Protester and police
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Even during the best of times, being a police officer in one of America's major cities is extremely stressful, and these are definitely not the best of times. In 2020, the entire profession has become the target for a vast nationwide outpouring of anger and hatred. It doesn't matter if you are a good officer or a bad officer, because everyone is being lumped together. Every single person that puts on a police uniform understands that they are putting their lives on the line every single day, but now that is even more true than ever.

All over the U.S., police officers are being attacked, abused and targeted for violence, and I can't even imagine what it is like to never be able to let your guard down because someone could assault you at any moment. And even if you never get physically attacked, most officers must still endure the mental torment of knowing that vast numbers of people want them dead simply because they have chosen to serve in the police. For Winchester, Tennessee police officer Dustin Elliott, that was one of the main factors that caused him to quit his job:
"I thought long and hard about whether or not I should even make a video, but I feel like that today we all kinda need to understand where law enforcement is and the crusade against us that is weighing on every officer's heart in America right now," he said.

It's devastating to be a police officer right now, and to know what's going on and how people feel about you and the things that you do in this job, the sacrifices that you make," Elliott added. "There's a lot that would rather see you dead just because of the uniform that you wear.
I have never seen as much hatred for the police as we are seeing right now, and that is incredibly sad.

Yes, there have been abuses, but most police officers have never had any problems and serve their communities with distinction.

Unfortunately, we are seeing many fine officers leave their careers behind because of how radically the environment has changed. For example, "at least seven Minneapolis police officers" have already quit since George's Floyd's death, and "more than half a dozen are in the process of leaving":
At least seven Minneapolis police officers have resigned from the department since widespread unrest began over the death of George Floyd last month, and more than half a dozen are in the process of leaving, according to department officials.

The departures, an unusually large exodus, come amid a growing crisis for the state's largest police force, with a state human rights investigation underway, calls for defunding, and even disbandment.
Of course the entire Minneapolis police force is about to be completely disbanded, and so nobody can blame those officers for exiting while they can still do so on their own terms.

Needless to say, we are seeing lots of resignations around the rest of the country as well. For example, down in Florida we just witnessed an entire 10 person SWAT team resign after the police chief "knelt with racial justice protesters":
A 10-member SWAT team for a Florida police department has resigned en masse after their chief knelt with racial justice protesters, saying they felt "restrained by the politicization of our tactics."

The letter of resignation from the SWAT team in Hallandale Beach, Fla., was delivered to city officials on Friday, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Unfortunately, we are in an economic environment where more than 44 million Americans have already lost a job this year, and so a lot of officers will feel like they have no choice but to stay in their current jobs so that they can provide for their families.

And for those that stay, these protests will likely have an extreme chilling effect on the use of force. Nobody wants to become "the next Derek Chauvin", and so a lot of officers may choose to start letting uncooperative criminals get away rather than use force, because a single incident that goes wrong can literally destroy your life.

If you want to see what a future without police would look like, just check out what is going on in Seattle right now. The "autonomous zone" is descending into chaos, and there have already been numerous violent confrontations.

The truth is that we need the police. Unfortunately, there are going to be efforts to reduce police funding all over the nation, and a lot of units are going to be forced to downsize simply because so many officers are leaving.

For most people, there is a point where enough is enough, and 57 members of one unit in Buffalo, New York recently reached that point simultaneously:
All 57 members of a police tactical unit in Buffalo, New York, have resigned from that team to protest the suspension of two colleagues who were filmed shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground, local media reported on Friday.

Two members of the Buffalo Police Department's Emergency Response Team were suspended on Thursday and are being investigated after a local radio station released video of the incident involving the protester.
Sadly, this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

Tulsa, Oklahoma police chief Travis Yates made some very alarming statements during a recent interview with Tucker Carlson. According to Yates, "every officer you talk to is looking to leave":
Yates told Carlson that held felt morale among law enforcement officers "was really low" following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by then-Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson.

"As everybody knows, President Obama's administration found no evidence of wrongdoing in Ferguson even though the narrative is quite different ...," he said. "We were making a resurgence in recent years and this [George Floyd's death and the aftermath] has been devastating. This has been Ferguson times 1,000. Every department, every officer you talk to is looking to leave."
By the way, Tucker Carlson just made a move that I find to be very interesting.

It is being reported that he is selling his home in Washington:
Tucker Carlson, the host of the nightly talk show "Tucker Carlson Tonight," is selling his house in Washington, DC. The Fox News stalwart is asking $3.95 million for his luxury home.

On the market for just over a week, the mansion has already attracted buyer interest and is currently in contingent sale status.
I don't blame him one bit.

He understands that much more civil unrest is coming, and I think that he wanted to sell his home while he still had a home to sell.

Anger continues to rise all over America, and some of the things that we are now seeing are absolutely nuts.

At this point, hatred of the police has become so extreme that activists even want to ban the police puppy on Paw Patrol. That is such a crazy idea that even rapper Ice Cube is speaking out against it:
Even leftist rapper Ice Cube is against the idea of canceling Paw Patrol, a popular cartoon that has come under fire because one of its characters is a police dog.

The long-running show features puppies that work in different professions (such as police, construction, firefighting, medicine, and the like) who rush around their town to save people, right wrongs, and maintain order.

But since one of the characters is a police dog, leftists are targeting the cartoon in the wake of emboldened Black Lives Matter activists looking to eliminate anything they don't like all across American society.
I never thought that I would see police be hated as much as they are hated in our country right now.

But the truth is that we need the police more than ever, because a lot more rioting, looting and violence is coming to our cities.

The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted every day is rapidly disintegrating, and all that stands between us and complete anarchy is a very narrow blue line.

Yes, we want to see protections against abuse implemented, but an America without police is not an America that any of us would want to live in.
About the Author

I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters.