I mean seriously.  If you think your life is so bad that you want to end it, then just kill yourself already.  But leave the rest of us out of it, okay?

What sparked today’s rant is a case in Detroit, where an [alleged] sex offender got himself a gun, walked into a police station and started shooting cops.

Suicide by Cop, they call it.

Four Detroit police officers were wounded in the attack, but thankfully none were killed, and only one was seriously wounded.  Commander Brian Davis, Officer David Anderson, Sgt. Ray Saati and Sgt. Carrie Shultz were all wounded when this idiot opened fire inside the police precinct.

Commander Davis was wounded in the hand and the side, and is in stable condition in a Detroit hospital.  Officer David Anderson is in serious but stable condition, and was the most seriously wounded of the four.  Sgts Saati and Schultz were both treated and released.

It’s great that they were not more seriously wounded.

It’s even better that the [alleged] sex offender got what he wanted, and is now dead.  It’s just sad that he had to be a coward about committing suicide and force someone else to do it, instead of being a man and doing the deed himself.

While this sort of shooting is very rare, it almost makes a person understand why RCMP stations are so highly protected.  Seriously.  Have you wanted into one recently and tried to talk to someone?  Bullet-proof glass and a speaker in the window… that’s all you get.

Personally, I think it’s a bit much, and really takes away from the notion that the police are here to help.  When the only police you can see are on the other side of bullet-proof glass, it makes it kind of hard to believe they don’t think you’re the enemy.

Detroit police stations aren’t like that.  You walk in and you can talk to a police officer.  No metal detectors, no bullet-proof glass.

99.9% of the time, I think that’s the right approach.  The police must be accessible to the public, after all, right?

Sadly, this moron’s actions might lead to just that sort of approach, where the police are left hiding behind bullet-proof glass, inaccessible to the people they are supposed to serve and protect.

Spend too much time hiding behind the bullet-proof glass and vests really can lead to a mentality that says “us or them”.  The end result of that nonsense is cops like Constable Geoff Mantler kicking an unarmed and defenseless man in the face when he’s already down on his knees in the street.

That’s not policing.  That’s being a thug, an enforcer… organized crime mobs need enforcers… Not the police.