BPR "Mike O’Meara, the president of the New York State Police Benevolent Association, is not the only cop fed up and exasperated with mainstream America’s incessant demonization of all law enforcement officers. Not by a long shot.
"So is Travis Yates, a 27-year Tulsa cop who “grew up in a law enforcement family” but is now warning of an incoming police exodus.
"In a powerful, nearly 1500-word long column published last week at LawOfficer.com, Yates poured his heart out over the growing disrespect for law enforcement that he’s seen as the decades have progressed.
"“27 years have passed and if you would have told me the condition of law enforcement today, I would have never believed you,” he wrote. “It’s not that law enforcement has changed for the worse but everything around it has.”
"To prove his point, he cited example after example after example:
- “The mentally ill used to get treatment and now they just send cops.”
- “Kids used to be taught respect and now it’s cool to be disrespectful.”
- “Supervisors used to back you when you were right but now they accuse you of being wrong in order to appease crazy people.”
- “Parents used to get mad at their kids for getting arrested and now they get mad at us.”
- “The media used to highlight the positive contribution our profession gave to society and now they either ignore it or twist the truth for controversy to line their own pockets.”
- “There used to be a common respect among criminals. If they got caught, they understood you had a job to do but now it’s our fault they sit in handcuffs rather than their own personal decisions.”
- “If someone attacked a cop, they were seen as such. Now we martyr them and sue for millions.”
- “We used to be able to testify in court and we were believed. Now, unless there is video from three different angles, no one cares what you have to say.”