This is gonna be unpopular with some folks…

BUT…

How about giving a little love to your local law enforcement?

Living in the mountains and dealing with skiers and snow players, plus recently spending time in another larger mountain town, (Big Bear) I’ve seen what Law Enforcement has to put up with.

They have a very tough job and it’s dangerous to boot.

In the past 3 weeks I’ve seen Officers directing traffic in 25F weather standing in the snow to make sure that skiers and snow players get safely into and out of resorts.

I’ve seen more than one near miss where some idiot almost hit an Officer because they were in a hurry.

I’ve watched people giving Officers a rough time because the Officers were telling them to move along, you folks know you can’t park on a public road with no emergency lane to play in the snow. All the people behind you can’t get to their destination with your vehicle in the way.

Let’s not forget about the ambulance that cannot get to the accident 3 miles up the road or the skier who’s got a compound fracture and is bleeding out on the slopes.

And to you young social justice warrior hipsters, with tattoos which are not artful, or ironic, but which instead look like the tattoo “Artist” was on speed and vomited ink all over your bodies…

If a uniformed Officer walks into a coffee shop and gets waved to the counter ahead of the line. Shut the fuck up! That Officer deserves a little accommodation.

They’re working and they’re probably on a break, you know like your strictly enforced 15 minute break at your fast food job? It’s not going to kill you to wait 1 additional minute for that Officer to get a cup of coffee and leave to go back on duty.

I’ve rarely been as angry as I was the other morning when a bunch of you vile young “Social Justice” types started expressing how “Unfair” it was that the Officer was waved to the front of the line.

Cudos, to the cashier who told that bunch of self absorbed 20 somethings, “This Officer is out there insuring your safety and I’m going to serve them first so if you don’t like it, FIND ANOTHER coffee shop!” 

I’d love to see a cashier at a Starbucks do that. Then again I rarely darken the door of a Starbucks anymore, so Hell will probably freeze over first. As I’ve stated before, all I want from my coffee shop is coffee not a lesson in ultra liberal politics.

As I was standing in line waiting to get my coffee, I thought, “I wonder if it would be appropriate to swap my place in line with an Officer, or if it would be appropriate to just buy the Officer’s coffee?” I don’t know if that would be considered Bribery or just Kindness.

For the record, I left a nice tip in the bucket at that place.

Any LEO is welcome to give me an answer in comments.

As you might have gathered, I support LEO. I know there are some “bad apples” but generally speaking these people are drawn to serve the public good. A little kindness & respect toward them might go a long way in reminding them that not everyone is a criminal and that they’re appreciated.

So Back the Badge

At the same time if you see a “Bad Apple” report it. We live in a system of checks and balances. Our duty as citizens is to provide the balance.