An Open Letter to the Police by Joshua Katz

We know why you joined the force. You wanted to protect the weak and the innocent from the strong and vicious. You desired a society where justice is done, the guilty punished. You abhor the use of violence against women and children. You wanted to stand for good, protect those who need protection. Are you doing this now?

Have you noticed the decline, over the past few decades, in public regard for your profession? When I was growing up, the friendly police officer was a part of our neighborhood. Children aspired to grow up to be policemen; the job was respectable. Seeing a police officer nearby meant safety. Today, citizens are fearful of you. When you drive by, they shudder – the innocent as well as the guilty. A policeman in close range no longer is resassuring. Citizens today worry that they will be assaulted, be electrocuted, or in other ways be harmed by their former public servants. Children worry that they will raise suspicions. Your job has changed from keeping the peace to enforcing various arbitrary, bureaucratic dictates. Have you wondered why?

You are the hired muscle of a small group. You no longer work for us, but for an alliance of businessmen, politicians, and bankers. They are determined to make society over in the vein they wish to see it. You are their muscle, their enforcer. This is why the public no longer respects you, but rather fears you. It is why your ranks have become full of sadists uninterested in the tasks that motivated you to join the force. It explains the orders you have been receiving.

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via An Open Letter to the Police by Joshua Katz.

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