Do all policemen really put their lives on the line?

[agkm800]

First of all, I don't mean to take anything away from all the brave policemen and policewomen out there.

No one will say this on TV nor in private. But, I've sometimes wondered two things when I think about policemen.

1. Do all policemen put their lives on the line everyday? Many?-YES. All?-Maybe not.

2. 'In some cases' can it be one of the best jobs out there?

Yes, many policemen literally do put their lives on the line everyday to protect the community and catch the bad guys. But, some policemen in really safe or relatively safe communities aren't really end up 'putting lives on the line' situation, sometimes never in their careers.

However, we often hear or read that ALL policemen and policewomen are brave and put their lives on the line everyday. Come on. I don't think it's fair to those really brave policemen in really dangerous communities.

Yes, fatal situations can occur in any community. And, it's the thought that it can does make the police work dangerous and policemen brave automatically. But, I think we should give more honor to where its due and less to the other. Treating ALL policemen and women equally brave maybe not be the best thing to them.

Let's hear your thoughts on this.

[mkrishnan]

Ooops, never mind. Sorry. Please post PRSI topics in the PRSI sub-forum.

[yetanotherdave]

Some may not encounter situations where their lives are at risk everyday, but they all risk being in dangerous situations everyday, and they are expected to deal with it, because that's their job.
So yes, they all put their lives on the line, but some are in riskier positions than others.

[BoyBach]

Snip...


Using that logic it's possible to argue that firefighters don't put their lives on the line. Neither do the members of the Armed Forces.

Obviously, not every police officer (or firefighter or serviceman and woman) puts their life at risk every working minute of the day, but I'd imagine that they're more likely to find themselves in a dangerous situation than the average person and expected to react accordingly.

A police officer could serve a thirty year career and only ever hand out speeding tickets and deal with occasional drunkard. Or they could be a week into the job and find themselves face-to-face with a armed robber. And for that reason they deserve our respect and admiration.

[skunk]

No, all policemen and women do not put their lives on the line, nor are all policemen and women power-crazed adrenaline junkies.

[Signal-11]

Using that logic it's possible to argue that firefighters don't put their lives on the line. Neither do the members of the Armed Forces.

Obviously, not every police officer (or firefighter or serviceman and woman) puts their life at risk every working minute of the day, but I'd imagine that they're more likely to find themselves in a dangerous situation than the average person and expected to react accordingly.

A police officer could serve a thirty year career and only ever hand out speeding tickets and deal with occasional drunkard. Or they could be a week into the job and find themselves face-to-face with a armed robber. And for that reason they deserve our respect and admiration.

No, they don't. By that logic, the guy who runs a hot dog stand in a run down neighborhood or the people who work in the bulletproof Taco Bell/KFC on the corner of Malcolm X and MLK deserve your respect and admiration.

The individual cop who's a good cop deserves respect and admiration because he's a good cop. The job of most police simply isn't that dangerous.

[steve knight]

actually handing out tickets is getting to be very risky. hell if nothing else you may get run over by a rubber necker.

[Schtumple]

Of course not all of them don't... But saying that, having known someone who's dad was a police officer, who died after being stabbed (in a well known safe area too), it's not all butterflies and lollypops...

[Zombie Acorn]

Around here they are basically fat slob jokes. There really isn't much for crime though, they are basically glorified meter maids that give traffic citations.

[Sun Baked]

Yes, the donuts can kill you quicker than some of the bad guys.

All that fat polluting their arteries can make any quick jog or run a life threatening proposition.

[rjgonzales]

No matter the community or jurisdiction, no matter how safe or dangerous you might think it is.... EVERY encounter a police officer is involved in, there is at least one gun involved.

[Signal-11]

No matter the community or jurisdiction, no matter how safe or dangerous you might think it is.... EVERY encounter a police officer is involved in, there is at least one gun involved.

There's an old joke that goes 'Heaven is a place where the police are British, the chefs French, the engineers German, the lovers Italian and it's all organized by the Swiss. Hell is a place where the police are German, the chefs British, the engineers French, lovers Swiss and it's all organized by the Italians.'

It's funny because it's true.

Most British cops don't carry guns.

[OutThere]

I have limited patience for the police in my area right now (who definitely do not put their lives on the line at any moment other than when they turn their flashing lights on and run stop lights—which I have seen happen more than once). They're out in force trying to get money for states that are having hard times, sitting around spitting our tax money out their exhaust pipes idling while they try to catch people in spots with artificially low speed limits. That and responding to criminal mischief calls when local kids shoot out a streetlight with their BB gun.

[BoyBach]

No, they don't. By that logic, the guy who runs a hot dog stand in a run down neighborhood or the people who work in the bulletproof Taco Bell/KFC on the corner of Malcolm X and MLK deserve your respect and admiration.

The individual cop who's a good cop deserves respect and admiration because he's a good cop. The job of most police simply isn't that dangerous.


The chap who works in the restaurant isn't expected to tackle the robber. The police officer is. That is why the police officer deserves to be treated with respect.

If a drunken tosser starts performing when I'm out with my friends and family I might give him a smack, yet a police officer cannot react to any provocation. That is why the police officer deserves to be treated with respect.


(Should I reserve my admiration of the Armed Forces to only when they're at war? After all, a soldier might serve for 22 years and never fire his rifle away from the firing range.)

[Eraserhead]

There's an old joke that goes 'Heaven is a place where the police are British, the chefs French, the engineers German, the lovers Italian and it's all organized by the Swiss. Hell is a place where the police are German, the chefs British, the engineers French, lovers Swiss and it's all organized by the Italians.'

It's funny because it's true.

Most British cops don't carry guns.

Except that the French built the RER and TGV, and that the British have some of the worlds best restaurants these days that may have some vague basis for truth.

[Schtumple]

Except that the French built the RER and TGV, and that the British have some of the worlds best restaurants these days that may have some vague basis for truth.

Shush! Shush! You're ruining the racial stereotypes!

[Desertrat]

Statistically, firemen have a more dangerous job than police. But fires are nowhere near as common as the daily interactions with Bad Guys or with people who possibly are Bad Guys.

"Aye, there's the rub," as the Bard said. A policeman on the street faces far more uncertainty than people in other lines of work. He has to be able to transition from pleasant affability to instantaneous reaction to violence, never knowing ahead of time.

This makes the work similar to the joke about commercial airline pilots: "Hours of boredom, punctuated by moments of raw terror."

Cops don't see folks at their best: Folks are drunk, puking, cussing and whining. They yell and scream and spit or throw up or bleed on uniforms or in squad cars. They get lied to, a lot. Gotta listen to a bunch of stupid shucking and jiving. They get calls right at the end of shift to go to a family disturbance, arriving to find a fat, ugly drunk woman in a muu-muu and with pink hair curlers, yelling and howling because her husband came home drunk and beat on her--so aside from all that they're two hours late getting off work.

I rode "Buddy Patrol" with the Austin, Texas, PD on Friday nights for about three months. I saw more than I really wanted to...

Recommended reading: http://www.fredoneverything.net/FOE_Frame_Cop.htm

He rode with cops, and wrote extensively about what he saw...

'Rat

[Signal-11]

The chap who works in the restaurant isn't expected to tackle the robber. The police officer is. That is why the police officer deserves to be treated with respect.

If a drunken tosser starts performing when I'm out with my friends and family I might give him a smack, yet a police officer cannot react to any provocation. That is why the police officer deserves to be treated with respect.

(Should I reserve my admiration of the Armed Forces to only when they're at war? After all, a soldier might serve for 22 years and never fire his rifle away from the firing range.)

I'm a former infantryman who never fired his rifle in combat. I know on which side my bread is buttered. There's a very big difference between an infantryman who's earned his CIB and one who hasn't.