Misconceptions about police

This thread is inspired by comments in a few others. In those threads, several members have stated their belief that law enforcement is the sole source of strained relations with the public. These members have gone so far as to say it's our problem and we need to fix it. This thread is intended to be effort in that direction. If we can put to rest some of the misconceptions held by so many citizens, maybe we can find some peace.

The idea is for actual cops (and only cops) to address some of the most common misconceptions held by citizens we encounter.; to explain things from our perspective in a non-threatening, non-accusatory way. Officers, be professional about this please. I ask that only cops reply because I don't want to see this turn into an ugly argumentative cop bashing thread that gets shut down. The idea is to educate and, hopefully, stir honest changes in opinions.

I'll start with a few:
- No, I did not stop you only because you're a different skin color than me, or you're pretty and I wanted your number, or old, or young, or any of the other reasons people state so often. When it is 2 a.m., dark and you've got tinted windows, I cannot see you well enough to know any of those things. Usually, I can't even be sure there is a driver. Go ahead and try it for yourself. Honestly look at the car ahead of you sometime and ask yourself what you can see about them. Simply put, I stopped you for the reason given... traffic violation, warrants associated to the vehicle license, whatever. That's all.

- Officer safety is not the only safety we are worried about. Believe it or not, most of us would really prefer not to hurt the suspect. That's why citizen compliance is so important. It is simple truth that we walk into chaotic situations already in progress that we had no part in creating and no idea what is going on. So many people behave as if they expect us to be psychic and just know they are the good guy. We're not. Slow down, follow our instructions and give us time to de-escalate and investigate. The tactics/techniques we employ to do that are designed to insure the safety of everyone on scene by preventing misunderstandings. They work when followed by both sides.

- In another thread, someone stated (quite hostilely) that we operate with an attitude that says we are going home in one piece no matter what as if that is a bad thing. It was suggested that we took a job that is dangerous and should just accept the risks. To suggest that I shouldn't employ tactics/techniques designed to keep myself and everyone else safe is ridiculous. No one would tell the construction worker 70 floors up on a skyscraper not to tie off because he chose a dangerous job and that's just the risk he takes. No one would tell the professional scuba diver not to take an extra tank and regulator down with him. No one would tell the NASCAR driver not to wear a fire retardant suit or have fire suppression system, or a roll cage and safety harness. The problem isn't the tactics we use, it's when people don't recognize the intent and just comply.

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Misconceptions about police