Why are firefighters so nice? And why aren’t cops?
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- January
- 25
Many years ago, someone once asked me why police don’t seem nearly as friendly as firefighters.
I couldn’t answer at the time, but after having spent several years covering the police beat in the Lower Hudson Valley and, prior to that, in Connecticut’s Naugatuck Valley, I think I now know why.
When people call for a firefighter, they’re almost always happy to see them.
Your house is burning down, you’ve been in a car accident or, perhaps, your cat is up a tree.
In any of those scenarios, you’re going to be happy to see a firefighter, who you know is there to help.
But with police, it’s a different story.
Almost every time an officer is called, someone is not going to be happy. It could be a domestic disturbance, a fight outside a bar or some other dispute. They could be charging you with DWI after pulling you over for driving in several lanes at once.
Now consider the officer: If most people you deal with have an attitude toward you, get up on your face or ignore your orders, you could develop a defense mechanism where you’re not going to be overtly friendly with the public because of the attitude you get.
Consider that the next time you encounter a police officer or a trooper.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 25th, 2007 at 3:04 pm by Terry Corcoran.
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I have to agree with you. Yes, Firefighter are nice indeed, but Police officers are just as nice. I mean, everyone always has bad things to say about Law Enforcement in general but the same people that are bad mouthing the police are the same people who are going to expect the police to be there in an emergency to help them ; things such as larcenys, robbery, fights, rapes, murders, you name it, they’ll want the police to be there to help assist them. Please Respect the police, and the police will respect you back.
P.O.,
You made a silly and ridiculous comment. Of course people want law enforcement to respond when needed. They are public servants and that’s why we pay taxes.
As far as your statement about respect, that’s another stupid and childish comment. You’re saying, you respect me first before I respect you. Grow up. I hope you’re not a cop because, if you are, you’re a part of the problem.
HV i would assume P.O means Police Officer.
Here’s my observation police and fireman dont get paid enough for what they do. with that said, there are some POs out there because of that they tend to be on the harder side. I have experienced such myself. I always try to be repsoectful to the police but there are times when i have been given a hard time.
One such was 8 years ago, mistaken identity. No matter how well i spoke or explained to one officer he was just nastyhe even got nastier when the call came over i was the wrong guy and let me on my way. I was with my 1+ year old son at the time.
Respect should be given to the officer at all times but if it isnt returned you have to wonder.
I will repeat the public servants HV eluded to do not get paid enough for jumping into a burning building or stepping in front of a bullet. HV if you have issue with this then give up your 60+ salary and become a cop or fireman and get paid near 30+ if you are lucky. your comment bordered on ridiculous.
I myself understand the issues at hand and only ask for respect in kind when i give it.
Steve,
Talk about ridiculous statements – my salary is well below 60+ while cops everywhere in the NYC Metro area that I know of start at well over 30k (in Yonkers it’s near 50k) as do professional firefighters. Noone has more respect for firemen than this son of a retired professional firefighter.
Despite some past negative encounters with cops, I still show them respect whenever I encounter one. In fact I fully agree with your statement above (“I myself understand the issues at hand and only ask for respect in kind when i give it.”) My negative opinion about MANY of them is the result of that respectful attitude often not being reciprocated and instead met with a complete lack of respect or courtesy.
You’ve had your experiences with P.O.s and I’ve had mine. Despite the one negative experience you mentioned above, you still hold cops in high regard. My experiences are likely much different than yours (and require far too much typing) and those experiences help form my own opinion.
How about the NYC Police Officers who have the busiest and dangerous job’s in the world and only start off at a salary of $26,200. You want to talk about rediculous?, well lets start there. HV REACH, you just sound bias because your father was a “professional firefighter”, don’t even start because we have volunteers that do the same thing for free.
HV
I only gave one. I chose not to bore or whine, so only chose one incident. Though I may not have liked the ones that were idiots I cannot hold them all to that low bar rule. thats the easy way out. If more people gave them respect then the idiot officers would get smacked in the neck by their partners more.
Like i said get paid to step in front of a bullet for someone thinking like you and see how you feel. thats all i am saying.
P.O.,
Sorry to inject some fact into your post, but upon completion of the academy, NYPD officers start at $32,700. After five years their annual salary is $59,588. It is only while they are in training at the academy as a recruit where they make less than $30,000. They also receive 20 paid vacation days beginning their first year, 27 Paid vacation days after 5 years of service, unlimited sick leave with full pay, superior paid medical, prescription, dental and vision coverage, retirement at half-pay after 20 years, an annual $12,000 variable supplement fund when retiring, or can bank that $12,000 Variable Supplement Fund after 20 years of service they don’t retire.
All of which I agree is highly deserved and I’d argue that they deserve much more when compared to cops in other municipalities. However, this discussion had little to do with rates of pay and is being sidetracked by it. The point I was making was in response to the original blog post which I thought was somewhat simplistic in it’s reasoning and your first post which I thought sounded ridiculous and unprofessional (unprofessional only if you are indeed a police officer).
Steve C.,
I also chose not to bore or whine so I didn’t get into details of my experiences with law enforcement. We just disagree, period and I’ll leave it at that.
fair enough.
Wow…what an arguement…