It's many a young boy's dream to grow up and become a police officer. You get to carry a gun, handcuffs, a shiny badge, and you become exempt from most of the social norms that make our society function peacefully. Imagine how much easier it would be to get through the day if you could treat everyone that disagreed with you like a subordinate, completely undeserving of common courtesy. Well, police are given the power to do so, and it's in whether or not they choose to use that power that you can tell the good cops from the bad cops.

Most officers don't choose to take advantage of their power however, and to those valiant public servants, I praise you. But to the officers amongst us who chose to treat their fellow community members like unruly children, eager to be both physically and verbally abused, you are bastards.

I'd like to begin by telling a quick story. The other night my friend found himself on the receiving end of a false accusation. He had been accused of inappropriately touching the late-night-paramedic kid, and the police officer questioning him wasn't believing his story. From a distance, I attempted to set the story straight to the officer, but when he sensed that I was becoming increasingly logical, he told me to "shut the fuck up."���� It was clear, this guy was a professional.

It says on the Value Statement section of the Champaign Police Department's website, "Developing effective police/citizen partnerships is every employee's responsibility" and "We believe in citizen participation in the delivery of police services."���� I feel like our police/citizen partnership was greatly compromised after that comment. Police are paid to protect and serve us, right? If I were being served by someone in any other profession, social norms would still apply. I've never had a waitress tell me to "shut the fuck up,"���� and if I have, I was probably at IHOP, thus, I do not remember it happening. And as far as protection goes, the only thing that this cop was protecting was his own dignity.

It was an alarming reminder to me that the badge can have a tendency of magically taking the humanity away from those who wear it. By pushing around us college students, this particular cop is using his badge to make up for all the years of being picked on as a kid. And when he cries alone in his bathtub each
night after his shift, he grins sporadically
as he reminds himself that he is the bully now; he finally gets to pick on someone.

In the wake of the University of Florida tasing incident [Youtube], many people have become even more wary of police and the ambiguous regulations that limit their power. Asshole actions by bad cops do a great disservice to all the good cops that have no intention of creating enemies within the populace. A wise man once told me "Cops don't become assholes, assholes become cops." And I think that's true only to a certain degree. Yes, there are assholes who see law enforcement as the perfect opportunity to earn a living while simultaneously reassuring themselves that they are in fact a badass. Good cops, and they know who they are, have enough self-esteem to go about their business without needing to prove anything to themselves or others. These are the cops that'll give you a warning, not a beating, if they see you pissing in a hidden alley-way. Thanks, good cops.

Good or bad, cops are undoubtedly the most intimidating people to be around. Even if you aren't breaking any laws, it's hard to remain comfortable when a police officer is standing behind you in line to order a burrito. You see, that's why assholes become cops - they love that. I once went on a police ride-along with a man who I consider to be a good cop, and I was intimidated by him even while we were sitting in Monical's Pizza on his lunch break. He devoured that side salad in such an intimidating manner. And he had a gun, which, you know, was weird.

For the most part, I really like police officers. I've had some jovial exchanges with cops in my life, but unfortunately the few bad experiences tend to distort my feelings towards law enforcement. Police just need to understand that they aren't any higher or mightier than anyone else, the only difference between them and normal people is a career choice. So if you ever witness a cop being an asshole, tell them, "Hey, Cop, you're an asshole"- it's freedom of speech; the worst they can do is tell you to shut the fuck up.