Policing - A Tough Job

As is sit and think about the world we live in I cannot help but
think of some of the thankless jobs out there. One that comes to mind
is policing, for the most part the only interaction a regular citizen
has with the  police is a traffic officer giving them a ticket which
for most considered a negative policing experience. For others the
only interaction they get is when they are being arrested for
something they have done wrong, again not a positive experience.

There is so much more to policing that goes on unnoticed, out of the
public eye, so if a lot of the positive parts of policing go unnoticed
how could a police department help change their image? I would like to
believe that their image matters to them with the regular citizen in
the community in which they police.

Here's an idea, let's start with where the majority of the police
interactions take place with regular citizens, I am going to guess it
is through their traffic sections. How about if for an unannounced two
week period a police department made it their goal to make every
traffic stop on a regular citizen a positive policing experience, by
traffic stop I am meaning they are not stopping someone for DUI, Theft
of Auto, Driving with out a licence or insurance etc, but the 12
km/mph over the speed limit, failing to signal and like offenses. If
the regular person who just made a mistake and wasn't blatantly
breaking the law was left with a positive policing experience what
difference would that make in the police/citizen relationship in a
community?

I believe this type of unannounced effort on the part of the police
would be far more rewarding than the publicized things they do, it
wouldn't be seen as PR which can lose it's value very quickly as it
can seem staged.

I originally got thinking this idea when I saw something in the media
about how the local police were saying that there was a lot of crime
going on in front of regular citizens and it just wasn't being
reported, my thought was that may be the only experience these regular
citizens had with the police was negative, such as traffic
enforcement, so why would they want to call someone who they only had
a negative experience with. Imagine if every time you went to see the
doctor they kicked you in the shin and told you how horrible you
looked, would you go to see them unless it was an absolute emergency?

I know there are lots of details that would have to be worked out, but
I think if the regular citizens and the police in a community have a
relationship that is improved with their police department the end
result is a win for everyone, well apart from the criminal element
that is!

Thank you to all the men and women who serve our communities in the
many branches of law enforcement.

Just another opportunity in life...