Police discussion/debate thread

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBoK_73NMJs

This is the problem I have with police officers, no disrespect to you. Y'all don't ever want to point to someone else and say "you can't do your job well."
I can tell you right now, if I heard a radio personality get on the air and do something irresponsible, I'd go "that's a BAD radio personality. He does a BAD job." Police officers never want to say when y'all do a bad job.
So that's the reason the public thinks ALL of you are bad. Because you won't EVER call someone out and say "They murdered someone. In cold blood. It happened again."

[Darth Wedgius]

So you're saying that if a group of people have a minority of bad actors and the rest don't call them out on it, the whole group should be held responsible?

[Beelzquill]

I think police officers at least need to start saying "Z is a bad cop" "This wasn't handled great" instead of always being so self congratulatory after any event happens. Take the infamous Sheriff Israel after the Parkland shooting being "so proud of our officers". Those officers were cowards who unnecessarily yelled at scared students just trying to get out and didn't try to take down the shooter. I mean the school police in this instance.

[Madner Kami]

So you're saying that if a group of people have a minority of bad actors and the rest don't call them out on it, the whole group should be held responsible?

Only if the majority of good(?) actors complains about how the non-actors percieve them and distrust them.

The issue here is, that the people who would be responsible to act on behalf of the public are the very same people who look away from the issues. The question is: Can you call the police, if the police is the one acting against you? If the police doesn't police itself, then who should or even could?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

That's pure conjecture. Seeing cop shows or criminal justice shows paints a different picture

And you don't think about that as propaganda in any way?

TV shows also reinforce the idea that only GUILTY people need their lawyers.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

It's like this, Yuka. Every policeman is somebody who can get away with murder, and knows it. This means that they are quintessentially dangerous. A policeman is a threat, like an uncaged lion.

There are plenty of nice lions. There are lions that you can cuddle and play with.

That doesn't mean that if my default response is to treat a lion as a dangerous animal, that I am somehow being unfair to all the lions that wouldn't rip my face off.

A man who can get away with murder is a man with very, very, VERY little reason to behave decently.

[Yukaphile]

That's also pure conjecture.

[Admiral X]

The really shitty thing is that there have been instances where a good cop actually did speak out against the bad actors, and ended up having their careers wrecked by corrupt assholes protecting the bad actors. And about all they can do is spout that "blue wall" bullshit. :rolleyes:

[Yukaphile]

The average joe cop isn't that bad. It's institutional corruption, as Admiral X says.

[Nealithi]

Just my thoughts on this. But police have a messed up job. Someone calls 911 for any reason police respond first. And sit by roadside construction, and direct emergency traffic, and have to punish violators of myriads of laws. Oh and if they do something like park an empty patrol car near a freeway to 'suggest' people slow down to the speed limit? Catch hell for it. From needing to handle potentially life threatening situations. Then get exorcerated for it. Then towns cut the budgets and demand more patrols and even 'quotas' on traffic fines. Are police automatically bad? No, and no more than a baggage handler wants messup your luggage for the fun of it. Why that analogy? Because most doing a job don't try to screw it up. But there will always be some that do. And yes in places the blue wall is quite true. What should be done? Take politics and local finances out of the police equation. Don't make them pay for themselves or other town functions in collected fines. Trim the laws to eliminate spurious ones so the police can concentrate on essentials. And hold the police to a higher standard. Have 'Conduct unbecoming of a police officer' be a multiplier for punishments. Cop sells drugs? Triple the punishment because he was a cop.