Stop! Police!

[BonsaiK]

I guess it depends, you get good and bad.

Some police that I've had to deal with seem to have a bit of a cowboyish attitude on them, but then some of them have been really good. As I've gotten older I've also noticed that police are nicer to me, also now I have short hair and dress nicer (used to be a die-hard metalhead with hair down to my waist in my early 20s) I get treated with more respect. When my partner died the cops who came and looked into it were really cool. When I've had to talk to "investigative" parts of the police force, they've also always been really nice - nothing like the movies.

In other parts of the country it's different though. When on tour in QLD I was simply staggered by the openly racist thuggery of the officers we encountered up there.

As for the other question I've never been arrested but I've been to court many times (music industry ftl) and I know for a fact that the special investigations unit where I live have a file on me. Might be nothing in it though, I've never done anything nastier than forgetting to pay my car registration from time to time.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

It's simple enough. There are thousands, if not more, good cops for every asshole one. But think about it: you could take all 100 Senators, involve one of them in some sort of scandal, and the media will be crying about Senatorial corruption.

It's all a matter of what gets noticed. You remember bad experiences significantly more easily than you remember good ones. There was a study done that I can't be arsed to find again that actually gave you a significant percentage higher chance to remember a negative stimuli than a positive one.

For a more common example: if someone lets you merge into traffic, you might not take particular note, nor will it brighten your day. If someone cuts you off, you'll probably get pissed off, and somewhat undeserving so.

 

[quiet_samurai]

I think alot of people in the USA dislike cops because usually if you deal with one it is not a pleasant experience. Also there a alot of officers and cops here that are just complete assholes just because their job entitles them to be, I understand that they deal with societies bad people and that they can never be to careful but being a total dick to someone for a minor traffic violation is just pure bullshit.

And yes I have been arrested officially one time and detained about four times. I have also eluded the police three times when I was younger. And truthfully the one time I was actually hauled downtown, my arresting officer was probably the most pleasant one that I have ever dealt with.

 

[Captain Pancake]

I agree with a previous poster, I think Britain has a very efficient and professional police force. It's the legal system that lets us down in general.

 

[Angerwing]

Psychologically, that particular field attracts two major types of people. The altruistic type, and the power trip type. Luckily we don't get that many power trip types where I'm from. If you're calm and co-operative with a police officer, I bet you they will respond in kind. I've only ever been respectful to police officers in my dealings with them.

If you get pulled over for speeding, and you have been speeding, don't give them lip. You're in the wrong. The best thing you can do is acknowledge that you were doing wrong, you meant no harm by it, but that you're also perfectly willing to be held responsible for your wrongdoings. If you're willing to be accountable, in my experience cops are way more lenient.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

I was watching one of these generic police shows last night when I noticed a lot of people shown acted very negatively or even violently toward the police and the camera crew even if they were not the ones being arrested. Made me wonder why the police revieve so much hate from some people for just doing their jobs. I personally respect the police, sometimes what they do may seem unfair but they get paid to enforce the law, they dont make it, it's just their job to enforce it and 99% of the time it's for the good of society. For some reason they then recieve the brunt of the anger when someone thinks a law is unfair or unjust.

Anyway discussion value. What do you think of the police in your country? Have any interesting or funny stories about your experiences with the law? Ever been arrested?

Oh, wait, you meant in cop shows? That's an even easier answer. They just select the ones where perps and bystanders get violent. In any given show, the dozen or so clips that you see were probably picked from a hundred or more boring, normal ones.

 

[lwm3398]

Well actually if you act nice, you are more likely to get a ticket.
My sister acts super nice to cops when she gets a ticket but her friend acts like "No! I wasn't speeding I knew how fast was driving, maybe you made a mistake, are you sure you didn't?!" and the cop may a lot of the time says "You can go...."

I'm not talking about tickets, though. I'm talking about the people who kick and scream because they're boyfriend or whoever was in the car with them is getting arrested for having eighteen bags of assorted drugs. Not little stuff like speeding tickets.

 

[FC Groningen]

People mostly remember the negative things, while I believe they do a good job in general. Also, they apparantly have a quota of tickets they have to hand out each month, which they can't be blamed for. Its similar with our legal system; Its apparantly one of the most secure and accurate systems, but people prefer to focus on the few occassions it went wrong. No police force or legal system is perfect, so I'd say 8/10

 

[Vuljatar]

I'd say that the majority of them are fine, but a lot of them are dicks. And holy shit, the ones that are dicks are bigtime dicks.

 

[Thedayrecker]

I was watching one of these generic police shows last night when I noticed a lot of people shown acted very negatively or even violently toward the police and the camera crew even if they were not the ones being arrested. Made me wonder why the police revieve so much hate from some people for just doing their jobs. I personally respect the police, sometimes what they do may seem unfair but they get paid to enforce the law, they dont make it, it's just their job to enforce it and 99% of the time it's for the good of society. For some reason they then recieve the brunt of the anger when someone thinks a law is unfair or unjust.

Anyway discussion value. What do you think of the police in your country? Have any interesting or funny stories about your experiences with the law? Ever been arrested?

People are paranoid, and distrust cops. Cops are authority figures who only show up when bad things happen, therefore, when they show up people instinctually (I guess) become nervous.

also this:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you.html

 

[FC Groningen]

I'd say that the majority of them are fine, but a lot of them are dicks. And holy shit, the ones that are dicks are bigtime dicks.

True, but these guys work with "dicks" all the time as well. And I don't refer to criminals here, I refer to the regular smug citizen. Same goes with bouncers apparantly.

 

[R4ptur3]

People in the UK respect the Police more then people in the UK think. It's just the media portrays them so badly. I respect the police massivley, but the legal system let's them down sometimes, which can be a problem. The people that dislike the police are the idiots who actually have no idea of the job the police actually have to do or what can be done. I think the UK force is very good and professional as they can do things most the of the time without the use of guns.

The British public have a great way of being negative about everything good.

 

[Joe Matsuda]

I respect the police

...I just don't trust them...

which is why I take the law into my own hands! *insert montage of explosions and shootouts with rock music in the background*

 

[Sebenko]

I remember when I used to get the bus home from school. Every stupid fucker on the bus thought that the police were "fucking wankers". I don't see why.

When you deal with fuckers who think like that, who can blame them for breaking a nose or two?

 

[Tdc2182]

I seem to be repeating this very often lately. People are generally hostile to authority because of most entertainment propaganda that goes around. It is a very satisfying feeling to believe that someone with more "power", so to speak, is wrong and you are right.

People understand when they are in trouble, but never understand when they have done something bad. Have you ever met a person who thought that he justly deserved whatever punishment he got?

But it is important to remember that people think they can do everything better and are smarter than everybody else. But in reality, we are all dumbasses, even you and me. History has shown us what can happen when we trust authority to much, and when we are to rebellious. Unfortunately, it is an extremely bad situation right now with the level of angst that some of us teenagers have, and we are forcing it on the police.

 

[SonicWaffle]

a woman he'll likely be in and out of

Hurhurhur :-D

OT: Meh, it's pretty ingrained. Coppers are bastards, etc. Personally, I've found coppers to be generally OK people, but then I've never been arrested. Hell, one time a bunch of them were searching me, and one of them spotted me drop my unlit joint. He moved around behind me and put his foot over it so that the other copper shining the torch around my feet wouldn't spot it. I even puked nasty MDMA vomit on one of the other officer's shoes, and he didn't seem to care much. It was pretty decent of him, though I suppose it could have been him cutting me a break because A) it was New Years Eve and B) they were arresting my best friend and sending him to jail for, it turned out, a year. Still, I got to smoke my joint...

I was in London this weekend, and saw something that amazed me. I hadn't been keeping up with the news about Raoul Moat. I knew a lot of people were supporting him from various forums I read, but what really spun my head was three girls aged around 13, the same as my little sister, walking down the street wearing "RIP Raoul" t-shirts. Even I was shocked, and I have a lot of friends who really hate the police.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Heres a scene:
"Ok your under arrest, you have the ri..."
"But officer I didnt know it was against the law to stab someone in the face 23 times!"
"Well, surprise, IT IS!"
"Why are you shouting?!
"RABBLE RABBLE!"
"RABBLE RABBLE!"
----Next day in Prison----
"The cops are corrupt, they arrested me for stealing $3000, I mean what gives?"
" yeah the cops arrested me for no reason too, all I did was murder someone!"

Alot of hate towards the police comes from people have no understanding of right or wrong.

 

[Mcupobob]

I respect the police

...I just don't trust them...

This, execpt without the respect part to some degree. Every run in my family has had with the cops ended up with vandlism, assulate, unreasonable searchs and sezuires without warrents, and downright disrespect. We sued the prick that did most of this crap and what did he get? A goddamn promotion, luckly it came with a move order so now he gets to play bad cop in L.A bastard hopefully will be shot...

Okay ignoring that, I know there are good cops out there doing their job. Just some many of them are corrupt thugs it gets harder to respect them.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

I just dislike the pompous one's that make a complete jackass of themselves.
Picture: Hitching belt up and blowing out chest, calling me 'boy', etc etc.
Yes, they actually do that sometimes.

 

[Double A]

I respect them a lot. They aren't jerks where I live, and only occasionally one of them does something fucktareded like drinking or screwing on the job.

Funny you ask, a security guard shouted at me like a week ago. I failed the metal detector, so he came back with one of those handheld metal detectors, and my belt beeped. I looked down to see what had beeped, and the guy told me to keep my head up. I responded with my normal voice: "Sir, do not raise your voice"

Security guards and cops are very different people.

Unless, of course, this security guard was a cop.