At the outset, don't get me wrong; I am 100% pro-cop. They are the enforcers of our laws, the good guys who set examples and who nag at our consciences. Without them, the country would be as lawless as the old west and anarchy would surely reign.
But, they're also a fraternal organization, and fraternal brothers and sisters look after each other and take their backs. Which leads me to the point: any cop on any police force knows the good cops from the bad cops. The good cops have an obligation to straighten out the bad cops; if they can't get the job done by brotherly chats of advice, then they need to take their issues up the ranks. If you have a guy on the force who is a hot head, who is reactionary and who doesn't use good common sense or think things through before dealing with confrontation or crime, that cop needs to be counseled.
When you have a cop who does something dumb, such as pulling a gun on an unarmed teen or beating a suspect beyond consciousness, that cop gives the whole force a bad name; and he gives the press and the public an excuse to berate cops in general. Granted, things escalate, tensions rise, the heat of the battle takes charge. But, cool-headed, trained cops are going to come out on top of those situations without opening the barn door to criticism or second-guessing.
Good cops are professionals in every sense of the word and although it's not written in any training manual, one of their duties is to take the less professional cops under their wings and either straighten them out or report them to someone who can.
That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.
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