Debate ignites over young-looking ICE agents at LaGuardia Airport, questioning federal recruitment standards and public perception. Explore the social media frenzy and implications for ICE hiring practices.
i know y'all don't like police, but my town is special in a lot of ways. TLDR a chair explodes
so like, having done a lot of social services stuff but not being an official social worker (just an executive for the org) i’ve gotten to work pretty closely with the local police. I’ve been really, really impressed with the force in my hometown. i will sing my hometown’s praises to the end of the earth. there’s something special here i don’t know what. people look out for each other in ways i have not seen anywhere else i’ve lived. beyond southern hospitality. like even the northerners and southerners stopped fighting to plant gardens in their yards when they got in their 20s, started becoming friends and watching ball together. a lot of that was them having kids. a lot of that was due to our police force using a soft hand rather than a hard one, being in the high schools and getting to know the kids and helping and validating their emotions rather than arresting them. giving them a community that was not the gang. they’d learn who the gang members were and “troublemakers”. The one thing they’d pay special attention to look for was gang members coming onto campus to recruit. folk who weren’t students. those were the only people they’d tell they weren’t welcome.
we went from 4 or 5 teenage shootings a year to 1 teen death a year, usually accidental. it happened the same time as decreases in violent crimes but like, the national average did not come down that much that fast.
like, to give an example of how people look out for each other here, a few years ago i went to the parade with my wife. i hadn’t been to the parade in years. I love marching bands. Live music is. my. thing. So we get there 2 and a half hours early to get a good seat, because it’s a parade and if you don’t set a chair out overnight so it can get stolen by seagulls you won’t get a good seat. And I didn’t want to sit on top of any of my friends’ buildings that year I wanted to see people. So I brought along one of those canvas camping chairs that collapses and you put it in a tube to carry it on your shoulder. People see me hobbling along with my chair and my cane and wave me over, they make room for me because Hey it’s a guy with a cane let’s give him a good spot even if he didn’t get here 4 hours early.
I pop out my chair, set it down, lean my cane against it, sit gently down and all the plastic pieces on my chair explode off in every direction as my ass plummets toward the cements and everyone turns and looks in horror. Oh no. The disabled dude. Is he okay.
“AHAHAHAHAHA HONEY I JUST FATTED MY CHAIR TO DEATH”
The tension broke. a police officer was right there by the time i finished laughing to help me to my feet (one i’d taught martial arts to when we were both teens, funny enough. i’m not sure he recognized me. he still has hair the lucky bastard), two people offered me chairs which i declined because i saw two chairs at my favorite cuban brunch place not ten steps away. What. A. Dilemma. So we ate chilaquiles and drank cortaditos while watching the parade, and that’s been our tradition ever since.
long story even longer, it’s taken a long time but the police in my town have earned my trust.
i know y'all don't like police, but my town is special in a lot of ways. TLDR a chair explodes
so like, having done a lot of social services stuff but not being an official social worker (just an executive for the org) i’ve gotten to work pretty closely with the local police. I’ve been really, really impressed with the force in my hometown. i will sing my hometown’s praises to the end of the earth. there’s something special here i don’t know what. people look out for each other in ways i have not seen anywhere else i’ve lived. beyond southern hospitality. like even the northerners and southerners stopped fighting to plant gardens in their yards when they got in their 20s, started becoming friends and watching ball together. a lot of that was them having kids. a lot of that was due to our police force using a soft hand rather than a hard one, being in the high schools and getting to know the kids and helping and validating their emotions rather than arresting them. giving them a community that was not the gang. they’d learn who the gang members were and “troublemakers”. The one thing they’d pay special attention to look for was gang members coming onto campus to recruit. folk who weren’t students. those were the only people they’d tell they weren’t welcome.
we went from 4 or 5 teenage shootings a year to 1 teen death a year, usually accidental. it happened the same time as decreases in violent crimes but like, the national average did not come down that much that fast.
like, to give an example of how people look out for each other here, a few years ago i went to the parade with my wife. i hadn’t been to the parade in years. I love marching bands. Live music is. my. thing. So we get there 2 and a half hours early to get a good seat, because it’s a parade and if you don’t set a chair out overnight so it can get stolen by seagulls you won’t get a good seat. And I didn’t want to sit on top of any of my friends’ buildings that year I wanted to see people. So I brought along one of those canvas camping chairs that collapses and you put it in a tube to carry it on your shoulder. People see me hobbling along with my chair and my cane and wave me over, they make room for me because Hey it’s a guy with a cane let’s give him a good spot even if he didn’t get here 4 hours early.
I pop out my chair, set it down, lean my cane against it, sit gently down and all the plastic pieces on my chair explode off in every direction as my ass plummets toward the cements and everyone turns and looks in horror. Oh no. The disabled dude. Is he okay.
“AHAHAHAHAHA HONEY I JUST FATTED MY CHAIR TO DEATH”
The tension broke. a police officer was right there by the time i finished laughing to help me to my feet (one i’d taught martial arts to when we were both teens, funny enough. i’m not sure he recognized me. he still has hair the lucky bastard), two people offered me chairs which i declined because i saw two chairs at my favorite cuban brunch place not ten steps away. What. A. Dilemma. So we ate chilaquiles and drank cortaditos while watching the parade, and that’s been our tradition ever since.
long story even longer, it’s taken a long time but the police in my town have earned my trust.