Editor's Note: The following is a guest opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of The Mill City Enterprise.
The problem of what to do about our crime problem seems a bit backwards. The premise can be demonstrated by asking this question.
Why should I respect the law when those who enforce the law routinely break the same law they so strictly enforce on others while enforcing the it?
The question is one I asked my own father some years ago and expect to be asked by my children, each in their own turn.
The answer I got did not seem wholly suitable at the time but has grown to be more appropriate.
The law itself is not intrinsically bad, it is when the people who enforce it do so badly, for whatever reason, that the law seems bad; however, even then the law is not itself bad; rather, it is those people who badly enforce or apply the law which are bad, not the law.
The same premise can be applied to all government employees, not just law enforcement personnel.
As parents, it is folly for us to tell our children they must behave in one manner while at the same time we behave in a manner contradictory to our words. In doing so two things happen:
Later in life, as adults, those children transfer those lessons to the law and those who become government employees apply the law in the same manner.
Oversimplified? Probably.
The problem? Definitely.