“Hill wasn’t naïve when she joined the force: She’d grown up in a major city and understood that Police Department culture is about rank, discipline, and rules, and that the job often means dealing with nasty, even evil people. But as she’s become a skilled foot soldier, part of the rank and file that has strung together an extraordinary decade of declining crime statistics while foiling terrorist plots, Hill has grown uneasy about the dehumanizing cost of keeping the city safe. ‘You don’t realize how much everyone is going to hate you,’ she says. ‘At least where I work now, people look at you and go, ‘I fucking hate you.’ And I go, ‘I fucking hate you, too.’ And then we move on. I have a harder time with overeducated, moneyed people. When I work on the Upper East Side, or in Downtown Brooklyn, people just talk down to you. We don’t feel supported by the courts, we don’t feel supported by the department. I think everyone would say they love being a cop’—she laughs ruefully—’and they hate being in the NYPD.’”
— New York magazine’s cover story by Chris Smith about the NYPD’s growing disconnect with the citizenry it is sworn to protect and a police commissioner they increasingly are loathe to serve.
Whoa. Interesting and terrifying article. The disconnect between NYPD and the general population seems to only be getting worse.
The disconnect seems to be a national problem. Perhaps it is due to so much publicity about the "bad" cops. These corrupt cops make it difficult for the "good" cops. Many do not trust cops. That is sad and scary. Respect is earned, it doesn't come with a uniform and badge.