When I was a “police officer”

When I was a “police officer” back in the early ’70s the transformation was just starting to take place from a mentality of a public servant working for the citizens to “law enforcement”. The first I noticed of it was when the police departments started preferential hiring of ex-military people returning from Viet Nam. They started introducing military tactics into the department, including the first SWAT team. They quit referring to people on the street as citizens and started calling them “civilians”, or more commonly “assholes”. “They looked for opportunities to use their new toys provided from “federal help” monies in the war on drugs. They changed the uniforms from the blue-suited cop with an 8-sided hat with a shield on front to a set of black or navy fatigues and a ball cap. They started shaving their heads and pumping iron. They gave up on the thought that they place themselves in the line of fire to protect and serve the public and took on a combat marine attitude of protect their own above all else. I’ve known them to murder cop-killers in the street

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