[DavidI]

I have no response that would make sense to you. I can offer the ride, not in an attempt to make you my friend, recruit you, put a smile on your face, but to show you how police work is performed in South Central LA. There are a great deal of great men and women puting their lives on the line for complete strangers. I truly believe that 98% of the people in that, and any area for that matter, are good, hard-working people trying to live the American dream. The other 2% are the violent predators that victimize the good people. Sometimes, good people do bad things when they lose control of their emotions. We deal with them too.

I respect your opinions about the differences among "good" cops and "bad" cops. I am a very assertive police supervisor and do everything within my power to root out the "bad" cops. I am not refering to the criminals wearing badges because we go after them with a vengeance.

There is nothing that I can write to change your mind, nor do I want to. Your mind is made up the cops are bad, power hungry, violent individuals who enjoy nothing more than causing you unwarranted grief and costing you money in tickets where they clearly lied about your driving habits. I understand that. On the other hand, I am an optimist that looks for the good in people. I hope that one day, you need the police for some kind of help and a "good" cop comes out and helps you out in a courteous, friendly manner. That way you can see the other side of us.

On another note, someone wrote that their cop relatives told them that they take their time to get to shooting calls to make sure it was over by the time they got there. I would call that cop a coward who has no business serving the public. Our job is the protection of life first, even if the bad guy is the gunshot victim. I could not hold my crew back from rolling in to that call if I wanted, nor would I even attempt.

Stay safe, David (The offer still stands for the ride along. I will not hold back or change the way I treat people or handle calls. JackO came out with me and we had a great time. In fact, we rolled Code 3 (lights and siren) to a stabbing call. As I was driving, I was getting tips from a true pro about apexes and braking!) How's that for a connection?