I got pulled over a few times. :P I was a little speed demon. I could always bat my eyelashes, show some chest, cry, and get out of it though. There were no computers to run my license through back in the day. I never dreamed of fighting with them. They have guns and hard objects to crack skulls. I don't. Case closed.
I agree with all of your points for the most part. Particularly in cities where the problems are more complex. However, doing things with the adults usually won't do a damn bit of good. It never does. Adults have set attitudes that are unlikely to change unless there is a dramatic event to go with it.
Thankfully, this town has three fantastic police small-town police forces within a very short distance of one another. Not a single one of them would do a single thing to hurt a kid. None of them wear hoods during off time. But, I see kids who are disrespectful to them all the time because the parents are.
The parents are disrespectful because they seem to have some sense of entitlement. They seem to think they should be able to do what ever they'd like. If they've battered their wife, that's between partners and not for the police to be involved. If they are driving drunk, they haven't hurt anyone, so the police best leave them alone. So, I see the pattern duplicated with the kids.
The thing is, I don't see any reason for it. There isn't any reason for the sense of entitlement with the parents. That's the part I don't get.
I think the vocational efforts and the realistic replacement parent/child role models work for some kids, so that makes it worth it in the long run. Unfortunately, there are always going to be kids who will look at the parents as primaries or the kids who see how much more they can make in illegal activities and they will continue to bump heads with the police for the rest of their lives.
At the risk of becoming Mme. Spam-A-Lot, I will say that the cops do seem to know what family names are "destined for trouble" and which ones aren't. That irritates me. BUT, they do love it when a family member grows up without getting in trouble. There is a "destined for trouble" kid all grown up on the police force I temp for. So, there's lots of concern there.
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Date: 2005-08-04 01:52 pm (UTC)I agree with all of your points for the most part. Particularly in cities where the problems are more complex. However, doing things with the adults usually won't do a damn bit of good. It never does. Adults have set attitudes that are unlikely to change unless there is a dramatic event to go with it.
Thankfully, this town has three fantastic police small-town police forces within a very short distance of one another. Not a single one of them would do a single thing to hurt a kid. None of them wear hoods during off time. But, I see kids who are disrespectful to them all the time because the parents are.
The parents are disrespectful because they seem to have some sense of entitlement. They seem to think they should be able to do what ever they'd like. If they've battered their wife, that's between partners and not for the police to be involved. If they are driving drunk, they haven't hurt anyone, so the police best leave them alone. So, I see the pattern duplicated with the kids.
The thing is, I don't see any reason for it. There isn't any reason for the sense of entitlement with the parents. That's the part I don't get.
I think the vocational efforts and the realistic replacement parent/child role models work for some kids, so that makes it worth it in the long run. Unfortunately, there are always going to be kids who will look at the parents as primaries or the kids who see how much more they can make in illegal activities and they will continue to bump heads with the police for the rest of their lives.
At the risk of becoming Mme. Spam-A-Lot, I will say that the cops do seem to know what family names are "destined for trouble" and which ones aren't. That irritates me. BUT, they do love it when a family member grows up without getting in trouble. There is a "destined for trouble" kid all grown up on the police force I temp for. So, there's lots of concern there.
Done now.