My brother Doc told me something in a common sense way that I never quite understood so clearly before. This was some time ago, shortly after he joined the LAPD. He said people expect too much - like a divine reckoning - when they encounter police or expect things from government. He said, people need to remember society, but they don't. It sounded like an excuse until he explained something fundamental about policing that I never really contemplated.
I lived at the time in Redondo Beach, one of those fancy Southern California towns famous for, well, beach stuff. Every Fourth of July people from all over LA County would show up for the fireworks show at the Redondo Beach Pier. Subsequently another one off Palos Verdes, the wealthy enclave just south of Redondo would kick off. Two shows for the price of one, free. Some years back Torrance, the large city to the east of the coast had an all-day celebration at Wilson Park. But one night the fog rolled in and tens of thousands of people were disappointed. Maybe that was the reason, but they stopped having fireworks shows at night, and tribute bands all day on the Fourth. Consequently all of those folks came to the beaches too.
Redondo is one of those places that on that night, easily will accommodate a quarter million people on the sand. People literally park a mile away to get there at dusk. The Redondo Beach Police Department has about 100 uniformed officers. On the Fourth that means they are outnumbered 2,500 to one. But of course all of those officers are not on duty all day. Maybe there are 30 who manage the traffic and stay alert on patrol. So Doc tells me in these kinds of terms how much police depend on people to restrain themselves. If the peace is disturbed it will physically impossible for police to restrain the people. Yet a sworn officer's duty is to enforce the law at all times. That means the cop has to win. If the cops back down without controlling any such situation, the subsequent chaos is unstoppable. Nobody wants to see that, meaning everybody has an interest in not seeing cops lose control. That points one more time to the police depending on the public to police itself.
This basic lesson extends to all parts of government in our republic. Yet somehow people work themselves into expecting that the kind of zero-tolerance oath sworn by uniformed officers of the law applies across politics. They expect that when politician says "Education is my first priority." That somehow his policy will effectively make all the children learn. Or when healthcare insurance is promised and even delivered, that life expectancy will go up. Remember the pregnant woman who campaigned for candidate Obama so that his administration would deliver her baby for free? Anyway, it's one of those things I remember, even if Google has purged all of the interwebz evidence.
Anyway. I hope you get it.
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