A More Positive Cop Story

I often point out the lack of thinking cops here in the USA.  You know the type; by the book, you’re going to jail young man, do we have the right house, I’m an officer of the law and what I say goes, have another donut type cops.  At Hit & Run this morning, Jesse Walker points to a story about Telluride lawman Bill Masters, that is worth a read.  A couple of Bill Masters’ quotes from the article.

"The only reason why drugs and crime have expanded to reach every Mayberry village in the country is our blind obedience to misguided laws and police tactics that just do not work,” Masters writes in his essay introducing the collection. “It is time to admit our own folly and stop our addiction to the drug war."

And this.

"God gave Moses ten laws, he notes; the state legislature has given the citizens of Colorado more than 30,000.

“When you get to that number, lawlessness becomes commonplace,” he says. “We have to triage all this. Which ones do we pick that we’re really serious about?"

And this.

"This one mother came up to thank me because the program was teaching the kids about drugs,” he recalls. “As she was talking, it dawned on me that I’d taken on her role as a parent. Now it was my responsibility to teach her children about drugs."

A thinking cop, a disappearing species.

Posted by on 05/21 at 09:07 AM

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