Being a cop has to be one of the hardest, most thankless jobs in the world.  It also requires, along with firemen, the highest degree of sacrifice by being first responders in extremely dangerous situations.  And keep in mind that they are putting their lives on the line for total strangers while they are doing their jobs.  Even doctors and nurses don't do that. 

It's getting harder and harder for police departments to recruit highly qualified people because the job is so intrinsically dangerous, but also because they have been smeared for so long, unfortunately, because of a few bad actors who have destroyed the reputations of good men inside of the law enforcement profession.  Has anyone considered these bad actors who committed heinous acts may have been hired in the first place because cities have had to lower their standards?  That may be because no one in his right mind wants to take a job where he could be killed on any given day working in hostile environments while at the same time facing people every day who hate his guts.

The stress this places on a person must be unbearable, because the urban police are always living under the most psychologically uncomfortable and demanding circumstances.  This plays a big part in why the suicide rate for police is so high.

From "New Study Shows Police at Highest Risk for Suicide Than Any Profession":

Police are at a higher risk of suicide than any other profession. In fact, suicide is so prevalent in the profession that the number of police officers who died by suicide is more than triple that of officers who were fatally injured in the line of duty. Researchers are attributing these statistics to the unique combination of easy access to deadly weapons, intense stress, and human devastation that police are exposed to on a daily basis.

Police officers are first on the scene of some of the most dangerous and demanding situations imaginable, providing immediate care and support. Although these heroic duties are essential to society, they can be very strenuous and emotionally draining to those in the profession. Police officers face a great deal of trauma on a day-to-day basis. This constant exposure to devastation, life-threatening situations, and the physical strain of working long hours can lead officers feeling hopeless and anxious.

In addition to the threat of physical harm, officers are constantly witnessing devastating and disturbing events such as murder, suicide, and domestic violence. On average, police officers witness 188 'critical incidents' during their careers. This exposure to horrific accidents can lead to multiple mental health issues that often get untreated.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that what is probably the most important profession in the country because it provides for everyone's safety and security that is necessary for a civil and cooperative society to exist.  The latest political fad of defunding and/or dismantling police departments around the country in response to the death of George Floyd is nothing but a suicide mission that's been decades in the making, where police have been and still are scapegoated for the much larger underlying problems in urban America.  From "Lessons from 1968":

Since 1968, the people of this nation have invested untold billions of dollars in Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and similar social welfare programs in a well-intentioned and generous effort to alleviate the plight of America's disadvantaged minorities. But now, 52 years and billions of dollars later, what is the status of those whom we have sought to help? ... It's as if the civil rights revolution and the Great Society never happened.

The political class that's full of careerist Democrats and moderate Republicans (AKA Republicans In Name Only, or RINOs) throughout all levels of government has been masterful in distracting the public over the decades by forcing its eyes on the little shiny ball of police brutality rather than the much larger shiny ball of actually improving life in the inner cities.  Those bad conditions are not the result of cops, but because of its own failures of governance.

But when you think about it, that would be political suicide so it's only logical that the elites' way of governance has been one of complete distraction and misdirection. 

This is how it's done with a lot of help by their allies in the fake news media in the pursuit of gaining and maintaining power while preserving the status quo for those who need new ideas and ways for improving their lives from their elected politicians, but nothing ever changes.  They always decry how unjust "the system" is and the need for change right now while never doing anything about it.  But the professional politicians continue to be re-elected by unwitting and gullible voters by keeping them angry and telling them over and over what they want to hear without delivering on hollow promises.  It's almost like the perfect magic trick.

Image credit: Pixabay public domain.