It seems that every few years a new trend comes along that effects law enforcement. Several years ago it was racial profiling, before that it was Rodney King and police brutality. In the last two or three years there has been an alarming trend in assaults on police. It seems that we are losing officers at a faster rate than ever. People seem to have no respect for law enforcement nowadays. I don’t know if it is from the media making such a big deal out of corrupt officers, or just a general reaction to the economy. Whatever the reason, it is taking a toll on law enforcement. I know from experience that I hate reading that another officer has fallen. However, I read what happened so that I can try to avoid the same situation as much as possible. That brings on another problem with paranoia. It is possible to be too paranoid; it causes overreaction to situations that are unthreatening at face value, such as the officer drawing his weapon on a normal traffic stop where another officer probably wouldn’t. Is it bad to do? Yes and no. On one hand it is an overreaction and could cause a complaint, and could be totally inappropriate to the situation. On the other hand we are taught from day one in the academy that anyone at any time could try to harm us. So now the officer goes around thinking that he may die at any moment. It is good to have your guard up, but not to the point that you mistreat the public. I think in the near future, the word of a police officer without any physical evidence, or video will not hold up in court or anywhere else. It seems that more and more that juries are wanting CSI type investigations that involve complicated scientific steps. What many people don’t realize is that those tests are rare and expensive to run. They are also unavailable to many agencies outside of the federal jurisdictions. They don’t understand that we don’t run DNA on every crime. DNA testing is expensive and it takes a long time to get results. I wish I could have a DNA match in 10 minutes. It is usually more like 30-60 days. I wish I had a penny for every time that I have gone to a call and the victims wanted to know where the crime scene unit was. I tell them that I am it. They can’t believe it. The general public has no inkling what we do on a daily basis, and that they are probably the fifth burglary of a vehicle I have answered that day. If I spent an hour on each one I would never get anything done. BMV is also just a misdemeanor in Texas, so the chances of finding a lab that will take a DNA test for a misdemeanor is very slim. Only in extreme cases will the lab take such a sample. Another issue facing law enforcement in the future is budget cuts. The last few years with the declining economy have really caused governments to cut budgets on public service. With no relief in sight for the near future, it will only get worse. Several of the constable’s offices in the Houston area have actually had layoffs if up to 50 deputies. This places the public at greater risk and slows response time. We are lucky that we have not had that in our area, but we have not had a raise or budget increase in 2 years, and it is not looking good for next year. With the price of fuel rising, it is hard to keep patrols going on what we have. Also crime is rising due to the economy and we have less and less to be able to deal with it. If the budget cuts don’t stop, before long police will be at a standstill. In Texas, one of the most important issues is Border violence. The cartels are pushing further and further in, and US citizens are becoming the targets of the violence at an increasing rate. There are travel warnings that tell citizens to avoid border areas or else face the risk of robbery, kidnapping or murder. This problem is only going to get worse as time goes on unless both the US and Mexico pledge a whole hearted attempt to stop this. The problem is that the corruption in Mexico is so bad. It seems that is becoming the case in the border areas to. One Trooper I talked to said that their Captain told them not to trust any officers from border counties. Those areas are usually very low paid and the risk of corruption is very high. I am not sure the public will ever be fully supportive of the police. Law enforcement is a job that is not popular with the public because no one wants to be told what to do and how to do it. People want police to enforce the law on everyone but them. Educating the public about law enforcement is a good step to understanding. It is hard to earn trust back after it is lost. Every time an officer is arrested for corruption it takes away one more level of trust from the public. Realistic police shows that show how forensics and police work will never be popular because the public wants to be able to solve a crime in an hour with a technique that does not exist. Real, boring police work is not fun to watch. Most government agencies are at the mercy of their tax base. Our County doesn’t have a very strong tax base; therefore we will never be able to pay what an officer needs to make to provide a good living for his/her family. We work a lot off of grants to provide equipment that is the best we provide. I don’t think an officer’s life should be trusted to low bid, or cheapest price. Until the economy recovers it will be hard to raise budgets and spending. There needs to be more officers on the street, but payroll won’t allow it. We have gotten two positions on grants that allow us to slowly work the pay into the budget over a period of years, so the strain isn’t too much at one time. Officer training can also be obtained through federal grant funded training. Many times this training is free to the department. Especially grants from homeland security. Often they will come to the agency to train, or they will set up training in your area so that more than one agency can attend. There is always an answer for the problems that police face. It just takes cooperation on the part of the police and the citizens. I guess we will see what the future holds for both.