when there’s a lunatic waving a gun around in my neighborhood, I lock the door and hide in the basement. Cops have to show up and confront the dangerous crazy person.
That’s a good instinct. Because your thoughts are fucking stupid.
Last week he was specifically targeting police. Are you seriously telling me you think a guy who shoots three cops is going to have a problem shooting other people?
Grandma doesn’t go to work every day, knowing she is there to deal with possibly violent miscreants intent on not going to jail. If Grandma gets gunned down, it’s a tragedy, but she never knowingly and willingly put herself in danger in service of society.
Not all jobs issue or require bulletproof vests.
Police work is less dangerous than many other jobs. The majority of cops killed on the job get hit by cars while they are writing tickets.
My dad was a career cop. My uncle was a career state trooper. I was a deputy sheriff. I grew up surrounded by badge carriers and then worked with many more. Cops, as a group, get far more credit for selflessly doing a hard, dangerous job than they deserve. When you start adding in that they “protect us” things start getting laughable.
I’m a grad student. I’ve been a banker, marketing rep, IT professional, manager, and cook among others. None of those jobs ever carried an appreciable risk of being hit by a car on the highway during the course of my duties. Or a constant–if, admittedly, very low–risk of being shot by some tweaker I just pulled over.
I get you, really. I have family members in LE, and I get that the “selflessly doing a hard, thankless job” thing is overblown (right along with the “in harm’s way, thank you for your service” bit toward members of the armed forces).
But still and all…law enforcement is a job that carries particular risks, and it is a job that, overall, is dedicated to protecting society. Which is, caveats notwithstanding, still pretty badass.
It’s less dangerous than nine other jobs. I’m not sure that qualifies as “many”.
I’m sure, though, that I don’t really care what you consider to be “many.”
Except that some of those 9 are “farmer” and “driver”.
And the kicker: Garbage collector have a more dangerous job.
That means everybody who doesn’t work in an office has a more dangerous job. (statistically speaking)
The cop whose job it is to arrest a nutjob whose shooting at people deserves a medal.
(my answer would be “No thanks” or “Damn, I just slipped a disk”)
As far as lives saved and improved general quality of life for the populace, garbage collectors contribute more than cops.
The context of this thread is a funeral for cops who were shot in the course of their duties.
It may well be true that other jobs are more dangerous, or contribute more to social well-being. It may well be true that the “selflessly doing a hard, thankless job” thing is overblown.
However, everything has its place. At a funeral for slain cops, you can rightfully expect that sort of rhetoric, and it seems to me that, in that context, it is appropriate - after all, it is for the people sitting in the audience, for the relatives of the dead cops.
The lack of proportionality.
In this case they didn’t take a bullet meant for anyone else.
Neither one.
Hang in there.
Whatevah
This guy apparently did. He had multiple opportunities to shoot civilians and didn’t.
Yes they do. That’s what they get paid to do. And, as far as I know, no one forced them to take the job.
My problem (once again) is in the proportionality of the gratitude expressed by the public. And maybe just a bit by the intensity of the manhunt, but only because that kind of intensity doesn’t seem to happen when the victims are just ‘five random mooks’ (great term El_Kabong).
I did a bit more digging just to see if I was completely off my rocker in my sense that this was a pretty intense manhunt. Came across this; Danzig Street, Scarborough, ON 2012. Two dead, 23 injured. All civilians. One person charged with ‘reckless discharge of a firearm’ three days after the shootings. No other arrests made as far as I can find. Seems like having someone on the loose who doesn’t have a problem spraying bullets into a large crowd would be quite a danger to the public. Maybe even more so than someone who is specifically targeting police. YMMV
Then got to thinking about the Boston Marathon bombings and have to admit that the police response was pretty similar to what happened here. I don’t think the city went into lock-down until there was a firefight with police though. The public response was also pretty similar during the funerals/memorial services for the bombing dead. Not so much the excessive gratitude, but certainly the mass outpouring of grief. I guess it’s just how people are made.
And for the surviving police officers. And I do expect it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t complain about it - anonymously on a message board. 
I think I’d like to start a thread about hero worship…
I’m obviously way late to this thread but two of these cops lived in my neighbourhood. I didn’t know them but my kids play with their kids. Some of my friends worked with them or with their wives. It’s true they were being targeted but no one knew that at the time. The first officer shot was ambushed near a cul-de-sac as he responded to reports of a gunman who was armed and heading towards a residential area (which might be normal in some places, it is not remotely normal here), the second officer was off-duty and raced over from his house a few streets over. Yes, he was going to protect his fellow officers but also the area he lived. There were kids out playing in the street when the first shots were fired and they were still in the area when the second shootout occurred. The third officer killed arrived a few blocks away and was trying to clear the street when he was hit. He was hit in the head and returned fire before succumbing to his injuries. There were lots of people out when everything started. I was arriving home from work quite unaware of any of this except that I saw quite a few cars racing up the street next to mine with their lights going and no sirens. My wife just thought it was fireworks at first. Think whatever you want but the officers responding to this incident put themselves in harm’s way and were very definitely concerned with the public when they did so. So yes, they did protect us and I am thankful for it.