The incidents we have seen recently on television showing police officers acting like soldiers in a war zone have done little to add to the respect that they need in order for them to execute their duties. The main one being to protect all law abiding citizens.

Our televisions are set the majority of time to overseas news, especially from the USA. We automatically get conditioned to the scenes that thankfully we don’t see on our streets. Yet.

The one I saw yesterday of an eleven year old child screaming in terror at an American cop who placed the child in handcuffs who was a bystander was extremely nauseating.

A few months ago we had a nurse in a hospital executing her job, being handcuffed in tears, and taken away by another American police officer. Police officers body slamming children and the elderly onto the ground.

Other similar incidents one can read about coming out of Australia and the UK.

And if the person is black ……..

What is even worse is our youth have now below 50% respect for the police.

If you think it isn’t here on our lovely Islands of Paradise. Think again. Just look at the total disrespect the youngsters, on their motorbikes a few weekends ago, had for the police at a roadblock.

That was sickening.

When I was growing up in the UK and when I first came out here my respect for the police was very high. They were people I could turn to. A minor traffic offence was always given out only as a caution and your number plate taken. Next time a ticket. That was the norm in both countries.

Not anymore. The most trivial offence is ticketed. And that angers law abiding citizens. The most time these citizens, the ones the police want on their side, come into contact with police officers is traffic incidents. The stern and officious police officer has a lasting effect and not a good one.

Whilst violent crime numbers rise all the time, the number of tickets police issue for minor traffic violations increase more.

I have witnessed it personally. Some police officers are respectful but others are not so and it is those we remember first.

Jeff Sessions, the US Attorney General has it all wrong when he stated “the cause of the change in the perception of law enforcement is not the actions of the law-enforcement officers themselves, up to and including the extrajudicial killings of black people, but the people protesting the actions of law enforcement. They are the ones making law enforcement look bad in the eyes of the public.”

So, holding police accountable for doing their jobs in a fair and unbiased manner undermines respect for them?

My editorials on this subject are not meant to show any disrespect for our police, nor turn public opinion against them. It is the reverse. I want them to stop this zero tolerance nonsense for minor offences and go back to the days when we were all on the same side.

The days when we would give 100% backing to our police force in their fight against the real offenders. The actual criminals in our back yard. All of us would come forward with information without even being asked.

When I see a police car now my first thought is am I 100% obeying the law, especially when I am driving, and not proud they are around in case I need help.

That goes back to the days when there was respect on both sides.