Your Lousy Parenting Makes Being A Cop A Nightmare
Sgt A. Merica is a pseudonym for law enforcement officers across the country who wish to speak out anonymously. Sgt A. Merica posts articles at lawenforcementtoday.com a site I often go to for perspective. Give them a visit from time to time.
“Officer. My 11-year-old stole a toy from a store last week. It’s the third time he’s done it. Can you yell at him and threaten to arrest him?”
Yes, mom. That’s a great idea. Make him hate cops because you’ve done a lousy job of parenting him.
What the hell is going on with this world?
I’ve got a few little boys. They don’t steal shit. You want to know why?
Because they know that if they do, daddy’s going to whoop their little asses from Montana all the way to grandma’s house in Maine if they do.
I’m not sure when parents got so lousy at parenting. But let me tell you something. It’s creating a nightmare for police officers.
Sense of Entitlement
Kids these days have a sense of entitlement. I swear to God, if one more 20-something-year-old that I pull over tries to tell me that he pays my salary, I’m lose my mind. No, you don’t pay my salary. Daddy bought your BMW and you’ve never worked a day in your life.
My parents instilled in me a sense of respect for others, especially my elders.
“Yes, ma’am.” “No, sir.” (In fairness, that was back when we still recognized the biological difference between a man and a woman.)
“Yes, officer. I’m sorry I was an idiot.” (Idiot is now apparently a bullying work that triggers people and hurts their feelings.)
Mothers taught their girls how to braid their hair and fathers taught their boys to be men. Now, fathers teach their boys to braid their hair and mothers teach their girls that manliness is toxic.
This sense of entitlement can be directly attributed to helicopter parents and the pussification of America. $15 an hour minimum wage? How about… “for your first job cooking fries, you get what I freaking give you and say ‘thank you’”.Nobody wants to work anymore. They want to demand free college (hint: nothing in life is free). They want open borders and then they want to complain that there are no jobs.
So yes, mom and dad, your spoiled brat kid has a sense of entitlement and it’s your fault.
Right Vs. Wrong
I pulled over this 18-year-old last week. She was going 48 in a 30, make a right on red despite the two signs that said “no right on red”, was tailgating the guy in front of her and then blew a light. All in a half mile or so.
When I asked her if she knew why I pulled her over, she responded: “IDK, because you wanted to make me late for work?”
When I went through everything she did wrong, her response was: “Please. Nobody got hurt. I don’t know what the big deal is.”
Growing up, we were taught the difference between right and wrong. (During the days where good and evil were crystal clear and the moral fabric of America wasn’t being destroyed.)
You steal stuff? That’s bad. You help someone out? That’s good.
But how do we instill a sense of right and wrong in our children when the family structure has been destroyed? When fathers are in the lives of their children?
How do we teach them about obeying the law when the very politicians being elected to lead this great country are defying it? When entire states are declaring that the law doesn’t apply anymore? When you have people running for office who can nuke an entire email server, lie about it, and still win the popular vote?
How do we teach kids that police are here to protect them, but then glorify football players and overpaid celebrities who take a knee to declare that police are bad guys?
How do we encourage our children go into a life of law enforcement when every day they see attacks on the very police we are encouraging them to follow in the footsteps of?
Everyone Is A Victim
Let me tell you something. When you’re going 110 in a 55 and have dark tinted windows, I don’t know what you look like.
So when you play the, “you pulled me over ‘cause I’m black” card, it simply makes me want to punch you in the throat. (Relax. That moment of satisfaction isn’t worth my career.)
Why should I let you out of a ticket? Allow me to list the lines that have been used on me lately:
“It seems like you’re targeting women by pulling me over.”
“You wouldn’t arrest a gay man, would you? That’s discrimination.”
“You pulled me over because you saw my turban.”
“I’m black. I’m black. I’m black. But you knew that, didn’t you?”
“Let me guess. You’re targeting Muslims in this neighborhood.”
Let’s be clear about something. I don’t care what you look like, who you sleep with, who you pray to or what you’re rocking (or not rocking) between your legs. I hate everyone equally, these days.
But parents are teaching kids to have this victim mentality and it’s spilling over in society.
Don’t believe me? How about all of these “anti-bullying” programs?
We’re not teaching kids coping mechanisms for real life. We’re teaching them that bullying doesn’t exist. That if they see it, they should simply report it. That they should play the victim card.
With Instacart, you can save yourself that trip to the market. Order your groceries online and get delivery in as little as 1 hour.Know what you have to do in life sometimes when you face a bully? Especially the biggest bully in the room?
You’ve got to make him taste his own blood.
That’s how it was for us on the playground. That’s how we developed a fire. That’s how we earned respect. That’s also how we made friends with our enemies.
How Do We Fix It All
This is where I imagine I give words of advice. Wisdom that’s going to fix the world. Ideas that are going to somehow make parents start parenting again, bring fathers back into their kids’ lives and once again rebuild the moral fiber of America.
But I’ve got nothing.
Actually, I lied. I’ve got Jack Daniels. And only about two years left. The rest of you are screwed.
Cheers.
Life is often about balance. While definitely not excusing the parenting skills of the people this officer is talking about, some of those people are adults as well. Some are even police.
In California, there is a legal fight over a list of 12,000 police officers that were convicted of crimes in the last 10 years.
The State Attorney is claiming that the list never should have been released and is threatening to prosecute anyone who has and or distributes the list.
I certainly agree that there is a lot of bad and irresponsible parenting out there, but some of those kids grow up and become cops.
(And while the author lists reasons people have given to get out of a traffic ticket, they forget one excuse: “I’m a cop. ‘Professional courtesy.'”)
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/02/26/california-keeps-a-secret-list-of-criminal-cops-but-says-you-cant-have-it/
I was once told by a CHP cop that we (firefighters) as well as LEOs could ask for “professional courtesy” when pulled over, but were not guaranteed to receive it. My reply was, “How is that even a thing? Seems to me that ‘professional courtesy’ in such a case should come from us, not the traffic cop, and should be defined as ‘Don’t drive like an asshole.’ If you do drive like an asshole, there shouldn’t be a get-out-of-jail-free card for anybody.”
Word.
Nope. In fact anyone who even tries to pull something like that will most likely get fired these days for even trying it.
I arrested a LEO last month for DUI. The agency sent someone to investigate to make sure that the person had not even tried to use creds to get out of it. There may be a few holdouts (NYC, Chicago looking your way) but if I find someone breaking the law they get the same treatment as everyone else.
I think cameras have helped a bit. It keeps honest men honest.
Also NYC absolutely adores arresting police from other states. They even arrested a DA from my state for perfectly legal activity that later ended up getting thrown out.
That wouldn’t happen where I live. A couple of years ago, one of the city investigators quietly “resigned” after something to do with inappropriate text/pictures.. The who/what/when remains a mystery even today because the police brass wouldn’t talk about it other than to say it was a personnel matter..
Ok, people get fired for doing inappropriate things. Not sure how that is illegal.
GC, I wonder how many of those officers were the result of “targeted ” hiring, focusing more on demographics of those hired than their backgrounds / suitability for the job…
TOW I agree 100%. I have firefighter plates, and a union sticker in my window. If a cop pulls me over for being stupid, sees those, and decides to take them into account, that’s his / her business. I never mention them, and don’t expect preferential treatment because of them.
Maker’s Mark and about four years.
jim beam and I don’t want to think about my time remaining….but at least im on the downward slide.
I retired from “the Job” in ‘07 and everything written above was going on between 1978 and 2007. It’s just more pronounced now. My first FTO was a door gunner in Vietnam and by the end of the year I had adopted his mantra: “Don’t mean nothin’ brother, not a thing”. It served me well my entire career…
It was going on as early as 1970, probably before that.
One of the highlights of dealing with asshole juveniles happened one night, after we’d arrested a juvie for B&E, and called dad to pick him up. Said Juvie was also intoxicated, and berated dad for making him sit in cage in booking for 20 minutes. And, demanding that dad get “those pigs” fired for violating his rights. Dad slapped him so hard that junior actually did a 180 and sat down, hard. He then started crying. Not one of us saw what happened as we all had turned our backs when we saw dad turning red as Junior ran his mouth.
Nothing more satisfying than watching some actual, honest to God parenting happen. It was so rare, we celebrated it like the miracle it was. Like a white buffalo.
I loved picking up the kids and they would beg to go to juvie instead of home cause their dad was going to kill them. “Sorry kid, we can’t take you downtown, you’ve got to go home.” hehehe
Yeah,it was rare to see, and so enjoyable when it happened. And listening to the kids beg to be taken to juvie.
We used to do curfew sweeps on Friday and Saturday nights, if it wasn’t really busy. Most times, we ended up holding the kids until about an hour after the bars closed, so mom and/or dad got home. Then we’d end up taking the kid home, cuz mom and/or dad were too impaired to drive.
My dad always told me that if I got arrested between Friday night and Sunday, get comfy because he wasn’t bailing me out till Monday. Why should he screw up his weekend? I never tested it.
A wise choice in retirement as well.
Old friends sort of thing.
Diet Coke* and 1.5 years.
*I would have said “caffe latte” … but then it would be a TAH dogpile on RGR1480.
(^_^)
Macallen’s 12 yrs old and 4 years, 2 months, 13 days.
Not that I’m counting….
PBR and Budlight.
My wife’s wine when I run out. She only drinks when we have friends or family over, so I feel like her wine is spoiling.
And a long friggin way to retire.
At least my TSP is gettin really fat with Prez Trump at the helm, so I am looking forward to a good retirement. One day.
Maker’s Mark too — and retired 2 years ago after 36 years of carrying a badge . And SGT A Merica is spot on . Got tired of raising other people’s mistakes , only to put them up in the Graybar Hotel when they got old enough .
The last paragraph is my description, give or take a year or so. And the flavor of the Class VI supplies. My grandchildren have not quite reached the level described, but there is still time. (14 & 10) As a teacher, daughter sees quite a number like that.
2 Bnls, 2 unckles retired as LEOs. Heart attack took out 1, stomach cancer brought on by ulcers another 2, and complications from Agent Orange another 1.
Two very close friends that are brothers are hanging on to their careers trying to make time in service for retirement. May recall me posting back in January about the passing of a very close compatriot former Marine LEO. Every jurisdiction in the area is screaming for officers and getting very few takers. It is getting difficult to fill those jobs due to the restrictions placed by the PC crowd.
Thanks for the linky post Dave. Will visit them on a regular basis.
the lack of great candidates for LEO is part of the reason we get some of the headline makers in LEO.
The other reason is that cities know they have a labor supply problem, but refuse to enact policies and pay amounts necessary to attract good talent.
Once we get into the current situation, it is a downward spiral.
The political climate the last 5 years or so has made the job completely undesirable. You do your job, as you’re trained to do it, and you have an interaction with someone that goes viral and next thing you know you’re in court facing charges.
Good cops are leaving the field like crazy.
Exactly, Mason
Even worse, in big cities they keep saying they want to reform police and they need more training, have to have more and better skills, smarter etc.
What do they do to remedy this problem that they say exists?
They lower the hiring standards in order to create a more “diverse” Police force!
I often wonder why they are called minorities in many big cities when they are the majority of the population there?
What do I know.
BRAVO!!!! Well said.
My father and his kid brother were both Police officers after Vietnam.
My two younger brothers and I also became LEOs and had the opportunity to all serve together at the same agency for several years with my dad before he passed away.
Ive seen this shit coming for years and my issues about it have fallen on deaf ears to the most part.
This is a great post and it expresses the concerns and frustrations of many of us.
Thanks for this one
I’m gonna open my heart here. I have two adult children one from an ex and another from an ex gf. When they were little I decided to rejoin the military in my 30s to try and give them a better life with some benefits. Shortly after I arrived at my first duty station my wife left me so now I had two kids to provide for that were living far away. If I had to say there was a drawback to my serving it was the separation. But I made time on leave and when I had block leave after deploying I used most of it to visit my kids. Never forgot birthdays or Christmas. Even got stationed a few states away to be closer. Now I have two kids with lives of their own. One is a military spouse doing well for herself my son is dealing with addiction. And is going on trial soon which maybe a lenthly prison sentence. I’m still trying to be a good parent . But ya know , esp when it comes to my son. I wonder if I could have done more but it eats at me constantly
You are not that much different than most of us. I have three children, two of which make any parent proud.
The youngest son liked drugs and drinking more than his teeth. Almost went to prison over that one.
I am sure I could have been a better parent and I won’t even say I did the best that I could at the time.
Sometimes I just sucked at being a single father with 3 kids. Sometimes I amazed myself. Any parent worth their salt knows they could have done better, its the ones that don’t give a shit one way or the other that are the problem.
Thanks Dave , it’s much appreciated to see I’m not alone in this. I will say that the mothers had very different attitudes toward parenting my daughters mom got very religious and was more strict than my sons who believed that kids should have a lot more freedom than I believe a kid should have . Prob didn’t help that she insisted that I had somehow abandoned him by joining the Military and didn’t take a local dead end job. I’ll be the first to admit that there were things I did well and other times it was I sure could have handled that better. I do take comfort in the fact that despite my kids mistakes in life they are. Good people. I guess it’s a little hard when you see your kid going to jail that you get these nagging doubts. Again thanks Dave. It made me feel better.
the truth is that as a parent you get 2 or 3 hours a day that is shared between eating, chores, homework, tv, etc.
Their friends, media, schools, and other influencers get the other 20-22 hours a day.
You can be a great parent and your child can be influenced by an outside source and make bad decisions.
True seems like a losing battle with so many things to distract them . Another thing I’ve noticed is that guys in high op tempo units have even less times with their kids a few I’ve known have either got out after some years or retired to find they almost have to start over with the kids. I think Also that Marines deal with this as well as they seem to stay gone a lot due to fleet requirements.
Sounds like you were being an actual “parent” and not a “friend” to your kids. My ex had three daughters from her first marriage and played the “friend” role more than the “parent” role. Oldest daughter spent 7 years in prison for Child Abuse/endangerment (chasing down some crack was more important than taking care of her two toddlers), the middle one is in the Navy and the youngest is a carbon copy of mom (burns through money like it was going out of style). I was able to connect with the middle one, so I’d like to think that I did make a different in her life, but the other two are lost causes because their Mom treats them like a “friend”.
Kids are going to do what they want, regardless of what we say or do… just got to hope that what we tell them and show them sticks over the crap that they see online, TV or in person.
NCF, you are definitely not alone. My ex raised my daughter, half a country away, and though I got visitation as much as I could, the ex had more influence. Daughter has mostly turned out well, has a husband, and just recently a kid. Has held down a good solid job for a number of years. Sadly, her mom, and my sisters have influenced her political views, and that’s the one part of her I worry about. The other side is my son. He was born very premature, with doctors giving us horrible prognosis for him. Because of that, his mom, and to a lesser extent me, cut him more slack than we should have. He’s now 21, and FAR less motivated than I was at that age. That being said, the Dr’s were wrong, he’s a bull rider, and ALWAYS respectful to his elders. We get compliments on that all the time. Now if he’ll jst get a damn job…. lol
I hear ya, my son can’t hold down a job and my daughter needs to get one to help her husband as they are stationed in a high BAH area and he’s a E 2 one of the things I deal with is reaching a balance between trying to parent as much as I can but not trying to horn in on their adult lives and adult decisions . Just stepping back a bit. My new mantra is that when they have difficulties Ia to be there for them. But let them know they’ve got to do the heavy lifting to fix their problems. I think it’s the only way they are gonna grow up. For me , I’m hoping my son finds his way wether that means prison or not. I hope that politics won’t affect your relationship with your daughter. And I’m glad your son turned out good. So I wish the same for him as I do my daughter. Hope they find a job lol. Once again thanks bro
Thanks bro , much appreciated. Sure helps me feel better
Good read and very truthful, now sit and wait as resident seagull will show up.
I concur about the first part of your statement. As to the second part, I’d usually say “DON’T conjure the goblin” but right now it conjures itself.
Once he opens his mouth I have nothing else to add to the thread and move on.
Life is too damn short.
Ditto. I have decided to ignore his BS. Replying to it is a waste of brain cell synapses. I am suspecting he is one of those paid trolls. Practically every conservative blog site now has several of them.
Absolutely brilliant.
Every snowflake liberal out there needs to read these words and take them to heart. (A good number of conservatives need to do so as well.)
The difference of course is the ass whooping. A parent who “whoops” ass in any liberal state in America is going to have 6-24 months of weekly visits from Health and Human Services regarding their violent parenting techniques. So sure you can whoop their ass and then risk not being their parents anymore in Massachusetts. It seems that HHS here only addresses the cases where kids aren’t really at risk because kids being murdered by their parents still happens here… Didn’t stop me from being strict and tough, my kids are fine. But it stops a lot of people. As I’ve mentioned I was involved in a youth organization providing opportunities for athletics at a premier level for thousands of kids. I was a volunteer and parents would often ask if I could yell at their kids when they didn’t perform as mom or dad wanted. All day long I get this officer’s concerns. He sees it on a different level than I did certainly but it’s not unique to any single part of our lives these days. Tasting your own blood isn’t a bad thing, but that’s an issue these days as well. School resource officers are involved now, before when I was a kid it was the gym teacher. When I stopped a bully as a high school junior I got punched a few times before the other fellow was done fighting, he wasn’t bullying anyone anymore, but the gym teacher was rough with both of us…these days the bully and I might both have been charged with assault and had we not stopped when the officer grabbed us they might have added assaulting an officer to the mix. All of these differences between then and now matter, the gym teacher might have tuned us both up after our scuffle, but neither of us have a police record and we are actually friends to this day (a different story) but we both learned a lesson. You can’t have it both ways, you can’t have the attitude that it’s good to let kids taste their own blood but we… Read more »
“What I’ve seen of parents for the last 30 years indicates most are not only not all in they have no desire to be all in they just want to be pals with their kid.”
I’ve seen that as well.
Officer: I pulled you over because you made an illegal turn.
Me: Yes officer, I knowingly made that illegal turn.
Officer: Tell you what, I’ll write the ticket because there’ve been problems at this intersection and I was assigned specifically to ticket illegal turns. However, because you owned-up without trying to lie or wiggle out, this is what we’ll do: you pay the fine when it comes and contest the charge; I will not respond and the charge will be dropped.
Me: Thank you officer. I promise never to make this illegal turn again. [And I meant it!]
It took three months, but the county clerk returned my fine.
Note to kids today: Man up. It is always right, and sometimes it even benefits you.
True story, 1998
MP: You were going 40mph in a 30mph zone.
Me: I’ll admit to 35, no way I was doing 40.
MP: Why 35?
Me: You guys issue tickets for 10 over.
MP: True enough. Written warning?
Me: Deal!
My criteria for writing a ticket was always ……”did they pass the attitude test ?” . If they passed , it was usually a verbal warning .
I was heading north on I-17 a few years back, there’s a long downgrade dropping into Flagstaff. I was rolling along, 75 in a 65, fully aware that I was 10 over. Highway Patrol goes by, headed the other way, hits his lights as he does. I knew it was me, I just pulled over and waited. By the time he got there, I had license, registration, insurance all ready to go. He strolls up, says “Sir, my radar says you were doing 75 in a 65 zone”. I said “sir, your radar is very accurate.” He got snippy and told me he usually lets military go with a warning but he didn’t like my attitude. Attitude? I just politely pled guilty! Guy was probably an abused husband.
That seems to be a widespread attitude. My sunny, cheerful attitude and smiling face has allowed me to skate a number of times, but not always.
I was pulled over once for expired tags, about 50 yards from my house. The officer said he had to tow the car, and I asked him if I could just drive it home, just up the road. He declined. I think he thought I was exaggerating when I pointed to my actual house and thought I was just pointing in the general direction. After walking the 50 yards home I checked the mailbox and there, of course, was the new registration. Paid the fee, went to court to pay the fine just because I thought the story was funny. The judge and the officer thought so, too. Most expensive laugh I’ve ever gotten.
This story relates well to anyone in the Public Safety/First Responder arena. After the Army, and 25 years working the streets as a paramedic, if only I had a nickel for everytime I heard “If I was white , y’all would have been here 20 minutes ago”. Or, assessing a female, to have her female “partner” get pissed because a man was putting hands on her. BTW, I don’t have Jack Daniels, but I do have Mr. Jameson.
I feel your pain. (Said in my best Billy Clinton voice.)
I especially loved this gem: “I hate it when they send white people.” I’m glad people can’t hear me rolling my eyes.
To all of you LEO types, not to be a brown nose here, but I mean it: medics love you very much.
There are still a few of us civilian types who appreciate LEO types. Oh, and medical types too, of course.
I’ve heard a few of those. My standard response:
“Hey, maybe next time you see a fire engine in your rear-view with the lights and sirens flashing, you can think back to this moment, pull over, and get out of the way so we can respond faster.”
And, when applicable (especially in rural areas), I remind people that we could be there a lot sooner if they post their fucking address where we can see it, instead of us having to drive back and forth for ten minutes trying to extrapolate which of the seven unmarked dirt roads in the vicinity leads to the RP’s house.
RE: fucking addresses
“But my neighbor has numbers on their mailbox/road/house/trailer/shack/shanty.”
Helpful creatures, aren’t they?
Try that here in Texas.
I swear it’s illegal to put numbers on houses. Then, when you ask some snowflake which apartment building he lives in so you can deliver his pizza, you get the “duh, I live in apartment 2218.”
Me, “But there are only 16 buildings in the complex.”
“Duuuuhhhhh I live in apartment 2218 and nobody has any problem finding it”….
“Mmmmmmm—hmmmmmmmm”….
I’ll leave it at the bottom of the stairs in building 16, you can find it if you know where building 16 is”…
Most times, they don’t answer the phone because they are playing a game on it…
Our kids are just fucked with the clowns running around these days…
The only good thing is that a lot of Veterans are getting more involved in politics and understand the tough love thing…
“If you don’t want your kid to get his ass kicked by a gym teacher you’re the problem…”
VOV That’s too extreme for me assuming you’re referring to physical education in a public school. Personally, I would not want a “big gym teacher” kicking some 14 year old’s ass “without fear of repercussions.” I do not favor my MA tax dollars being used to encourage, support, or protect unionized gym teachers beating down disruptive students.
I graduated from a Roman Catholic high school where I was privileged to taste my own blood on the practice fields, the wrestling mats, in the hallways, lunch room etc.. The Brothers were physical too – slaps, punches, shoves, and throws were not uncommon. The experience taught me situational awareness and self defense skills. But me and my parents got what we willingly paid handsomely for.
Not all families can afford to send their children to private, charter, or religious schools so the public education system is all that remains. I don’t see a big upside in turning schools into gladitorial arenas pitting students against teachers in unarmed combat. My spousal unit grew-up dirt poor in a large family. The local schools were safe places for her and encouraged a love for learning. Despite her impoverishment she was a high academic achiever in high school and graduated with honors from her state’s flagship public university.
Teachers and school resource officers often become de facto parents and it’s an incredibly difficult role. But, I’m not comfortable encouraging brutality as the optimal solution to better integrating youth into American society.
Point being if your kid is a decent kid that never happens, but when he acts the asshole getting shoved, pushed, or grabbed by that gym teacher is what reminds you to get your shit back together and get with the program.
I was so dirt poor we didn’t have food security as a kid, I understand where your spousal unit is coming from. I learned to love education at the same school where the gym teacher shoved my ass to the ground when I was beating the shit out of that bully…he wanted me to stop and I wasn’t ready to stop so he made sure I stopped. It’s all good with me…I can take a hit. In that moment if my parents were the type of parent today that would have sued him he might have had to call the police and both of us get arrested and have records for the rest of our lives. That was my point. Sometimes a quick shot to the shoulder a shove to the ground sends a message that is learned without the ramifications of requiring legal counsel.
Hell, it used to be a point of honor to be paddled by your teacher — more than 5 whacks at one time and you got to sign the paddle. NOBODY wanted the PE teacher to paddle you ~ he got the real trouble cases.
71st Elementry, Fayetteville, NC, 1965-66
(Messrs. Young and Boyette)
71st Jr. High,Fayetteville, NC, 1966-68
Yes …. I signed Mr. Boyette’s paddle. And deserved every swat.
In Jr High we had a 1-armed coach who could chin-up more than anyone around.
The other coach’s paddling I could take.
I only got swats from Coach Fawcett 1nc – and made double-dog sure I never misbehaved in his presence ever again.
Buffalo Trace,& La Gloria Cubana Serie R. Been retired 21 years.
I have some issues with modern policing techniques and the current trend of militarization of the police. That said, this presents the other sides point of view, which is worth listening too.
i think most of us wearing a badge who have been military as well, tend to have the same views. I would much rather be officer friendly than stormtrooper anyday. and the funny thing is, once people discover you’re not the Robocop wannabe they perceive you to be they tend to be totally cool with you. it’s all perception.
Yep A good attitude works both ways.
Having done military 24 years and policing 5 years I can tell you they are as different as night and day to me. To the guy looking at the cop standing there with the M16 and the body armor they look the same.
(Yes we have M16s)
My Dad always told me never to start a fight, but, “If they start it, you finish it.” I got bullied in 6th and 7th grade. My parents complained, the school did nothing. Then one day the bully pushed me, and I turned around and knocked him on his ass. The school suspended me until my Dad raised hell over it. The former bully didn’t screw with me anymore.
Probably made the bully turn out better too. Instead he would have been coddled by the system to continue being an asshole and be a raging asshole of an adult. That whole “school to prison pipeline” Redline was so keen on stopping.
You just summed up my freshman year in high school. Had 3 asshats that bullied me since 6th grade. Puberty leveled the playing field and I leveled them 1 at a time. Principal knew and never said a word to anyone. 40 years later we’re still friends.
Same with me, TOW. Except my Ah Ha moment was in 6th grade.
Broke the asshole’s nose with my first punch. Got suspended, my dad took me to school the next day, I was back in school. The school put the asshole in another room for the rest of the year.
I had a couple of bullies during my middle and high school years. We threw down a couple times and sorted that shit out. We are still friends now and talk regularly 30 something years later.
Entitled little Jimmy, never go told “No” in life, wants booze, nookie, dope, etc. and whips out his Glock to get it… don’t blame the cops when he gets shot, parents; you didn’t do your job.
I retired from the Air Force in 2000. Since then I’ve been pulled over at least a half dozen times. I keep my military ID above my driver’s license in the plastic window of my wallet and the officer always sees it. That, and the fact that I have always been polite to them have gotten me out of a ticket every time. Of course a couple of those times I hadn’t done anything wrong to begin with, I still believe a combination of kindness and that ID card have done me wonders.
Baby brother is retired LEO.
I made extra sure to not do anything wrong in his jurisdiction. He knew I knew better, and would have thrown every charge he could at me – because he expected me to behave.
BTW, for those who know the story, he is the guy who busted Rudy Tomjanovich for DWI.
My older brother was a LEO. That asshole got one of his buddies to pull me over during my drivers test when I was 16. I was mortified, but the cop as well as the tester thought that it was hilarious.
When I was a kid, about a million years ago, all my mother had to say was “wait till your father gets home and I tell him about what you did.” And that wasn’t a threat; it was a promise. Eventually, all she had to say was “Stop that or you will be ‘discussing’ it later with Daddy.” A few visits with the “singing belt” made me a believer early in my childhood. You spank a kid now days and you might get a visit from CPS.
The mom’s are the most troublesome. I’ve been a professional golfer since my Navy days. AT1/E-2C Aircrew. I’ve always used young folks during the summers to work outside services, (carts,range, tote and fetch, etc.). Since they generally have zero work experience, I use school to help choose applicants.
1. Grade Transcripts
2. Chat with Principle for any thing I might need to be aware of. i.e.: Tardiness and lack of interest my #1 no good trait.
3. Has drivers license.
4. Has own car/truck. ( does not require someone else to get him to work).
A nice kid came to his interview with mom in tow. She insisted on sitting in on interview. ‘The boy was 16 yrs old’.
I told her twice she was not needed or welcome in the interview. She said,” I need to be here so he does not make any mistakes.” I responded with, “Are you going to come to work with him each day”?. She said, “Why would I do that?”
The poor kid didn’t get a job.
She called the Mayor and told him I was an asshole and demanded he force me to give her boy a job. He called me, the poor kid didn’t get a job.
I swear this happened.