toothless probation, just like he was already. Basically, I'm done with spending my days off in court and missing my children grow up when the end result is the justice system giving people like this endless opportunities to keep doing what they are doing without repercussions."
It turned into a pretty long conversation and it was a lot to process. But there is evidence to what they were saying all around us. It gets talked about on here a lot, and I'm sure most of you know who your local scumbags are who get the "rinse and repeat" treatment in local court because they can shed crocodile tears and some stories of woe is me.
I'm not sure if there is a job out there with more conflicting expectations depending on who it is viewing their job through a microscope. Our societal problems when it comes to crime aren't at the policing level, but I'm starting to think our system is broken beyond repair. Courts can't deal with the problematic individuals in our society, and then our politicians are more worried about spending money to take guns away from everyone instead of putting criminals where they won't have access to guns in the first place.
The guys I carpool to work with were talking about this subject recently. I asked them if they remember learning about history in school and how criminals were punished. Not just capital punishment, but say somebody who was caught stealing having a hand chopped off. In some ways it seemed so barbaric, but isn't it crazy how far we've swung the other way? Society started off a bit empathetic to the plight of somebody who felt the need to steal a loaf of bread to keep their kids from starving. Now everyone gets the same treatment, even if their "plight" is they enjoy selling drugs and stealing from hard working people because it is an easier or more thrilling existence than working for a living.
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