Poll: How do you feel about cops?

[Monkfish Acc.]

How many police officers have you known to be able to make that type of judgement? Not how they acted toward someone who was, in their eyes, in the process of breaking the law, but how they composed themselves on a day to day basis. I know that police forces vary from location to location, country to country, but I've dealt with quite a few from a couple USA states and cities in my time and I would have to completely disagree with your statement. Many of them join the force to serve and protect, while some really do crave power.

Are most judges power hungry individuals who have more intelligence and are only slightly less "thick", as you put it? Are most firefighters hellbent on being pyros and playing with fire? Are most doctors sadistic and wanting to watch others writhe in pain because of injuries or afflictions? I'd have to answer no to those questions myself.

I won't even comment on that last line.

Edit - Wow, I'd actually really like to know how all these people can so easily say that "all the cops I've met are corrupt". What situations happened that showed their corruption, or is it just that you disagree with their enforcement of the law upon you or those you know? What situations happened that have shown their incompetance? How would you people have handled the situation instead/what did they do wrong in your eyes? Can you honestly say you would have thought clearly under the same circumstances? How would you deal with the constant issues of individuals spitting at your feet and calling you "pig" etc... for upholding the law and protecting the population? I'm not justifying anything; I'm just asking why so many here seem so quick to pass judgement just because they don't like having to abide by the rules.

Listen, I just spent an hour typing out a long, well thought out reply, only to have it disappear because Firefox crashed.
I have been up for almost twenty three hours now, and I am exhausted. So let me make this quick.
No, I have not personally known any police officers. I have, however, witnessed friends being harrassed for being black and nearby, women being beaten time and time again because the police never stepped in, instead merely suggesting the victims give their husbands another chance, and twelve to fifteen year old kids being beaten and jailed overnight simply because the officers knew their parents would be too busy getting pissed to ever do anything about it.

I get where you are coming from. I do.
But I didn't say what I said because I was indignant at myself or a friend being caught doing something wrong.
I said it because, in my experience, it is true.

So don't make assumptions, please.

 

[ace_of_something]

So how do you feel about cops?

I never Liked them, its a famliy thing. My Dad was throwen into jail for 2 years for a non-voilent drug crime, my mom was sexually assaulted by a cop and abused while being arrested for missing a probation meeting on her birthday. We tried to press charges but he got away with it. The cop stalked my famliy for a long while broke down are door once even though it was unlocked and he had no reason too.

But down to the point how do you feel about them and what personal experience have you have with them?

For your dad to get a two year sentance he must've of had a LOT of drugs. What exactly did he have? Not to mention that let's see a Judge, a DA, were involved in his case. Let's not forget congress for making the law and all the people who voted them in to office. It's all their fault too not your dad for say. IGNORING THE LAW.

That's his own fault he knew they were illegal yet he choose to carry them. It's a sign of immaturity to blame the law or the people who's job it is to enforce it instead of taking responsability for his own actions. You also give us absolutly NO context to any of this. Just expecting people to take an us vs. them attitude.

Far as mother I am truly sorry she may have been sexually assaulted. That is terrible. However, that has almost nothing to do with him being a cop the conviction rates on sexual assault are actually very low because it comes down to 'he said she said'.
My twin brother is a SBC detective. I can tell you about rapists he's caught (and had convicted) that were Plumbers, Cashiers, Dopers, College Students, and Contractors. So you should hold a grudge against every Plumber, Cashier, Doper, College Student, and Contractor you meet from now on as well?
A person's job doesn't make every other person with that job the same.

I truly hope the person who assaulted your mother is brought to justice in some way. I really do. Hopefully karma will take over where the legal system has failed you.
-Signed
Detective Thor A.
CAP Unit (Sociology/Criminology MS)

 

[Jedoro]

Gonna be one, but that doesn't mean I trust all of them. They're people, so I don't have too good of an opinion of them, but the ones around here aren't too bad.

 

[dlano]

Yeah I have relatives who are policemen and have to deal with the police at my work almost everyday. They spend 99% of their time dealing with the scum of society and seeing their work get shat on by lawyers who get criminials out of jail the same day they're caught. It's not an easy job and frequently disheartening.

However. Do police forces attract the ass-hat alpha male dominating-type? Of course. But what other type of person would you want enforcing the laws and dealing with theives, violent offenders and murders? Maybe that means when you were caught speeding the cop was a dick to you, but that same ass-hat will also take no shit from a domestic abuser later that day.

 

[Skarvig]

They really helped me with a problem I had. They do their work and they do it good. If you are not abiding the law, then you will get a problem with them, this is completly normal and you can forsee consequences.

 

[Jiggabyte]

I've had no experience whatsoever with the police, even though they're quite active around here. Hopefully it stays that way.

 

[Borrowed Time]

Edit - Wow, I'd actually really like to know how all these people can so easily say that "all the cops I've met are corrupt". What situations happened that showed their corruption, or is it just that you disagree with their enforcement of the law upon you or those you know? What situations happened that have shown their incompetance? How would you people have handled the situation instead/what did they do wrong in your eyes? Can you honestly say you would have thought clearly under the same circumstances? How would you deal with the constant issues of individuals spitting at your feet and calling you "pig" etc... for upholding the law and protecting the population? I'm not justifying anything; I'm just asking why so many here seem so quick to pass judgement just because they don't like having to abide by the rules.

Listen, I just spent an hour typing out a long, well thought out reply, only to have it disappear because Firefox crashed.
I have been up for almost twenty three hours now, and I am exhausted. So let me make this quick.
No, I have not personally known any police officers. I have, however, witnessed friends being harrassed for being black and nearby, women being beaten time and time again because the police never stepped in, instead merely suggesting the victims give their husbands another chance, and twelve to fifteen year old kids being beaten and jailed overnight simply because the officers knew their parents would be too busy getting pissed to ever do anything about it.

I get where you are coming from. I do.
But I didn't say what I said because I was indignant at myself or a friend being caught doing something wrong.
I said it because, in my experience, it is true.

So don't make assumptions, please.

Which is exactly why I said what I said in my edit, concerning the assumptions. I wanted to know why people feel the way that they do. I can understand where you're coming from as well, seeing from your experiences with the few you've run in with.

The issues with the 12-15 year old kids sounds like a parenting problem, not a police problem. Quite often it's actually better for a child to be incarcerated for their own safety from their parents in that kind of a situation. Although, i don't have all the information so I can only say that with a grain of salt.

The situation with the domestic abuse falls on the victim to actually press charges against the perpetrator. If they refuse to give the individual another chance, and instead press charges against them for assault, then something will be done.

The situation with being harassed for being black I can completely understand being outraged for that. Unfortunately, as was stated before in this post, police are humans. Many humans have bigoted points of view. I'm sure there are plenty of individuals who aren't police who are bigoted in your area. The values of the police tend to follow the demographics of the region. It would be beyond wonderful if this wasn't the case and that they could be 100% ethical 100% of the time, but that's not the case. So yes, I agree that the racist harassment is completely in the wrong.

That does not mean, though, that most police officers join the force to feed a desire for power and control.

I empathise with you about the long hours. I regularly work graveyard shifts of 8-12 hours and am regularly up 24-32 hours myself (such as today). It can be a real pain in the ass.

 

[mikecoulter]

I like the police. And to be honest, your dad shouldn't have been meddling with drugs should he. Abide by the law of your country or move elsewhere.

 

[Scylla6]

All the fascist pigs in my town hate me,[sub] Did I say that out loud? [/sub], just because I know my rights and do the whole, "no you can't come in my house/my car, now let's see some I.D please." or the best one "I don't have any obligation to answer that question."

P.S If you ever get arrested and they read you your rights say, "I don't understand my rights I need to speak to my lawyer before I can." They can't say, "Well you didn't say that when arrested." in court, really saves your hide.

 

[Sigel]

I have never had a positive experience with the police. My car, and my house has been broken into in the past, and the cops have been as useful as tits on a man. I ended up tracking down some of my stuff from pawn shops and getting it back, and the police did absolutely nothing with the information that I provided them. I realized that other more important things are happening in the world, but it only took me 20 minutes to call local pawn shops and provide basic information to find some of my stuff. I am not asking for the the freaking CSI team to crack the case, just some involvement. I mean it is only their freaking job.

 

[Indecizion]

Meh ive just moved to brittain, and the first thing i noticed is the helpfulness of the cops here, theyre not harassing ne1 or anything of that nature, i grew up in brisbane, as a teenager who was into games/sci-fi/fantasy i walk around in shirts that represent it. but yet the police used to stop me and my friends regularily to order us to empty bags/pockets even to take off our shoes with threats that if we didnt comply we would be taken down to their station, whats more is we werent the only one it seems they targeted young people on the assumption were all carrying drugs and weapons, and i dont think its right that they can do that given that theyre there to SERVE the public not use their bias to harras us. meh neway will take some time but if all the cops here are the same as the ones ive met so far i might learn to trust them in time.

 

[SoftballchicK3]

some people say they have a problem with cops, i personally dont. my best guy friends dad is a cop, and i swear he is one of the nicest men i have ever met. i've heard people say, "oh i hate cops, all they do is cause trouble." if you think about it, there just doing there job. there trying to make this a better place. by doing their jobs the way they do them, their just helping you in the end. think about that next time you try to criticise a cop, bitchesssss!

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Which is exactly why I said what I said in my edit, concerning the assumptions. I wanted to know why people feel the way that they do. I can understand where you're coming from as well, seeing from your experiences with the few you've run in with.

The issues with the 12-15 year old kids sounds like a parenting problem, not a police problem. Quite often it's actually better for a child to be incarcerated for their own safety from their parents in that kind of a situation. Although, i don't have all the information so I can only say that with a grain of salt.

The situation with the domestic abuse falls on the victim to actually press charges against the perpetrator. If they refuse to give the individual another chance, and instead press charges against them for assault, then something will be done.

The situation with being harassed for being black I can completely understand being outraged for that. Unfortunately, as was stated before in this post, police are humans. Many humans have bigoted points of view. I'm sure there are plenty of individuals who aren't police who are bigoted in your area. The values of the police tend to follow the demographics of the region. It would be beyond wonderful if this wasn't the case and that they could be 100% ethical 100% of the time, but that's not the case. So yes, I agree that the racist harassment is completely in the wrong.

That does not mean, though, that most police officers join the force to feed a desire for power and control.

I empathise with you about the long hours. I regularly work graveyard shifts of 8-12 hours and am regularly up 24-32 hours myself (such as today). It can be a real pain in the ass.

These kids were not arrested for their own safety. They were whisked off the street, slammed into walls, cars, you name it, and then had to stay in a cell until their parents sobered up and collected them, often refusing to believe that their own child had been doing absolutely nothing wrong.
To be fair, they had a record of delinquency. Underage drinking, possession of marijuana, etc.. But I'm pretty sure breaking a teenager's arm because they were "resisting arrest" (i.e. telling them to fuck off because they weren't doing anything) is a gross abuse of power.
Unless there is a law I have not heard of somewhere that says speaking profanity to a police officer requires them to injure you.

And yeah, I am entirely aware police officers are human. That is why I have said what I did.
I have a low opinion on people in general. For all the pretense to the contrary, we are not much better than any other animal.
But I suppose that will pass with adolescence.
Or, at least, I hope it does.
It'd be great to turn twenty and suddenly not be filled with disgust all the time.

I would address everything else you've said, but I've just skipped over the point of tiredness where you feel positively dandy for no good reason straight into the part where you feel like someone placed several trains in your brain just before they were about to crash.
So, it'd probably all make very little sense.

 

[Rakkana]

They abuse their power, get payed for doing less then any other job, the majority of them are huge dick heads. ya, i pretty much hate them.

 

[Kiefer13]

Like any group of people, there are the good ones and there are the bad ones. Generalising the entire profession of law enforcement because of a few select cases is neither accurate nor reasonable.

Personally, I've never had any problems with the police. Only crime I can say I commit is on occasion, is under-age drinking (which my parents know about and are fine with, so I don't see the problem). I do have mixed feelings about the police, though. I can see why it is necessary for them to exist, and it's true, there would be anarchy without them. I can certainly appreciate all the stick they have to put up with from the brainless "FUCK DA POLICE" types.

On the other hand, in terms of D&D alignment, I'm most certainly Chaotic Good [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.ChaoticGood]. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of a relatively small group of people being in charge of telling other people what they can and cannot do. I can't say I've witnessed it personally, but I've heard plenty of horror stories about corrupt cops abusing their power and that kind of thing sickens me. As I said, I don't believe in generalising entire groups based on a minority of bad individuals. I hate the way the police seem to think it's ok for them to generalise though. I've seen it happen before. My friends and I will be out, up to nothing sinister or unlawful and yet, if a police car passes us, it will invariably end up turning around and passing us again looking extra close for any suspicious behavior. Now perhaps I'm just being paranoid, but I hate the feeling that they're deliberately picking us out as potential criminals because we're younger. Not all teenagers are uncouth hooligans, donchaknow, and I hate it when people think it's perfectly acceptable to treat us all as such.

So yeah, I'm going to go "neutral" on this one.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

I hate the fuckers. Not because I'm a teenager or anything like that, but they are not what they are supposed to be. They were supposed to be there for your protection, and now they sit there and try to find stuff to pull you over for (probably for ticket quotas). What really made me hate them are the pricks that think they are better then everyone else. I've seen so many cops turn on their lights and sirens just to go through lights because they don't want to have to obey the law and wait like the rest of us. One even turned it on for literally only half a second in the middle of the intersection. I really want to walk up to the next one I see do that and ask them if they knew it was illegal to break the law.

 

[infinisynth]

Never around when you need them. Always around when you don't.

 

[YoUnG205]

I don't mind cops, but then I have never done anything for them to care about me.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Shit Happens

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Its important to have some sort of police force within a society. Unfortunately, in my experience, most of that police force are corrupt asses.