Many people believe that most police officers are good people and there are a handful of bad apples ruining it for everybody. I disagree with this sentiment because whenever I see people of good conscious trying to reform a police department or the field of law enforcement they get stomped down. Such an atmosphere is a breeding ground of psychopaths. Imagine if you had violent tendencies and a general apathy towards the well being of others. Would a job that offered you an outlet for your vicious nature along with practical immunity from the consequences of wrongdoing sound like the perfect position? Would you allow a person trying to stop you to meddle with your dream job?
Take the recent example of Sheriff Nick Finch. Mr. Finch, from my point of view, did a good thing by preventing a non-violent individual who was openly carrying a firearm in Florida (which is generally illegal) from being kidnapped and caged. There is no reason to cage people who aren’t performing acts of violent acts. It would do the field of law enforcement a great deal of good to cease arresting non-violent individuals. But this is the United Police States of America and a cop who isn’t being a psychopath must be destroyed. For doing the right thing Mr. Finch was arrested:
The events began when Floyd Eugene Parrish, a Florida resident, was arrested and detained by one of Finch’s deputies for carrying a firearm without a permit on March 8th, 2013. In the state of Florida, this lands you a 3rd degree felony charge. Finch released Parrish because, in his assessment, Parrish was not a violent criminal and was acting innocuously. Finch called the clerk and told her not to draw up arrest documents until he was there to assess the situation. Note, Parrish had not been officially booked into jail- only detained.
[…]
Rick Scott, Florida governor, stepped in and had Finch arrested. Governor Scott then appointed a new sheriff. Finch says he did not vote for the Governor. “I’m not a republican, or a democrat. Just a man who believes in the Constitution,” says Finch.
This is another example of the grant statist machinery removing a malfunctioning cog from itself. It’s also an explanation of why good cops are far and few between. When a cop actually steps up to do something positive they are crushed either by their fellow police officers or by high ups in the state. Men of good conscious are pushed out of the law enforcement field while men with evil desires are attracted to it. It’s not an instance of a few bad apples ruining it for everybody else, it’s an instance of a few good apples becoming diseased by the vast majority of infected apples.