Police, tasers and people skills

Yes. I have been thinking in the past few years: what if the police force were actually trained to be "Citizen Helpers" instead of "Law enforcers"? Totally different paradigm. Totally different training. Totally different results.

I have a friend who is now a policeman (a very good one of course) who sometimes sees people really out of control because of drugs. This is the main reason they get to have weapons and use force - for those times when people are drugged-out lunatics (and even here, I don't believe force is justified but then again I have never faced such a situation myself). But they carry their fears and training with them into situations with normal or upset or grieving people all the time - and they behave terribly (fear will do that). I have a friend, a teacher for many years, who had a bit of a breakdown shortly after her marriage ended. Her sister panicked and phone the police. Two women police officers showed up and my friend was so out of it she wasn't really aware why they were there. She ended up being taken down on the floor and then maliciously belittled by one of the officers. She didn't even tell me about the incident until about a year later - she was so ashamed and traumatized. What recourse does she have? She needed help for goodness sake, not that barbaric treatment she got (just because she wanted to show them a craft project she was working on and had reached for a pair of scissors).

A few weeks ago I parked illegally (without realizing it) at my brother's house because his giant work truck was in his driveway and I almost got stuck in the snow along the alley. A by-law officer knocked on the door and asked whose vehicle that was, and I jumped up and he explained that I was breaking the by-law. I thanked him profusely and apologized and moved my vehicle. We exchanged names and shook hands and I said "wow, this is so great - you are helping me instead of punishing me" and he said "yes, I see my job as helping people" and it just hit me so hard - that's the kind of society that I want to live in; one where we use our tax dollars to pay people to help people out when they don't know the laws or are having trouble obeying the laws. I know from parenting; punishment is not a long-term solution that actually helps people grow, flourish, and learn. There is a big difference between behaving in certain ways to avoid punishment vs. doing so because it is the right thing to do.