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Show Editorial Has 'Officer Friendly' moved ouf ? The subject of police impropriety is something that is being brought to the attention of elected officials and this newspaper editorial staff more frequently than should be expected. Davis County is a rapidly growing area with different types of people. Police officers, citizens claim, frequently are mimicking "Rambo" in an attempt to adapt to this changing community. Residents, many who are law-abiding natives of the county, are expressing fear of their city's police department. A few illustrations might explain this paranoia. One man stopped at the scene of an accident to see if he could assist one of the victims, an elderly woman who he recognized rec-ognized as his neighbor. A police officer rudely profaned at him and told him to get the out of there. The man explained why he was offering help. The officer again yelled at him and threatened him if he didn't leave immediately. This useful citizen is hesitant about ever stopping to help anyone again. Another citizen says the police are not sensitive to the citizens of his community. He was stopped for riding his four-wheeler four-wheeler on a country road and was harshly threatened by the officer. Even after explaining that he had a special farm permit that allowed him to ride the four-wheeler, the officer remained unkind and unfriendly. One man had his basement flooded because of a clogged sewer line, a situation he believed was caused by the city. When this happened a second time, the city agreed to fix it The resident, a plumber, was standing a few feet from the manhole watching the workers. A police car drove up and an officer approached the man and asked him to move. At first the man thought the officer was joking. The officer repeated his warning, and when the man answered that he lived there, the officer put the man on the ground, handcuffed him, put his face in the dirt and then threatened his wife as well. He was taken to the Farmington jail without being told WJat the charges were and without being read his rights. A worker at the jail commented to him that this sort of vague and petty charge was typical of some city policemen. Recently a candidate for public office accidentally ran over a construction cone in the street. He was taken to the police station. The person did not complain of the injustice for fear it would mar the election process. Another incident occurred when some young boys were sitting sit-ting on the curb in front of their home late at night. They were just talking. The parents knew where they were and what they were doing. An officer came by, saw them, and took them in for violating the curfew. One citizen absentmindedly walked out of a convenience store without paying for $3 worth of gas he had just pumped. Realizing his error, he turned around to go back and pay when an officer stopped him and hauled him to jail. There are also complaints that when an officer is called to investigate a problem (prowler, vandalism, etc.), the officers frequently took several hours to arrive, if they did at all. People bringing these stories to our attention express feelings feel-ings of mtimidation, paranoia, frustration. "Gestapo" was the common word they used. Could it be that police departments have lost that old-fashioned old-fashioned sense of community spirit, of good public relations, that ability to be helpful and considerate to the citizens who pay their salaries and look to them for help and protection? Whatever happened to diplomacy, courtesy, common sense, good judgment? Police need to possess these qualities. In all the cases mentioned above, there was a better way to handle the situation. What kind of example of respect for proper authority are these rude, unthinking officers setting for the youth of the community, many who claim the police watch them too closely close-ly and issue tickets for petty infractions. The perpetrators of these acts probably are a minority of the officers within a department. But as far as reputation goes, one bad apple does spoil the whole bunch. Officers who are doing a good job ought to fight just as hard as the citizens themselves to see that the officers who act inappropriately are singled out and that changes are made in the1 way these officers relate to individuals in the community. |