I think the point is that our lives were made harder by those who were supposed to help us maintain control. I had several incidents where police made it hard to interact with the patient and made the situation worse. I rarely ever utilized them, unless I felt my life was at risk. Even then, we had Haldol, Benadryl, and restraints and usually with a few fire riders, we never had an issue. There was a time with some guy high on PCP, but he was an exception and even with 6 officers, it was nearly impossible to get an IV or restrain him.

You an I come from behind the scenes, so we see things a little different than those who have no experience. And it is tragic to see stuff like this happen, because police are there to control a situation, not make it worse.

There are a few reasons I got out of EMS, but police was my biggest one. I couldn't stand the guys I came on scene with anymore. The older cops were proud to be able to show up and through sheer ninja tactics, subdue or control whatever, without ever needing to reach for their gun or baton. The younger guys, as you pointed out, tend to have an itchy trigger finger. The love playing bad guy vs good guy.

I use to respect the police and trust them unconditionally. But maybe just with the select few I encountered, or maybe from just getting older, I started to have a huge distrust of police, and even more so lately with these stories coming to light. Perhaps I'm just jaded.

In short, I heard or read this somewhere "if you have a problem, don't call police, because then you'll have 2." Yes, you should be able to call police and feel like they will do their best to keep you safe, but I don't know, as of late, it appears that the saying has more weight and really makes you wonder who's side they are on. Not every officer is a bad guy, but you never know who you are going to get.