Rain: Look at me I'm fighting crime, part II - The Subpoena...Yup. You spend your quiet life walking the straight line, mindful of the law, to a T - even those rules which you think could/should legitimately be questioned - being considerate of others yet minding your business. Anyway, 99.99% of the time, you don't mind the rules half as much as you mind the people who think that those rules don't apply to them. (To this day, I'm convinced that that's where most of our problems come from). The single most important lesson your mother thought you was: treat people like a gentleman would. "And if that doesn't work, punch them in the throat as hard as you can, you wussy" - said daddy, opening another beer... --------------------------------
I've been in similar situations on many occasions on and off-duty that involved weapons and in another incident, a teenager that was almost thrown in front of a train due to a breakup with her boyfriend. Yes, many incidents where the victim and myself happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In all cases, nobody got hurt but I look back on those times and think how close I came to being the victim too.
A lot of people lose faith in the laws and the justice system. Unfortunately humans can be very cruel, prejudice and selfish (more or less). A lot of crime exist because some people lose faith and their moral values are totally off-base (no moral compass.) The mentality is; look after oneself and to heck with everybody else.
Another persective; parents not being responsible (unemployed; alcohol and drug abuse).... what a lot of people don't care to know is; in some developed countries there are more suicides than there are deaths from vehicle accidents.... I know of a young kid (17) who took his own life, both his parents are alcoholics who partied loud with friends almost every night throughout the evening into the late hours (playing cards, gambling) all whilst the kids had to get their own meals, study and hopefully get a good nights sleep for that final exam tomorrow.
And no doubt discrimination and bullying occurs at schools and in the workplace. So imagine growing up in a situation like that, unfortunately not all kids grow up to be successful and with their moral compass intact!
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Rain: So basically, I'm the guy who never takes the shortcut across the grass even if it means taking the long way around , I'm the guy who'll walk half a mile under the Vegas sun in the parking to bring back my grocery cart because, well, the world isn't mine - or else it wouldn't work like this, trust me... In the end, all I want is peace and quiet, and as little interaction w/ the outside world as I can, so that I can focus on what matters - my wife, my music, my training, my cats. My whole universe.Then a couple of bad seeds run into your backyard and you have to get involved, call 911, up the security. And then the dreaded subpoena arrives. All of this for a guy in his 20's who's been caught and did time for the same offense once before. Who broke parole. Who has a kid who'll probably grow up to be just as useless.The guy will probably do a few months again. Make some good contacts on the inside. Learn the ropes, gather tips. Perfect his skills as a criminal. That's what we pay for isn't it?And then they'll let him out on the street... Talk about investing our money in all the right places. Find it so grim, so true, so real...I don't know man. If you steal bread for your family, I can get that. I'll give you bread. But to act like a worthless parasite and to try to make a living stealing from people who spend 40-60 hours a week working their butt off? I say the sentence should mirror the offense. You wanted to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor, to steal what they had to give away hours of their life to acquire? You planned on breaking into their home so that you could go on w/o working? Alright then. How about hard labour? And since this is your second strike, no mercy - lifetime. I've seen high schools sentencing honest 16 years old to a lifetime of miserable jobs w/ less remorse than we have for criminals... ------------------
Yes! Studies/Research has shown that most criminals who serve time in prison will re-offend. It also shows that the death penalty is also not always a deterrent, not in all cases (individuals.) I believe intensive mental health care treatments initially until they are fit to not be be at risk to cause harm to anyone along with having a micro locator chip embedded (by needle insertion) in their brain so that they can be monitored -- alert system and review of their where-abouts indefinitely.
IMHO, civilization started on the wrong path --- that path led to cruelty, greed, selfishness and crime along with inequality of life in just about all regards. Whenever the economy takes a nose dive --- times can get very ugly, parents finding it more and more difficult to cope and sadly not always successful. It's natural human instinct to survive at all costs and unfortunately some (not all) will resort to hideous abuse -- crimes. A breakdown of moral values and responsibility along with, cruelly, prejudice, greed, selfishness and discrimination continues to be all too common issues. These issues need to be dealt with more efficiently and effectively by 'much earlier intervention' along with further education in regards to best methods to detect early signs and report so that person can be assessed and if need be, treated by experts.
That said; I think we all got to stop thinking only about 'oneself' and thinking that it won't happen to 'one' (you, your family and friends) because there will be times when the innocent is inadvertantly caught up in a situation they wished they had not got in. Remember reading a case about a young girl at home alone when a burgler broke in. Yeah that must had been a terrifying situation to be caught up in.