I'm a volunteer fire fighter. So, first-responders to most 911 calls are us, unless there's a known violent actor in which case cops are sent.

Realizing that I get to deal with all the thankful people (or tragically heart broken) while cops get to deal with -- frankly -- the biggest assholes around... it doesn't validate shitty police in any way, it just made me understand that the system itself is broken.

The people cops are dealing with (most of the time) should have never gone so long without proper mental/physical health care. Or so little opportunity. Or whatever it is that makes is so you need someone with a gun to show up instead of someone with medical/fire training.

And being American themselves, the cops also don't have proper mental health care. There's just no way for a setup like this to not create a bad situation.