Sorry, couldn’t make it any shorter and I really did try – could have made it a whole lot longer!

Habakkuk 1:2-4  O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

³ Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

⁴ Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

I am sitting here this morning contemplating both the Word of God and the current raging of people against police.

The establishment and much of the rest of society keeps pointing the finger at the Police saying there lies our problem.  They are bias, they aren’t trained well enough, they are brutal and the list of grievances – and, yes, some have merit, to a degree – goes on.

There are those out there that believe that if they feel threatened for doing something wrong, all they have to do is yell police brutality and police prejudice and they will get away with anything, getting out of a ticket, rioting and other crimes including murder.

And far too many of the establishment agrees with them, and rather than waiting until the facts are investigated, immediately attack the police.  The establishment – and society as a whole - is a HUGE part of our problem here in America.

It is as if Habakkuk was living in American, today.

I am a man of far too many words.  I could write for days and tens of thousands of words on my feelings about this subject. 

And, yes I know, few would read them.

Still I must write and I WILL try to be as concise as my poor brain can be:

Is there a problem with some police officers and some police departments?  Yes.

Is that the only place the problem resides?  No.

Billy Sunday, Evangelist, once said, “If you don’t do your part, don’t blame God.”

What is our part, especially as Christians?

Sunday also said, “The rivers of America will run with blood filled to their banks before we will submit to them taking the Bible out of our schools.”

So what happened?  Not only is it not to be read in a class, but some schools even have banned it from the school grounds.

For the last 60 – 100 years Christians – myself included – have allowed our relationship with God to be tarnished with human interests and desires that are contradicted by His Word.

AND, we did not speak out when God was condemned by the government, courts and a select few people.

As Christians we have not done our part...and for that matter neither have the Jews, whose standards are the same as a Christian’s; although they may have some excuses since much of society oppressed and looked(s)down on them.

Momentum has slowly built through the years, and then started steam rolling these past eight years, to the point of not only God’s standards being thrown out by the government and the courts, but common sense along with it – and far too many churches are supporting those new societal standards.

Our teachers are unable to conduct their mission because of the problem children in their classes.  When parents are contacted they blame the schools and support their child, regardless – and of course they reinforce their method of raising their child, which is part of the problem.  They say, or imply, it isn’t my fault, it is society’s – which goes back to the parents since they are supposed to be the adults in society.

And, in doing so, they teach their children that it isn’t their fault either, all they have to do is blame others for their actions.

We have lowered standards everywhere for our students so they will not have bad feelings, instead of holding them to the higher standards and helping them attain so they can feel accomplishment, and end up feeling better about themselves.

And when the children face the real world they can’t handle it, because if they cannot perform they can’t have a job – unless it is for federal government where many seem to gravitate and seem to be accepted.

Too many parents have abdicated the responsibility of the raising of their children to TV sets and video games or other passive means.  Anything but actually helping the child become a solid citizen who knows the difference between right and wrong.  Teaching them to be a person who knows how to work and respect others, who takes responsibility for their actions and expects others to do the same.

When the child fails, they blame everyone but themselves.

But it is the Police Officers fault that we are having the violence in today’s America.

So, let us do away with the police.  Now what?

Anarchy.

Obviously we cannot do that, so we need alternatives in who is selected and what their training consists of, because everyone knows the police are biased and can’t be trusted.

I have gone over the process of hiring police officers many times.  It is a long and arduous procedure and a very small percentage of applicants actually become police officers, and an even smaller percentage makes it to retirement age.

They quit because they can’t make enough money, or the job is so dangerous they don’t want to risk their lives and the future of their family, or they are tired of the harassment they are getting from the public who just doesn’t care about them.

Some are discharged for various reasons, including biases, against others which has interfered with their ability to do a fair and honest job.

So we need to have a better way of selecting the right officers.

What would you suggest?  And, if you wish, I can send you my comments on how officers are selected, now.

What do you want in your Police Officer?

I could not believe comments made to me by a couple of businessmen – and others, including my parents and other family members, through the years - after I became a police officer.  I heard, “you are too smart; you could do other things in your career and make real money” – among other things.

My question, after I thought about it, was, “What do you want a police officer to be?”  I couldn’t believe that they, and many other people, thought intelligent people were wasting their skills and talents becoming a police officer.

What is the perfect officer?  I am going to leave that question to you to answer.

Do you know anyone that can absolutely meet that standard day in and day out?

Where do we find such a person?  How can we get him/her interested in law enforcement?

It was difficult enough when I was doing the hiring, I can’t imagine how difficult it is today to get competent people interested with all the negative verbal and written attacks AND the ambushing and killing of officers simply because they ARE officers. 

Would you like to go out and try and handle violent or potentially violent calls in this environment?  (which, by the way, is ANY call an officer goes on, any traffic stop an officer makes.)

How would you handle it?

One of the sergeants in our Police Department once told me that we need robots in the jury box (this was before computers were available to almost everyone) to make a determination of guilt or innocence of a suspect.  Because people interject their own emotions and biases and don’t just consider the facts.

Obviously that is unacceptable, lie detectors prove that since they can be beat, but his frustrations were real, and understandable when obvious criminals are found not guilty by a jury because their attorney was glib. 

There is a movie called “Robocop.”  In the film they took the brain of a police officer who had been killed and put it into the body of a robot.  He made no personal judgments, he had no bias, he was built to be stronger and smarter than the normal officer on the street.

If he saw a crime he acted, period.  He was designed with a certain set of standards upon which to act.

AND he was controlled by those that made him and therefore set the standards.  A corporation that had its own agenda and it wasn’t to benefit anyone but themselves.  It was to control the masses so the corporation could do whatever it wanted.

I have heard some say, let’s let the federal government handle ALL law enforcement.  Hmm. Let’s see, have any of them made any mistakes lately – and where are you going to get a million federal agents – over and above the current number – to handle local enforcement?

Can’t be those currently in the profession, they can’t be trusted.

The police profession is an honorable profession.  But it is made up of people, human beings, raised in our societies.  As in every profession there are a few people who take advantage of their power.  Honest mistakes DO happen.  ALL mistakes must be corrected, but to lay the burden on every officer, for the mistake of a very few, is counterproductive.

Of the million local (city, county) and state law enforcement officers now in the field there is very few who do not take their job seriously, doing the very best they can to honestly protect and serve their constituents.

I am a strong advocate of ride alongs with police officers; I support those agencies that have citizen academies that allow citizens the opportunity to understand what it takes to do the job of a police officer.

I encourage any and all to contact their local Police or Sheriff’s Office and ask if they can ride along.  It can be a VERY eye opening experience.

Who knows, you may get the bug and become one yourself!

Later, Art :-)