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It really seems to us that cops don't understand or care about what it's like to not be a cop. First there's this Washington Post op-ed, where an officer actually says, "If you don't want to get hurt, don't challenge me," in response -- this can't be stressed enough -- to the death of a child. Then there's BuzzFeedy, inside-baseball article a cop wrote for all his cop buddies. "The gun isn't to protect you. It is to protect me," the guy says, apparently forgetting what it says on the side of his car (Reminder: It says "to protect and serve." It does not then say "myself"). The underlying assumption of both those articles is that the community should change to adapt to how cops behave, and not vice versa. That is fucking insane, and proves that they see themselves as an entity separate from the people they're supposed to be working with and for.

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And this, unfortunately, goes both ways. Do you know how cops really think? Because we don't -- everything we know is based on my own limited personal experience (cops treat everyone so differently that no one could possibly see the whole story), cold, scientific studies, and videos I've seen online. What if we tried to relate the experience of being a cop to our work as customer service representatives? Does that sound like the most insane thing you've ever heard, considering a customer service rep answers phones all day while a cop is trained to kill and puts his life on the line every day? Well, what if we told you that the customer service approach is a core part of law enforcement, and its effectiveness and definition is hotly debated among veteran officers? Does it somehow seem like that isn't your business?