Do the police trust you?

[Mortblanc]

Once more we have a division in definition and perception based on location; rural vs. urban.

My area in the States has the same variation.

Urban police are led by an appointed commissioner/chief. He answers to the city council/trustees/aldermen. He hires hundreds of people he does not know, and may never meet, based on their test scores/political connections.

They deal with the lowest forms of life on the planet from shift start to shift stop. They are in a combat zone and anyone not wearing a badge is the enemy. Individual response is dangerous and "swarming tactics" have become the normal response with everyone in the vicinity being automatically suspect.

I live in a rural area. The top cop in my area is the sheriff. He stands for direct reelection every 4 years. He hires a small group of men to serve warrants and respond to calls called Deputies, whose behavior reflects directly on him.

Their job is to insure the safety, enforce the laws and keep the peace and serve warrants in a very sparsely populated area. Normally they do not deal with a crowd and their most dangerous hazard is answering "domestic calls" that usually involve a drunk beating his wife, or here in KY a drunk getting clobbered with a cast iron skillet by his wife. (a 40 kilo KY woman will kick your ass in a heartbeat!)

Law abiding people vote for or against this sheriff, and through him his deputies. If they want to keep their jobs they treat the voters with respect. A new sheriff usually means new deputies.

People convicted of crimes are not allowed to vote in the U.S. Their record stays with them throughout life and can be checked with the click of a computer mounted on the dashboard of every squad car. Therefore people with a known criminal record do not get the same "respect" that the voting population receives. They are treated fairly, but not given a chance to pull anything.

And yes, the way you look always matters, anywhere, any time. A car pulls up in front of my house and 4 men in suits get out and I answer the door to see what they want. 4 heavily tattooed guys in cargo pants, tee shirts, combat boots and shaved heads get out of their car and the door will not be opened.