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Friday, April 27, 2007 12:00 AM

My sister has become a monster cop!

She's a rootin'-tootin', two-gun-totin', perp-bashin' sheriff's deputy and I'm, like, where'd this come from?

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  • Monday, May 7, 2007 07:30 AM

    Cary! No way!

    Cary,

    usually I agree with your musings a great deal. On this one, though, I'm going to have to chalk it up to your admitted inexperience with police and law enforcement. Because...well...no way.

    First, I'm of the school that you can, in fact, change people sometimes, though it might be exhausting, and the outcome is never guaranteed, or even necessarily what you were originally hoping for. So you should not even attempt it unless you are absolutely sure that the person you are trying to change needs to change in the way that you want, and it is worth the effort, because the attempt can backfire, create resentment, and cause an already strained situation to slip beyond repair.

    But the more important thing in all this is that from what the brother has indicated, the sister is not behaving properly. That is, he describes her as "a monster." Not as a strict law enforcement officer, not as someone who upholds the law, but as a person who scares him now.

    I should mention that a great many cops, FBI agents, and the like are perfectly respectable people, capable of hanging up their badge on their off-hours. They have intense jobs, but they also have personality traits, habits, and strategies for coping with the inherent nuttiness of their jobs.

    And this sister sounds like she doesn't.

    I know that's going out on a limb here, because none of us KNOWS the sister except the brother in question. Brother, you need to find out where this started, and what it is inside her that's being fed by this. Is it a need to believe in order and rules, and the ability to enforce them? Or is it something more like a love for physical power, or being an arbiter of other people's fate and freedom?

    Cary, there's right...and there's wrong. If she's acting wrong...well...she shouldn't, regardless of whether she's wearing a badge. In fact, even moreso if she wears a badge.

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