Respect needs two-way road

    Are police respected?

    Many would say no.

    Police advocates suggest that the media shine too bright a light on police abuses such as the Rodney King beatings and the 41 shots fired by New York City police officers who killed an innocent black man.

    One local man thinks a National Day for School Children to Thank the Police is needed.

    B.J. Woods, a counselor at Worth Heights in Fort Worth, thinks elementary schools are the place to change public perception of the police.

    By teaching elementary school children to appreciate and respect the police, we will have better mutual understanding between both police and citizens, Woods thinks.

    He has a point. There has been a steady decline in police and community relations. This is an alarming trend, but teaching elementary-school children that they must respect the police is not the solution.

    There is a lack of mutual respect between police and citizens. But citizens are not the only ones to blame, and it is unfair to place all the blame squarely on the shoulders of the regular people of this area.

    The police have an image problem, and it needs correcting. Blaming the media for reporting police officers’ illegal and unethical behavior will not solve any of the problems that plague the police.

    Most people don’t trust the police because of racial profiling, speed traps, arbitrary enforcement of laws, police brutality, economic profiling and dishonesty.

    Because Worth Heights is 99 percent Hispanic, police should make an extra effort to change these children’s attitudes. The police do not have a very good track record when it comes to dealing with minorities, and this situation needs to be changed.

    Our school children are very smart, and even they are able to see that wearing a badge and uniform does not automatically make that person honest.

    Police must earn respect from the communities and continue to behave appropriately. This attitude that the citizens need to make all the effort while police continue their ways must stop. Now would be the time to treat the problem rather than symptoms.

    Police should make a better effort to appear friendly toward the communities they work for.

    One main problem with elementary schools’ teaching children that police are their friends is children quickly learn that police are not their friends when they become teenagers.

    Everyone has heard jokes about police hassling teenagers. Such treatment does happen, and it damages police credibility. This behavior might be why we live in such a cynical society.

    If FWISD officials want to improve the area, they should petition the police to institute new and friendlier policies toward the community.

    The police perform a valuable service for our communities, but without respect from the police, they will never receive any from those they are sworn to protect.