BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor

I hate it when we run stories about police officers being sued or accused of wrongdoing. We publish those stories because you have a right to know who is suing to get a piece of the city’s coffers, and whether the police were out of line. 

It’s our job as a community newspaper to print the good and the bad. But printing such stories doesn’t give me any pleasure. 

What do I really think about the police? Paul Harvey was a national radio commentator who delivered the following commentary in the early 1970s. He said:

“A policeman is a composite of what all men are, mingling of a saint and sinner, dust and deity. What that really means is that they are exceptional, they are unusual, they are not commonplace. Buried under the froth is the fact that less than one-half of 1% of policemen misfit the uniform. And that is a better average than you would find among clergymen!

What is a policeman?

“What is a policeman? He, of all men, is at once the most needed and the most wanted. A strangely nameless creature who is ‘sir’ to his face and ‘pig’ or worse to his back.

“He must be such a diplomat that he can settle differences between individuals so that each will think he won.

“But, if the policeman is neat, he is conceited; If he’s careless, he’s a bum. If he’s pleasant, he’s a flirt; If he’s not, he’s a grouch.

“He must make instant decisions which would require months for a lawyer.

“But, if he hurries, he’s careless; If he’s deliberate, he’s lazy. He must be first to an accident, infallible with a diagnosis. He must be able to start breathing, stop bleeding, tie splints and above all, be sure the victim goes home without a limp.

Not a bully or a coward

“The police officer must know every gun, draw on the run, and hit where it doesn’t hurt. He must be able to whip two men twice his size and half his age without damaging his uniform and without being ‘brutal.’ If you hit him, he’s a coward. If he hits you, he’s a bully.

“The policeman, from a single human hair, must be able to describe the crime, the weapon, the criminal and tell you where the criminal is hiding. But, if he catches the criminal, he’s lucky; if he doesn’t, he is a dunce.

“He runs, files and writes reports until his eyes ache, to build a case against some felon who will get ‘dealed out’ by a shameless shamus.

“The policeman must be a minister, a social worker, a diplomat, a tough guy and a gentleman.

“And of course, he’ll have to be a genius, for he will have to feed a family on a policeman’s salary.”

• • •

Of course the newspaper should report on the misconduct by police, but we shouldn’t ignore the fact that the majority of officers serve honorably and professionally, embodying the characteristics described here by Paul Harvey. I’ve always railed against high salaries at city hall, but I think we can pay the police more in order to attract the best officers to our city. 

Post Editor Dave Price’s column appears on Mondays.