Given recent events, people can see why some police officers may feel like society has turned against them. One could also understand how feeling like this, while doing a dangerous job, could cause some officers to vacillate between hostility and apathy. From there, it is easy to see that when officers feel hostile and apathetic, they behave this way. When police behave this way, it invites reciprocating feelings and behaviors of hostility and apathy from community members. In this cycle, officers and community members each receive constant reinforcement and validation of their feelings of hostility and apathy from the “other side.”
Within the above described cycle, some officers may have a mindset that describes their work like this:
- The system is out to get me, everyone is working against me
- My basic mission is to survive each day and get through my career
- By not caring and doing as little as possible, I limit my exposure to injury, persecution and prosecution
While this cycle is churning, mandated behavior changes will not address the underlying problem. What is needed is a change in mindset. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_29TS6jjsA
