Whats your opinion of the Police in your country?

[scorptatious]

Can't say I have much of an opinion of the cops here in America. As Dags90 has stated, it's kinda hard to make generalizations out of them considering how large this country is and how many kinds there are.

In my experience though, they seemed alright. My grandfather is a retired cop in fact.

 

[Broady Brio]

They do their job in my town at least.

I was involved in an assault and they gave me a lift home. (Though they did mishear me at first and took me to the other side of my town.)

 

[DANEgerous]

about 60% are assholes 30-35% do a good at their job which to be hone it pretty damn hard at times the last 5-10% are what we like to think of cops being in they they are noble or heroic and generally not only want to save people but when put to the test actually do. This may sound pessimistic but my view of humanity as a whole is, 60% of all people are likely to be assholes and far less than 5-10% are heroic so yeah over all they get more shit than they deserve.

We also have this odd skew on how we see them, in person we think they are all dicks yet we have a plethora of crime drama making them all out to be heroes.

 

[Cardbird]

I'm in Northern Ireland so you'll get some pretty varied opinions.

I think they do a decent job as you will rarely hear stories of them abusing their power or performing illegal acts. Maybe that's because we are a small nation so it's less likely to get exposure.

Where I live they do put speed cameras in the most awkward places just to catch people out though, like at the bottom of a steep hill, that annoys me a bit.

Mostly, this. It's not that the police force in Northern Ireland is bad, far from it-but they're fucking stupid.

 

[lacktheknack]

Here in Edmonton, they seem nigh-nonexistent. I've used our LRT train line literally hundreds upon hundreds of times, and I've only seen ticket-takers (a subset of the police) once... and they were off duty.

Also, I've seen police cars here once after a break-in, but never otherwise. I've seen police cars once in over a decade.

 

[Eamar]

I respect the UK police. I think they generally do a good job (obviously there's the occasional bad apple, same as in any group), and in my own dealings with them they've been great. It was a very minor incident though- someone stole my iPod. They caught the guy and he had to pay me compensation; it also turned out he's been involved in a string of burglaries and petty thefts and he got done for those too, so happy days.

Of course, my favourite uncle is a police officer and I seriously considered joining up myself, so I'm hardly unbiased.

 

[Guffe]

Finland reporting.
I am this "--" close to getting into the Police academy so that should say somehing about my standing on the matter.
Well I don't hate them, never had anything to do with them so won't say I adore them, I've heard stories were they have been total ass holes and on the contrary total badasses. They are also people so there's going to be a difference from cop to cop.
They get too little respect but a few weeks ago a cop (girl aged 23) got shot and was really really close to death for about a week, she's stabilized still in critical condition (last I heard) so that got people thinking a bit.
But I respect them and hope surely hope I'll be in a uniform soon enough.

 

[deathninja]

My Dad was in the Met, so I grew up around Police. Maybe biases me a bit but generally they're normal people doing a shitty, vilified job.

You do get bullies and assorted other twats, but it's the same with any other job; only difference is the uniform.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I'm from the States and I believe that out Police force should stop hiring just about anyone who is capable of breathing and look threatening enough to simply diminish the rate of crime in a given area.

There are poorly trained officers, officers with a shocking rap sheet, and officers with previous accounts of racist ideals, violence, unnecessary force, and even unnecessary deaths in their record that are roaming the streets and "serving" the community.

But I hope that now that the public has cameras that are either portable or attached to their phones, the justice system can either do away with these horrible cops, put them in jail if need be, and look more closely at who they feel is worthy to protect it's citizens and uphold the law.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Absent, most of the time, but as there is very little that requires police attention here, I don't really mind. They spend most of their time tracking down speeders on the highway it seems.

 

[Charli]

UK here...I respect them. Giving a response based on a few bad apples is a terrible way to appoach a subject, and the majority of them are very kind, selfless individuals who would go out of their way to aid you however you need.
The UK police take alot of abuse from people, and certainly young adults/teens, but I've seen the work they do, talked to alot of them as people and they really do come off well meaned and hard working.

 

[theSteamSupported]

Eh, I've always seen them as a symptom rather than an independent force. What happens in the police force is caused by outside events.

 

[Zhukov]

Australia reporting.

They seem alright. I've seen/read/heard some ugly instances, but all my first-hand dealings with them have been totally fine.

Police violence/shootings are very rare here.

 

[SidheKnight]

Useless and corrupt.

This is graphical description of the police in Argentina:

http://popcultureplaypen.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/wiggum-donut.png

 

[DigitalSushi]

I'm from France, and we have several police departments.

Gendarme's, they are Military that become police officers, if you back chat them they will arrest you and they will never cause a situation to escalate, they are like psychoanalysts with assault rifles. Very calm but if they are on your case, it means you've done something bad, so you deserve it.

La Police, standard Police force, a bit like most Police forces in the world were you get some bad egg's that spoil the bunch but in general they are pretty good, I was witness at 1.00am in the underground of them opening up the Metro gates for plastic gangsters with no money to get home because otherwise those kids would have been out on the street's if they couldn't get home, and that act of compassion probably helped their PR when you think about it.

Police Municipal, these guys are the ones that failed all the test's for joining the Military, Police, Gendarmes and are generally Bouncers, Meat Heads and ex Plastic Gangsters trying to make an honest living, unfortunately they have a tendency to have an aggressive manner of speaking to people but are good foot soldiers for Police presence.

CRS, they are Riot Control, you find them in hotspots such as St Lazare Paris, got a bad rep, but are really good, they carry FAMAS'.

In Paris you often find 3 guys in Red Camo, one point man, two either side several metres back, they carry FAMAS', don't look at them in the eye, don't talk to them.
For they are Foreign Legion

IN general I like my countries Police, since I live in England I can act the tourist and get help from them when back in France.

UK police seems pretty decent, not that I've had much experience with them, but they generally do their job well and without being armed to the teeth like many other countries police are either. A guy I used to know became a policeman and he was pretty cool so yeah...

UK Police are brilliant, its just the poor sods are really really overworked, you guys need more police departments to handle different situations since SO19 are emergency only and the DPG are never used unless its for Diplomats, foreign dignitaries or Ministers, basically anyone like you and me that need help on the streets.

 

[Chalacachaca]

I'm from Venezuela, and like everything else in this great wonderful country, the police are corrupt. In my city though, they are even worse, since what can you expect from the biggest collection of laidbacks, party animals and drunken male chauvinist this side of the pond?
Some of them try to do a good job, but most of the are corrupt, always asking for some money so they can buy "something to eat or drink". What? come on, I know you guys don't get paid that much, but guess what? none of us get paid that much (even those backstabbers at PDVSA).

Pulling you over for being young and having a nice car (not personal experience, I don't even know how to drive), pulling you over because you're a woman, pulling you over for driving "too fast". Come on, I've seen patrolcars passing through a red light, and I'm sure the emergency is "I ran out of alcohol!". They don't even turn on their tail rights when turning left or right.

I don't get my started on the way they fight crime... two months ago a guajiro was killed in a warehouse when a gunfight broke between the police and them. They were using the warehouse for smuggling gasoline, and they bribed the police. But the police wanted more, the guajiros refused and one thing let to another and one guajiro got killed.
Bad mistake, since the guajiros retaliated by taking a truck full of them to a police station in a park not far from where I live and assaulted the precint.
So yeah, there I was sitting in a bus when suddenly a fuck load of police where rushing through that park with their pistols draw as I was listening to gunshots on the distance.
Anyway, the fucking mayor had to PAY the guajiros so that they would stop.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

I don't trust the police at all.

I spent some time teaching a class aimed at educating people on their basic civil rights. Explaining to them what the police do and do not have the authority to do, why exercising your right to remain silent is the best advise I can give to anyone EVER.
And so on and so forth.

It wasn't too long before one or two cops decided that we were training people to be better criminals and attempted on several occasions to shut the class down. Going so far as to insinuate that we could not rely on police protection if we continued to hold our classes.

Essentially what they were saying was that educating people on the laws put in place to protect them from false incrimination and authoritative abuse is bad because it makes the cops have to follow the laws they are paid to enforce, and if we didn't stop they would have no problems either not doing their jobs or actively abusing their authority to stop us.

Now in the interest of fairness I need to say that I know deep in my heart of hearts that the majority of police officers are good folks who put on their uniforms and proceed to protect and serve their communities with the respect for the law that their position of authority demands.

However, I can't ignore the fact that there is the small minority who are attracted to the job because it grants them power and authority they would be otherwise unable to command on their own.
It's these select few that mean I don't have the privilege of trusting the majority. It is not in my best interest to assume that the police officer I'm speaking with at any moment isn't looking for a reason to abuse his/her authority.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

I think they're condescending pricks with power-complexes who are far too quick to talk down to people then pull out the 'insulting-an-officer' card when people talk back.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Basically this:


I've only ever met one police man who I would consider a sound fella. In general they are fucking assholes.

 

[Samurai Silhouette]

Pretty cool guys, I'm friends with quite a few because of where I work. They're normal people just like the rest of us.