Every citizen has responsibilities under the law. You should be learning these responsibilities in school and at home as you mature. These are things that are taught and learned, and retained throughout your adult life. Unfortunately, there are those who don't pay attention or don't feel that the laws are important enough to abide by. These folks are almost always confused about their legal obligations as citizens, and never quite understand the circumstances when they are placed under arrest for what they don't perceive as being unlawful. The old adage "ignorance of the law is no excuse" still applies in this society. You are expected to know the difference between right and wrong in order to carry on as a responsible citizen and a member of your community.

It is the duty and responsibility of our police officers to keep us going in the right directions according to the laws of this community, the state, and the federal government. Some people misconstrue the actual purpose and meaning of the police officer's position, and the result is that police, in the eyes of some, are either the bad guys, or just not helping at all. Police officers are not lawyers or judges, and are not expected to make "guilty" or "not guilty" decisions. Those decisions are the domain of due process of the law. The primary purpose of the police is maintaining social control over the general populace. They do this by achieving their primary objective, law enforcement. Although the officer is vested with certain powers of discretion, this is only a small percentage of control allowable within the law. Officers are required to act upon commands set forth by the federal, state, and local governments, which is what they actually get paid to do. It is their occupation. It's what they do every day.

There are many people who believe that the police are cold and unfeeling, and are unwilling to help each individual with his/her particular problem. We would be remiss in our obligation to our citizens if we did not take this opportunity to clarify this grave misunderstanding right here and now. Police officers do not choose to be this way, in fact, many officers are more than willing to go the extra mile to help someone out. The problem here is, though the officer may be genuinely concerned over your circumstances, he cannot allow himself to become involved personally in any situation that must be handled under the control of the letter of the law. He must remain unbiased in his appraisal and decisions, no matter how unfair it may seem. A perfect example of this would be in the legislation regarding the Domestic Violence Act. This law provides that the officer is "commanded" to arrest the offender(s) in any act of domestic violence that results in injury to either party involved. The arrested person must be immediately taken to jail and held for a bond hearing in front of a judge. If the person is arrested on a weekend, he/she will be there until Monday morning when the judge is available. If it's a holiday weekend, it will be a long wait. The police officer has no choice here, no power of discretion. If the officer does not act according to the law, he himself will be subject to action against him by the court. No officer wants to put himself in that position, so he does what he is supposed to do. Yet, in the eyes of the involved parties, the officer is being totally unfair.

Despite controversy and the dangerous nature of the job, the law enforcement officer continues to serve the citizens of this country, and protect their rights and their way of life. We still have many more freedoms in the United States than any other country in the world. These freedoms are provided to us by the rules of conduct by which we live; the law.