Hanging around the airport yesterday I noticed the the police officers who also hang out there and I got to wondering. What's with all the shaved heads? Having mucked around in the woods and the desert I remember well that having no hair on your head is the best way to keep clean and not itch. But city cops? And why is it that all the shaved heads are on top of scowling, intimidation-mode faces? Seriously. Are these guys all Reservist Army Rangers who may get called up at a moments notice and don't have time to get haircuts? But I've known lots of Army Rangers who just keep a high-and-tight but don't shave it all off. Conducting a little experiment I spoke to each police officer I saw yesterday, a total of six. One had hair and he nodded and said "Good morning, sir". The other five, all shaved heads, just glared at me when I said "Good morning" and none of them said a word in reply.
Interesting....
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A friend works in SAP, and has to visit Germany off and on. He tells me that the neo-nazis there shave their head, or have tomahawk style hair-cuts, and they indeed are intimidating.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that in Germany years ago - the Germans seem to have an affinity for that shaved head look anyway, but this seems to be different. I don't think cops in this country have any kind of bent that way, but I do think they believe it's intimidating. More of the militarization of our police forces I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteInteresting experiment, John, and I bet your limited sample would prove to be an accurate picture of what's going on were someone to study this with a larger sample. I suppose this might be brought up at city council meetings. Otherwise, it should be studied and written about.
ReplyDeleteNot only would a proper professional coiffeur look smart and show appropriate respect for the tax payer, but more human-looking cops would also encourage greater cooperation and communication between citizens and police, and we all know that means reduced crime and happier neighborhoods. And if they looked like professionals, the Leos would have more self-respect, of course, which would also improve all of the above.
I work at a college with a large criminal justice studies program. The department head, a former state trooper, is a friend of mine, and I'll ask him about this issue.
Good call on this one. Let's hope other people take this up!
I spoke with my friend. According to him it is cultural, not policy. He told me a story about a stint he did running a police training academy in Alabama. The recruits wanted to wear black, and they actually went over his head and complained because he made them wear green fatigues rather than the sinister black outfits they had in mind. He groups this and the shaved heads with the general collapse of civility in contemporary culture.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have noticed and perhaps you can comment on this, is the use of "warrior" in reference to soldiers. My father (served in WWII) and my grandfather (served in WWII and Korea) never did and I believe never would call soldiers "warriors." I think they would associate the term "warriors" with feathered jungle men, or maybe the Japanese--that is wild savages or the bad guys