Nobody would have faulted these cops if they’d decided after the crisis passed to bail out of that particular job. They bailed, though, in the middle of an emergency when lots of people were depending on them.
It is a selfish and cowardly act from people who ought to have known better. I have nothing but contempt for them.
I have remarked in discussions about this hurricane some duties pressed upon me to assist in a search and rescue operation after the “Med hurricane” of 1995. We were searching for Greek sailors lost in a shipwreck.
Now, what would people think of me had I decided in the middle of this that it was too hard, and I needed to bail?
in the name of self preservation is it defensible, but outside of that, it is indefensible. oaths aren’t taken lightly. if anything that is the precise time in which you should be a policeman and earn your check.
Well, actually, I paid a price that was mutually agreed upon for my laptop, and I pay a monthly bill for the measured electricity that I use in that given month, so I feel that exchange of my money for their service sufficiently absolves me from any further obligation for said services.
We simply disagree. The going got too tough, and these cops couldn’t bear it, they had the option to leave, and so they did. I didn’t say it wasn’t cowardly, I mean as far as I know, not many if any of my firefighting brothers bailed out, but staring down the barrel of one of the worst disasters in American history and saying, “fuck this” is a defensible position. I disagree with the fact that they left, but agree with their right to do it.
Now about this rescue mission you were on. I’ll assume that you were actually at sea at the time, and hazard a further guess that if you said ''fuck this, i’m leaving" that who ever your superiors were would have had a hearty laugh and said something along the lines of “ok, smartguy, go ahead, nearest land is 100 thataway ---->”
Your number is for the entire Army. The Army has an active strength of more than 500,000 men and women, which brings that desertion rate to the aforementioned 0.5%.
Let’s just assume that the numbers may be higher because of uncounted AWOL’s and the like. Do you really believe that rate has come anywhere close to the almost 12% desertion rate of the New Orleans police force?
The NO cops weren’t “deserting,” they were quitting their jobs. If it were possible simply to quit the military a lot more people would be doing it. The situations are not comparable.
Sure they are. Those NO Cops that “just up and quit” deserted their positions, and shirked their sworn duties. Granted, there’s a lot more to just ‘up and quitting’ the military, but that’s because there are laws and mechanics in place to prevent it. In both cases, the end result is the same: there’s nobody there to get work done.
Either way, that police officer or soldier made a promise to perform job (however dangerous that job may be) when required because people depended on them. To just throw down and say, “Nope, not anymore. . .” when a situation requires that action epitomizes cowardice.
As you’ve already observed, you can’t just desert in the middle of a hostile fire zone, or aboard a ship: how the hell would you get home? But the police, in their own town with family around 'em, it’s a hell of a lot easier (and what makes it even more despicable).
Of course we are, just as we are in a position to judge any number of moral issues. As are you. In your judgement, they did nothing wrong. In the judgement of those with a developed sense of responsibility, they did.
I see that you posted what you hope you would do, but I don’t really give a fuck what you hope you would do. What you hope you would do does not grant you the moral high horse to judge others. For all you know you’d run like a pussy. I wouldn’t judge you for it, though.
How many days notice do cops usually give when they decide to quit and seek sunnier shores? Surely the NO police department has a written policy covering that? Did the deserters dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s?
Okay, speaking as someone who took time off high school, as a member of a volunteer search-and-rescue organization, to hump ass through a blizzard in 18" of snow in back-ass wooded hills in northern PA, trying to operate a ELT-locator device and find a crashed civil aviation aircraft–and this for nearly two freakin’ weeks–yeah, I have zero respect for those NO cops. You sign up to serve and protect, that means you do it when it’s needed.
I could have very easily said “I signed up for the cool uniforms and marching a color guard in the parades and getting free air show admission in exchange for pulling a site-security shift., I’m not going on any snowy-back-country search-and-rescue bullshit.” Instead, I said “y’know, I’m one of the best radio locator operators in my area of the state, if I don’t go I’ve raised those people’s chances of dying a large amount–I signed up knowing this was part of the deal, and I’m doing it, even though I’d never thought I’d be camping in snow for two weeks in the process.”
So there, I’ve had to make a qualitatively similar decision (Conditions were less bad, but I also had literally nothing to lose by quitting) and I did it. Therefore, I claim my DtC -approved right to say “New Orleans cops who deserted are a bunch of cowardly assholes, and frankly I’d be happy if they never got hired as anything more demanding than a burger-flipper ever again–and even then, I’d be afraid they’d miss shifts because they were afraid of the deep fryer, the fucking jerks.”
Come on Dio, you are trying to play a dense character for our amusement. No one has to live out the same exact situation in order to pass judgment on someone else.
Just because I have never abandoned my child in a burning car doesn’t mean that I can’t call someone who does so a coward and a despicable human being. Taking this idea to the extreme would mean that no one would ever be able to pass judgment on anyone else for anything. Society wouldn’t have any behavior standards because every case is unique by your definition.
You advocate being completely non-judgmental while being among the most judgmental people on these boards. I can’t understand the (minimal) thought processes behind it.
You are mixing up some very different things here. What they did was cowardly by the standard definition. They should get a reprimand by society as a whole. It is not in anyone’s best interest to let those decisions slide without consequence.
OTOH, if the police officers thought that they really couldn’t face the battle and could live with those consequences, then they should do what they feel they must. They should still be judged harshly for it and let to live with the outcome.
By your standards, police would drop their gun in any shoot off, firemen would refuse to go into any burning building, and electrical linemen would refuse to go out in a storm.
I don’t advocate being completely non-judgemental, but when it comes to this kind of emotional crisis I’m not going to play Jesus. I’ve never had to choose between my family and my job, but I’m pretty sure I’d choose my family.
What were the cops supposed to do if they stayed anyway? The town was gone. The looting was unimportant. They couldn’t arrest anyone even if they’d wanted to. I don’t blame them a bit.