Philadelphia transit police are upset that people witnessing an officer getting beat up by an alleged fare jumper inside the subway system just stood by and watched without calling 911, including one person who pulled out a phone to video record the altercation.
Perhaps this was just a result of apathetic people expecting somebody else to take charge or maybe a deeper issue of the growing divisiveness we’ve seen between police officers and citizens that has surfaced over the last few years because online videos.
It’s impossible to tell without interviewing the actual witnesses but it’s a little surprising to hear the outraged response from the police chief when cops in this country have done nothing but create an us vs them mentality between cops and citizens.
This is evident by reading many of the comments in [__The Blaze’s__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/cop-beaten-up-on-camera-while-bystanders-watch-and-no-one-calls-911) article:
> Personally, unless I knew a cop personally and he happened to be a real upstanding guy; I’d let him get beat up for a while. It serves all of them right for violating their oaths of office and violating the people whom they are supposed to be the servants of. I was raised to think well of the police. They came to my school and seemed like “nice guys” who were there for my protection. However, it is blatantly obvious that that has all been a ruse and that the police are just another arm of the gov’t seeking to fleece the public and indoctrinate us into total control.
> Answer me this. Why is it that a man who tries to defend himself from a trained canine that tries to bite his throat, and ends up killing the dog; is charged with assault of a police officer or murder? Yet, when a swat team breaks into your home in the middle of the night to issue a search warrant (for suspicious saran wrap in your car, yes, it can be that innocuous), it is their SOP to shoot and kill any and all dogs in the home to ensure the “safety” of the officers involved?
> ***
> you reap what you sew and the police have brought this upon themselves by their abusive unconstitutional actions over the past few years. they have maced, tased, assaulted, beaten, shot and even MURDERED innocent, unarmed men/women and children.
> the worm is turning! and you ignored our pleas to uphold your oaths of office..
> ***
> Figure it out cops, this is the future that I have been waiting for. You have intimidated and harrassed us long enough, NO OE cares if you get the crap beat out of you***
> I was raised to respect cops, and until about 5 years ago I did…but this quote right here, “until they determin otherwise” from you is my biggest problem…the fact is, our founding fathers would be APPALLED at the police state we have allowed to form. Having ANY local police force AT ALL outside a lone sheriff is flat out unconstitutional. You don’t get to determine when force escalates, YOU don’t get to say, “they determined otherwise”…stop STEALING my tax money and go get a real job. EVERY act of aggression you commit against a citizen is an act of tyranny and oppression.
> ***
> In the past I would have automatically helped the officer but after three officers stormed my business pointing guns at me only to find out they had the wrong address, I would definitely want to know the situation and if the punk was in uniform or if it was the other guy!
> ***
> I have to go to the last week when a man at a school board meeting was(in my eyes) accosted by a “cop” not only was the whole thing way over the top the “cop” piled on felony charges that would have placed a man railing against the frustration of not being able to control the wishes of the liberal mind set. And even the arrest was not valid.
> A true LEO would have left him do his thing as he was not violent and moved him out in a respectful manner and handled it outside by just having him leave.
> That cop I would love to have been in this situation.
> Problem is that perp, had I been there, would have had a weapon pointed at him – am not going to allow a human like him or not be beat.
> ***
> GOODSTUFF, I don’t hate cops, I just don’t trust them anymore, even my own brother in law & cousin that are cops. The way they are being trained these days by the progressives, militarizing their forces, we freedom loving, constitution abiding, conservative, libertarian, returning veteran, hard working americans are their enemy.
The comments go on and on and reveal a serious distrust and disregard for police officers in general, mainly because of personal experiences or videos they have seen.
I admit I would be the one video recording, not necessarily because I wouldn’t want to help the cop, but because pulling out my camera and recording is very instinctive for me, while dialing 911 is anything but.
In fact, my instinct is to avoid calling 911 at all costs because I don’t trust police enough not to turn me into a suspect when they arrive, which we have seen happen numerous times in the past.
And judging by the comments in the Blaze’s article as well as [__My Fox Philly__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/septa-cop-struggles-with-alleged-fare-jumper), which originally reported the story, I am not alone in that sentiment.
And it’s unfortunate we feel this way because most of us are law-abiding citizens who would not physically fight a police officer.
We just no longer assume they are the good guys when we see them physically fighting a citizen.