I had deleted a comment I made on the last post wondering if the police officers attending todays funeral for a fallen comrade were being paid. The hate mail I have received is really incredible. Apparently these people think I hate cops and veterans. Well, I don't.(Actually I am a veteran and headed up a law enforcement agency in my career.) Me thinks all the hatred is on their side.
I have often said that when a police officer falls in the line of duty it is a tragic thing. But I also think it is a tragic thing when a sanitation department worker falls carrying out his role as a public servant too. In fact the job of a refuse worker is the 5th most dangerous job in the nation. Police work doesn't rank in the top ten. But you never see this level of public grief for the death of the refuse worker because many have all been brainwashed into believing some people are more important than others because of media hype, public relations, or political opportunism. (Would Governor Susana attend a funeral for a trashman?) It works both ways really. Some people are also singled out for hatred. Like when this officer was killed by a ganger with a latino name. Immediately some folks started blaming illegal immigrants even though they had nothing do to with the murder of the officer.
And so this is just something we put up with. Human nature at its worse. As for the original question of compensating people for going to his services, it still stands. It would be interesting to know, but I bet no one in the media will ever ask it.
I have often said that when a police officer falls in the line of duty it is a tragic thing. But I also think it is a tragic thing when a sanitation department worker falls carrying out his role as a public servant too. In fact the job of a refuse worker is the 5th most dangerous job in the nation. Police work doesn't rank in the top ten. But you never see this level of public grief for the death of the refuse worker because many have all been brainwashed into believing some people are more important than others because of media hype, public relations, or political opportunism. (Would Governor Susana attend a funeral for a trashman?) It works both ways really. Some people are also singled out for hatred. Like when this officer was killed by a ganger with a latino name. Immediately some folks started blaming illegal immigrants even though they had nothing do to with the murder of the officer.
And so this is just something we put up with. Human nature at its worse. As for the original question of compensating people for going to his services, it still stands. It would be interesting to know, but I bet no one in the media will ever ask it.
16 comments:
May the God that you don't believe in bless the fallen officers family. As for you, if you had balls you would publish all the backlash and as for getting paid were you not on the public tit? You don't believe in God but Karmas a bitch. The old saying goes people talk cause God gave them a mouth but sometimes it pays to Think before you speak . Publish what was said about your posting
see what I mean folks?
Just asking Jim, how many funerals for regular joes that worked for the city did you attend while mayor? Oh I forgot you don't believe in God so why would you bother to care about funerals? The money spent; now you sound like a republican bean counter. The hate mail you received was all your own doing so live with it .
That guy doesn't want you thinking things? Now that is scary.
Jim, don't worry about people who hate so much. They are deep down miserable and not very smart either. There is certainly nothing wrong with asking these questions.
I guess the big problem here is that you don't believe in their god. Lots of god talk there.
Best funerals I have been to are the ones where God is left in the parking lot and the deceased person is who we remember.
No matter what is said, you should take some satisfaction that their are people who actually read your blog and are interested in what you have to say. Remove only those comments that are vulgar and obscene, otherwise, print them all. Even village idiots have their place and add to healthy dialogue.
If the state (classical definition, not the state of NM) wanted to, it could make of sanitation workers what it makes of police, and so could these commenters.
Ask yourself why they don't. Why do we hold up the police?
Then ask yourself why we hold up the military and not people who work at the Social Security office or places like that.
As Jim points out, it's not because police face more danger, because they don't. It has to do with the symbolic function of the police.
And that is not the part of policing where they help stranded motorists. Think about the TV shows and movies you've seen about police. They succeed for a certain reason, and they don't extoll the police who stop and call a tow truck for you or who help get cats out of trees, but the police who are engaged in that more symbolic function as a coercive arm of the state. The ones who mete out violence on behalf of the state, like the military does.
People aren't aware of how things like that play out in our unconscious, so we have to come up with a language to explain, or justify really, what the police are doing and why we love them.
When you are putting the police above you, remember, you're in effect putting yourself below them. Certain type of people are more apt to do that for psychological reasons, but in general we are submitting to the power of the state because it brings us a certain level of security.
We're unconsciously, and therefore actually, surrendering our autonomy to the state, and in this case it happens to be a state dominated by Capitalism.
On August 18, 2005, John Hyde killed two veteran police officers - Michael King, 50, and Richard Smith, 46, when they went to serve a "mental health" pickup order. The two officers were given the same type of burial service as Officer Gregg Benner. The other 3 people that Hyde killed were all but forgotten. What occurred next was an all out war between police and the mentally ill which turned (some) officers into people who didn't value life other than law enforcement.
The question that I have is "what's next"? Hyde was mentally ill and APD started killing the mentally ill. Are officers going to declare war on Hispanics with neck tattoos, gang affiliations and history of drug use? If past is prologue, you bet that will happen but this time it will be in the name of Officer Benner.
This strikes me as shame because from everything I have read about Officer Benner, he would not have wanted something like that to happen and yet it will.
The posts by various anonymous people on this blog confirm a hatred for anyone who isn't like them. I hope that these posts are not from officers but from those who claim to support officers. A real officer, however, will be more interested in serving the public good than himself or herself. Those officers are rare but they are valued.
As a retired officer of the Albuquerque Police Department I am proud to say that when we lost an officer, any overtime I received from working was given to the spouse, children, or parents of the fallen officer.
Drugs and gangs are an equal opportunity problem, because all races get caught up in it, and it affects all of us. One of the biggest problems besides living in a kleptocratic state where both the Republican and Democratic politicos rip us off is that they turn a blind eye to why there is so much crime in Albuquerque. i consider the Mayor, Legislature, Governor, City Council, police officers, public employees to work for the citizens and they are not higher than me. When I meet them I hold them accountable for their actions, and I vote. To get an idea of what is going in this country you should look at an Los Angeles reporter's web site on the nation's drug problems.
http://www.samquinones.com/media/sams-stories/
http://samquinones.com/reporters-blog/
All lives are sacred, all murders evil.
Reduce the drug/gang/crime connections and all will be safer.
I have no problem honoring those who die in the line of duty for their country or community. The military fights for the freedoms that many take for granted on a daily basis. The police are charged with trying to keep our communities safe from dangerous criminals. It is a huge deal when a career criminal kills a police officer. Sanitation work may be dangerous but I think it is a bit disrespectful, shortsighted, and disingenuous to somehow equate the importance between it and what the police and military do. All life is sacred.
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