Stop! Police!

[bruunwald]

I could go on for hours about what is actually wrong - SOMETIMES - with the police versus the perception, versus peoples' general idiocy and B.S. A lifelong Californian, police run-ins have almost constantly been the top stories for the local news, and I think it does not take a genius to see that much of the time it is not deserved. I am by no means institutionalized or pro-one thing or another. In fact, I'm pretty liberal and pretty independent-thinking. But people are dumb and cops are an easy target.

My favorite personal stories about the police have to do with those times as a teenager where my friends and I were somewhere we were not supposed to be. Not trespassing in the literal sense. Just being kids and hanging out. The cops in our town would routinely say:

"This is not the place, gentlemen. Gentlemen, this is not the place."

Everytime, just like that. Finally, I got up the nerve to ask one cop if they trained them to say that, then explained that they all say that to us. He was a little perplexed, but then he laughed. He told us that, no, they do not train them to say that, then sent us on our way. My friends were freaked out that I would "talk back" or whatever (like they never had). I reminded them that he was just a human being, after all, and an honest question wouldn't hurt him.

 

[HotFezz8]

im in the UK. England specificallay.

and the police are scum. they make a effort to not catch criminals, then when they do they do everything posisble to fuck them off to the public again.

my sisters best friend was raped and nothing happened to the rapist. my house has been burgled and noone was evern arrested. the person across the road got broken into and nothing happened.

the only time i have ever seen the police actually do any work is when they go and bully the people who spill out of my pub at the end of the night on weekends. they are overpaid arrogant bullies.

as shown by the recent Raol Moat debacle; it took 500 policemen all armed to the fucking teeth 8 days of pointing weapons at old women to actually find the man. and he had been less than 500 metres form his house in a fucking drainage ditch.

useless c*nts.

 

[joemu362]

The problem is, having worked for the police before, a lot of the time, you've sort of got to be a dick to get people to not walk all over you. Not to say I didn't meet a lot of real jerks in the station, the sort who wanted to be a cop just so they could have a gun and badge and be like, "Oy, I'm in charge here, bucko," but most of the times, when a cop is a jerk, it's just part of the job.

 

[Del-Toro]

The latter reaction is likely to lead to fear, which may in turn cause anger.

anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.

People hate authority figures anyway, because they hate their parents and people who are trying to keep them in line (and by "in line" I mean not just bashing in whatever heads you feel like, stuff like that) remind them of their parents.

And yes, there are some real assholes in the police force, quite a few of them have personal problems. But when your job is specifically to deal with (and sometimes actually protect, if you can believe that) the worst people in our society, then your outlook and way of thinking are going to be warped somewhat. They are, after all, only human. It's for that reason that I very much respect the police. I make the occasional joke at their expense, but then again I don't have an issue with gays and I rip on them mercilessly so that's not a good indicator.

 

[JordanMillward_1]

I respect the police a lot, and always try to act pleasant to them (in the one or two instances I've had to talk to them). My reasoning is that they have to deal with little shits most of the time, so why make their job worse than it already is?

On the flip side, other people have said they respect soldiers too. I don't (unless they aren't front line soldiers, like the Royal Engineers or the medics, or people like that) because their job is essentially legalised murder. I can understand that it's a job that's required until the day comes where humanity renounces violence, but I don't respect them for it. It's just a necessary evil.

 

[Badong]

Being the nephew of the chief of the national police, I'm pretty much obliged to say that their cool.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

I find my local police force to be pretty useless. When there's a local football match on it turns out most of our police force has to be there - that's how small the force is. I suppose it's not their fault, since I consider Leeds to be a shithole of a town; they're quite good when depending on the context.

I'd much prefer a stronger police force though, not necessarily throughout the country (the force seems pretty good nationally, since all the outrage comes from the shit justice system), but definitely in my area.

The north just hates "the establishment" I suppose.

 

[mb16]

like them. people seem to forget that they are still just people.

recently in the UK (Northern Ireland) people have been shooting at the police and throwing petrol bombs. Now what do you think the story would be if the police started to shoot back rubber bullets into the crowd to try and disperse it?

im in the UK. England specificallay.

and the police are scum. they make a effort to not catch criminals, then when they do they do everything posisble to fuck them off to the public again.

my sisters best friend was raped and nothing happened to the rapist. my house has been burgled and noone was evern arrested. the person across the road got broken into and nothing happened.

the only time i have ever seen the police actually do any work is when they go and bully the people who spill out of my pub at the end of the night on weekends. they are overpaid arrogant bullies.

as shown by the recent Raol Moat debacle; it took 500 policemen all armed to the fucking teeth 8 days of pointing weapons at old women to actually find the man. and he had been less than 500 metres form his house in a fucking drainage ditch.

useless c*nts.

you do know most of it is that they cant do anything due to human rights, overcrowded prisons, health and safety and comment sense being replaced with new laws. Also the amount of evidence that they now cant use in court even if they have it. Eg phone tapping, you have to have a special letter from someone very high up.

Also if you dont like them here, why not go to Nigeria or the Congo where you are more likely to get robed by them than helped.

 

[V1C3M4N]

A lot of responses here are saying something like, "The police are only doing their job, and they dont make the laws, they only enforce them", which is strange to me because you choose which job you do. I would never become a driving instructor because I dont agree with half the rules of the road and so I would never become a rozzer because I know that half the laws are wrong the system doesnt work and I dont want to put myself at its mercy any more than I already am as a citizen. BTW I am educated in some criminology, and I can tell you that the system and the law will never, ever be perfect.

Anyhow, if the cop becomes a cop, they may do it to 'make a contribution to the community' or they may do it to enforce the law. If they do the former then should it not be their own judgement on what to do in each situation rather than what the law says (if they then enforce the law regardless of their opinion it means they are spineless), and if the latter then it is clear that they agree with the laws they are enforcing, thus indicating that they are just as massively flawed (i.e. a cock) as the law and the system.

Do not ever think that the law and the system work well, because they dont and they never will. Instruments of this dictated code are just as guilty of what the flaws in the law and system are.

 

[Rakkana]

From the ones I've met they abuse their power. Heck one even grabbed me and restrained me only later to realize he had no reason and let me go. He said on his report I "swung" for him.

So to some up, corrupt liars.

 

[Mukil]

Everytime I see a policeman/woman, in the uk, with that checkered flag plastered on thier hat / uniform ; I take it as a direct sign to race....but they always say I'm aggresively expressing my acceleration.

That is why I hate them.

 

[Teh Ty]

Never been arrested, though I do know a couple of police offercers personally in my small gated community. Though, I did had a funny experience. Back when I was in driving school, which was about 2 years ago, there was this druggy in my class, she had done acid, weed, a couple of other things, and got out of rehab for it or something. There was a drug-bust across the street at an Am-Pm, which we went to half way through a class. She was freaking out because she thought they would bust her. she told us to hide her and all this other stuff. I thought it was kinda funny.

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

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"

Sir? So your not really a girl?!

One time I was crossing the street and the officer yelled at me for standing too close to the road. I was actually off the curb and standing on the road itself but not so close to be in any danger so when I started to cross the officer stopped for me then asserted his authority and instead of arguing with him I let him have his authoritah and apologized.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

If they then enforce the law regardless of their opinion it means they are spineless.

Because someone with a gun going around enforcing their own opinion on others without any kind of regulations is a recipe for succuss, this is the stupidest statement i have ever heard in my life. The laws of society are agreed on, are you saying all laws should be subjective for every single policeman?! That there should be no organisation to any set of laws?! You must want to live in a world of pure chaos and corruption where a policemans laws are his own opinions and your rights change from policeman to policeman. Not every policeman is going to agree with every single law ever made. It doesnt mean that they shouldnt be policemen. Also your statement implies, if not directly says "anyone who thinks the laws are good are cocks" which instantly marks you out as a closed minded individual who obviously has some fanatical opinions about anarchy.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Well, cops here in Hungary are... an interesting bunch. They look like your avarage muscley skinhead dipshhit, avarage height over 6 feet, but they're usually nice guys (if a little too direct). Then you got the stormtroop- well I dunno what they call them, they are the guys that deal with riots and real bad shit. Now those guys are fucking ninjas.
But overall, they're ok. However, our laws (which are, by our own standards, shit) often make their job very difficult, so I guess that they try to be more effective by being intimidating.

 

[GothmogII]

I sense a common thread coming up in these topics. Only human. Only human. Only human.

The sussing out of the solution initially brought me to the conclusion that either robots or trained gorillas with neural inhibitors would work as an effective police force. Then, I thought, that the stupidest idea ever. Robots or gorillas? Pffft...but...Robot Gorillas, now that just might could work!

On a more serious note. I was recently sworn in as a Juror, this past week. And you know, the officers in charge of overseeing us to and from the court room and to lunch outside, are really nice guys and gals.

However, I don't really see the need to -protect- police officers who break the law or abuse their position, regardless of any sense of camaraderie. Throw them under the bridge and don't feel bad about it. (Figuratively speaking of course.) If you're a good officer, people will see that. If you're vilified by association, the worst thing in my mind to do is react poorly or even violently to it. I don't think that's such as easy thing...but my respect goes out to any police officer who does their job day in and out despite some of the people they have to deal with.

 

[V1C3M4N]

And another thing, this argument Ive heard a couple of times on here, 'you complain about the police, but when something happens to you they are the ones you go to'. Well of course, if you solve the problem yourself you get arrested for giving a beat down to the person who just stole your car, the guy who stole the car gets shit nothing, and you get prison rape. The police dont have time to do anything because they are all stuck doing paperwork in the station, and when they are out they keep going after mediocre crap like minor traffic offences.

I keep watching these Police, Camera, Action tapes, and I see a few things, firstly when you pull someone over to tell them that they have a brake light failure, dont go around their car looking for shit to main about, so a brake light turns into the car being seized. And when you arrest someone for speeding at 120mph on a 70mph motorway ask yourself this, was it in fact safe to be driving at that speed, well the law says no, but the road is dry, there are no other cars to hit, no pedestrians to run out in the middle of the road, good visibility and the car still has four tires making contact with the tarmac so why should it not be safe to do so. And when you are following someone who is driving like a cock, pullthemthefuckover immediately rather than 'observing' them doing a shitload of other dangerous shit.

And you go to the police for help because there are no private companies that hunt down crims for you, so that means we've got a right to complain when youre not doing enough to get back the property stolen from us, because its taxes that pay for that thirty thousand pound Volvo that you waste diesel driving around enforcing incorrect laws.

Every time I see a cop they are doing something stupid, racing away from the lights at 100mph+ for no reason (no blues and/or twos).
Parking up on the grass verge and not giving chase when I nearly get wiped out by some wanker who just ran a red light.
I have had two good experiences in my life that concern the police, the first is when a pretty hot police woman walked past me in the street (thats it), and when I was driving down a 30mph road at 50mph (because 50mph was perfectly safe for the road), the cop in the car waiting for speeders, like me, was just at that precise moment when I drive past bent over looking in the glove box.

Remember this, 'When we Joe Blog say we want more police out on the street, thats what we mean, we want more police out on the STREET giving yobbos a hard time, we do not mean we want more police out on the ROADS giving us a hard time.

 

[V1C3M4N]

If they then enforce the law regardless of their opinion it means they are spineless.

Because someone with a gun going around enforcing their own opinion on others without any kind of regulations is a recipe for succuss, this is the stupidest statement i have ever heard in my life. The laws of society are agreed on, are you saying all laws should be subjective for every single policeman?! That there should be no organisation to any set of laws?! You must want to live in a world of pure chaos and corruption where a policemans laws are his own opinions and your rights change from policeman to policeman. Not every policeman is going to agree with every single law ever made. It doesnt mean that they shouldnt be policemen. Also your statement implies, if not directly says "anyone who thinks the laws are good are cocks" which instantly marks you out as a closed minded individual who obviously has some fanatical opinions about anarchy.

Two things here, perhaps the first statement was rather vauge, I was meant to imply that a policeperson sould have the capability to give both leniancy and (what ever the grammatical opposite of leniancy is) in a given situation.

The second statement was wrongly interpreted by you, the law in its abstract, as a concept, is a good thing, the measure of what is acceptable in society and the standardised punishment for each offence. However the implementation and enforcement of each individual law is flawed beyond all recognition, it is not decided by the majority, it is decided by the government and they hold even more contempt in my heart than the law and the system.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

i only hate the cops that are pricks, like the one near where i live piecked me and my bro for going 2 miles over the speed limit which was 60 we were shocked as well as pissed. But my favorite cops are the ones that have the big ass candy bars for Halloween. ( yes i still go with my friends its free food)

 

[firedfns13]

I think that the cops, if they do their jobs correctly, should be respected. If they don't, then they don't get my respect.

Yeah. I like the good/kool cops. They don't go out of their way to be dickheads to people but there are quite a few that take advantage of their police status. Also, if anyone's read the article on cracked about how they can legally fuck you over, doesn't that make red light camera's illegal seeing as both parties have to agree to being photographed/videotaped? (Esp. in Illinois, named in the article)