By no means wanting to be the only realist in this world, I hesitate to say that there are only two situations where "100%" applies.
I know that there are instances when we do not always have 100% sunny days. But 5 out of 7 ain't bad. If I can't get all of my home improvements done, I will still settle for what I can afford and what I do get done. If my doctor tells me that I am at about 99% of my optimum health, I will take it! If my dog catches 75% of the balls I throw him, he probably is not my dog. (bless his clumsy sole) If a farmer takes 1,000 eggs to the farmers market and only breaks 2, he has had a good trip. However if someone tells me that 2% of all arrests or citations in Minneapolis, involve some escalated format of confrontation, I will be satisfied. See - we tend to forget the mass amount of people that are processed through our fair city every day. Felons, drunks, speeders, 'perps' and any thing else you would care to imagine. If we look at the pure numbers and compare the totals, we will see that the old saying is true, "a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch". Conversely, how many "good" police actions do we want to ignore. I do not think that a police officer is entitled to special acknowledgment for doing his/her job. But what of the times they go out of their way to help save someone. We too easily dismiss these. Not use another cliche, but - one screw up wipes away a hundred 'atta boys'. Don Greeley gave us the report for an incident that many have quoted for the macing of a child. Can we see that we jump to conclusions at times? Do we perhaps pass judgment too soon? Is this not a form of prejudice against anyone in uniform? What do we think when we pass by a house/car/park or whatever, when a police officer is engaged in talking to someone or checking their credentials? Do you think, "Well I hope they don't beat the snot out of that civilian!". I too hold my public servants to a higher standard. However I do know that so do they. The police have said time and time again that they would sooner have a bad cop off the force then deal with him/her. That person makes the rest have a tougher time doing their jobs. I am not asking the list to roll over and accept any one blowing off their civil liberties. I am only asking that we look at it from a perspective that takes into consideration all the numbers. I dare someone to look at one days arrests, calls and services throughout the whole city. Then take all of that and multiply it by 365 and then extract the number of cases of violent confrontation. What is the exact outcome? An officer sworn to protect the President by the name of Bradey was hit by a felons bullet. He regained 60% of his bodily functions. He was quoted as saying, "sometimes you have to be happy with what you got". If I have to live in a world where 98% of the time the police do their job with little or no mistakes - I can live with that. So now can we cure the rest of societies ills? Sincerely, Valdis Rozentals Saint Anthony West PS - the two 100%'s in life are .... _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
