Public Servants

There is a news story out of Texas where cops had to break up a pool party with a bunch of teenagers in attendance. One cop is shown on video throwing a teen girl to the ground and putting his knees in her back to arrest her. Was this tactic necessary? I really don't know. Was there another way he could have restrained her? Probably. But if you've ever been in a situation where a large number of kids are together, you know it doesn't take much for them to form a mob mentality. I've seen it it my own classroom. 25 twelve year olds can turn ugly really fast. It doesn't take much of a catalyst at all. My point here is we don't really know what was going on at this pool party and the subsequent effort by police to break it up. If I had to guess, I'd say there was some under age drinking going on. Liquid courage and teenage hormones are a lethal cocktail. I would also guess there wasn't a lot of cooperation from these teens. I didn't hear any "Yes sir" or "No sir" responses. I think it was probably more like herding cats or trying to contain a swarm of gnats. Today there are protests in Texas over police brutality. I haven't heard of any protests against the verbal abuse and sometimes physical abuse these public servants receive every day. These cops put their lives on the line every day. They are given limited resources and must operate with one hand tied behind their backs. They are forced to demonstrate almost super-human restraint when it comes to dealing with the general public and people want to protest because some girl who was probably running her mouth (and maybe much more) was thrown to the ground (in the grass I might add) and restrained. What we forget in all this is that these cops are human beings. Human beings with spouses and children. Human beings with emotions and feelings being pushed to their absolute limits. Where are the protests in favor of the cops? Where is the outcry against people acting like animals and then getting upset when someone tries to stop them? Where has common sense gone?

***One Note***
The cop did draw his gun on some teen boys who approached him as he had the girl on the ground. That was unnecessary and that piece of the puzzle needs to be addressed. I'm not saying cops are perfect and there aren't some who abuse their power. However, the men in blue are being treated as villains based on the actions of a few.