Theres different parts to it, so I’ll try and explain my perspective and hope it makes sense.
Generally, it sucks for anyone to be put back out onto the streets who has such a lack of value for human life. It being an officer causes even more issues for me and for the general view of law enforcement. Obviously it is going to reinforce the belief that all officers are like that, because every story to support that will solidly that belief.
As it relates to the profession, I hate that incidents like this make it harder to do my job, because it’s easy to come across the conversations that start with the “all you officers…” regardless of what the interaction is about. Officers like this going back on the streets causes such a ripple effect of damage that it’s hard to counter it. A lot of times people will see that I’m just a person as well, and we can be respectful both ways and not all interactions will be negative. Even in south Sacramento, most of my interactions here have ended pleasantly, even if someone ended up with a ticket or arrested.
On a personal level it does also become upsetting that there’s people that are in the profession that do use it to abuse power over people. It’s hard to see that something that could have the potential to be used for community interactions and policing would instead be used to serve peoples depravities instead. I know a lot of people see police = bad as a general rule, but I’ve seen the positive it can have when done in a more uplifting way as well, and I can say confidently that I know I’ve made a positive difference in some peoples lives just by being able to be in a position to help or interact in ways that I wouldn’t be able to if I wasn’t an officer.
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