Thursday, December 14, 2006

Oooh! Outrage!

Evidently, the commenters are unhappy with cop humor. Tough.

We don't see the best in society. No one calls us when things are going well. We get to see the wrinkled underbelly of our culture and most of it isn't pretty.

I've laughed over corpses, because my mind didn't want to deal with what was laying at my feet. Sick? Twisted? Yeah, maybe so. Get over it. I had to.

You want entertaining cop stories. You don't want to hear about 4 year old rape victims, or children burned in ovens.

You don't want to hear stories about hating to come to work on Friday night because of one woman who at 8:00 calls in a domestic disturbance. You go arrest hubby and she drops the charges on Saturday. Next Friday we're back to domestic disturbance because she can't handle him after he's had a few drinks. This goes on for months, yet she drops the charges every time. And expects us to come running whenever she calls.

Only one Friday night she doesn't call and the shift progresses normally. Until Saturday, when someone calls it in, and we get there and he's strangled her with the phone cord. Because, basically, he was tired of going to jail every Friday night.

Then there was the young adult guy who was sniffing gasoline while he smoked marijuana. One Sunday morning he gets the sequence wrong and burns the house down while his parents are at church. The punch line? They didn't even know he was in town that weekend, or they wouldn't have left the house alone. They didn't trust him to be at their house alone, yet when they drove up from church to find their home smouldering, they suspected he had done it.

Ya'll probably don't want to hear stories like that, either.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Evidently, the commenters are unhappy with cop humor. Tough."

I doubt I can accurately convey to you just how disappointed I am with this response.

I have been lurking and reading your blog with pleasure for over a year now, long enough ago I can't recall which link I followed to get here (probably a Carnival of Cordite link??). From the first visit you have been on my daily read list. Although geographically you and I are far apart, I've often thought you'd be a fine fellow to invite to my family's elk camp. It saddens me that I no longer believe this to be so.


"We don't see the best in society. No one calls us when things are going well. We get to see the wrinkled underbelly of our culture and most of it isn't pretty."

You are correct, you don't get to see the best. Every day you are forced to confront the broad range of despicable behavior humans engage in. Which should make it all the more easy to recognize when a fellow LEO engages in such.


"I've laughed over corpses, because my mind didn't want to deal with what was laying at my feet. Sick? Twisted? Yeah, maybe so. Get over it. I had to."

Each of the following examples of Black Humor you go on to list share one thing in common - you were an observer to the pain and suffering occurring all about you, not a contributor.

What the 'old-time cop' did was a sadistic act, pure and simple. Nonetheless, the original offense happened years ago, and is water long under the bridge. What is worse is the realization that the story lives on decades later within your local LEO community. In that time one can only assume that 'old-time cop' has shared this anecdote on many other occasions, and not once have you or your fellow officers ever turned to him and said "What you did to that man was cruel, wrong, and certainly not funny".

How do I know this? Because you thought that we, your blog readers, would find it amusing ourselves.

I can assure you, this reader did not. And I would suggest that you examine very carefully and with a critical eye those who do find it funny, and ask yourself if they have the caliber of character worthy of the public's respect.

Anonymous said...

Paw Paw,
The responses are just one more example of how "thin-skinned" and oh so sensitive the commonfolk have become.
Out in my neck of the woods the L.A. City Council tried to hand 2.7 Million dollars to an offended fire fighter whose comrades snuck a little bit of dogfood into his spaghetti. Thank goodness the public outcry of "How much!?" "For what!? caused the city fathers to run for cover with collective tails between their legs.
Don't be overly concerned about the few who don't get it.

Anonymous said...

PawPaw, you have attracted the intellectual community to your blog apparently. I laughed at the pepper spray anecdote so sue me, I hope that gent got a bath and a decent life in the next parish. It was mean but most things we laugh at or those that cause discomfort to others if you think about it, find one that dont if you can.

Anonymous said...

Pawpaw,

Seems some of your readers need to gain a little perspective. I grew up listening to my grandfather tell stories about being a law officer in a small county back in the 50s. How easily people seem to have forgotten what small town life was like 30 years or more ago. A law enforcement officer wasn’t expected to be politically correct. He was expected to know who belonged in his community and who didn’t. Vagrants, hitchhikers, hobos, etc., were more often than not feared by the local community or at least thought of as someone that may bring trouble. They were just not thought of as someone in need of compassion. 30 years ago it was expected of the local law officer to as quickly as possible escort any unsavory character to the county line and make sure he didn’t come back.

Having developed my own sense of black humor, I thought the story was funny. Then again I think I have the proper perspective on the subject. I truly hope that the reader that took you to task or as I quote “I doubt I can accurately convey to you just how disappointed I am with this response.” thinks about how in just about everything there is a time and place. It disturbs me that someone much more eloquent than myself could not see what he or she was missing.

On a personal note, I just want you to know I read your blog on a daily basis and want to hear all your stories. You are one of the few people on my “wish to meet before I die” list. Nevada is a long ways away from Louisiana but perhaps someday, elbows can be bent and lies can be told.

EricN

Anonymous said...

Pawpaw, there's a very big difference between your cop stories and what the old time cop did to the "bum." What he did was abuse, pure and simple. The chances are 3 to 1 in favor of the "bum" being mentally defective. If that cop enjoyed the effects of pepper spray on the retarded he would also enjoy its effects on old folks in a nursing home.

Anonymous said...

Really, they'll get over it. I thought the story was a hoot. I too find myself reading your blog on a daily basis and you're invited to hunt with me anytime.
Emitt

Anonymous said...

The job of a police officer is to uphold the law. When the people charged with upholding the law are breaking it themselves, you have anarchy. Or dictatorship.

What the old time cop did has nothing to do with what LEOs have to face. This was an unprovoked attack on a bum. I don't like bums, but I especially don't like police who physically attack people who don't deserve it.

Perhaps this old time cop liked beating prisoners. Perhaps he would like to kick in your door and raid your house to take your guns, or wouldn't shooting your dog be a hoot?