meh Ive been harassed by a couple. But I've also been helped by some. If I held a few bad experiences, to the whole group, I wouldn't talk to all you white folks.
Of course you would: "Excuse me sir, are you done with your meal?" "The lawn is finished sir." "Sir, would you like Regular, or Super Unleaded?" "Please pull forward to the first window sir."
I personally do not believe that the majority of cops are bad people, but I do think that the profession draws more than it's fair share of the bad eggs.
I guess I'm a little late to this thread, but I work for the police, I hear their conversations and see their actions. they are not dirty. there are some who are much more 'hard asses' than the others, but far from being dirty. These men and women put their lives on the line every day, and it's true, you only really hear about it when something bad like this happens. I can't defend every cop in the US, because everyone is human. But I hate the stereotype that all cops are dirty. All this being said, the original thread topic is disappointing and I hope those officers are disciplined
I would guess that the fact that a cop has so much power (at least perceived) the job draws those that are apt to abuse that power. Bullies, aggressive people, power / control freaks, etc. I am sure the agencies go to great lengths to weed these problem types out during the hiring and training process. But some people are good at hiding their inner demons when they need to and I doubt any system existing today is 100% effective at finding all the creeps before they get a badge and a gun. It is very unfortunate that all the good cops have to bear the burden of the actions of bad ones and also deal with the huge stress that their job carries and at a meager salary.
That's not fair. If I had known the sight of me oiled up in speedos, while Prince's "Peaches & Herb" was playing, while I was kneeling on her bed juggling various cheeses, was going to increase her heart rate so much...I would've played "When Doves Cry". Sheesh, cut me some slack.
I agree with all of the above, but I wanted to add to it. The typical training is very military based. There is a big emphasis on backing up your unit. There's a lot of us against them rhetoric. Not to mention that people obviously become friends with their co-workers. It's not that hard to imagine somebody bending a rule for a friend. In fact, most would probably argue that that is what a good person would do. There's a line though. I would put that line somewhere before the point where I'm hurting other people or taking away their rights. But somebody with an "us against them" mentality might not. "I mean what's the big deal if a criminal (them) goes to jail for something he didn't do? Especially, if that's the cost of helping a friend, a good person (an us). We all know the criminal deserved to be in jail anyways. He probably would have been back in soon regardless, so what's the harm. It's our job to put away the bad guys. That's what we're doing and society is better off b/c we do." I speak to cops on a regular basis and I've heard them express these opinions. These aren't evil people. They aren't even in the power hungry bully group. These are just people who believe one person is better than another and they have the right to make that determination. Once you think like that its easy to justify most any action against 'them'. I don't want my cops thinking that way. I know that 'them' can be anyone of us. I want my cops to be the guy that protects the rights of all of 'us'. And I want that 'us' to include everybody, even the bad ones. I know I went of on a tangent there, but I really think that's the root of all evil. Whenever you foster an 'us against them' mentality abuses to the 'them' inevitably follow. And it applies to everything, immigrants, minorities, people of different religions, etc.
I believe that and there is some statistical backing to my belief. I personally think that somebody beating their spouse is bad behavior. If you were to line up 100 cops and 100 people from the general public you are more than twice as likely to find somebody convicted of domestic violence among the cops than among the general public. I used to work for the city and a law was proposed that would make it illegal for anyone convicted of domestic violence to carry a gun. We basically had no choice but to oppose it b/c of the number of cops we would lose off the street. And the research we did showed that this was a nationwide trend. Further, the belief from those who work in DV fields is that under reporting was highest when the abuser was a cop than in any other field. Also, I speak with many psychologists and it is an accepted fact that both criminals and cops share a similar mental make up that makes them more prone to rule breaking and violence. This mental make up is far more common in cops and criminals than in the general public. Obviously you can still make better or worse choices regardless of your mental make up but it seems to me that you would be more likely to find violent rule breakers among the groups most prone to it. So, no I can't say I know it to be a fact that the law enforcement profession draws more than it's fair share of bad people, but there is enough statistical and anecdotal evidence (along with my own experience) to make that belief reasonable.
its a tough job and a crappy job. they have to deal with the lowest orders of society on a daily basis. imo, it takes an extremely good person or an extremely bad person to want to do that
My father, who was a career Cop once told me that nearly every Cop goes through a crisis period where he has to learn he is not judge jury and executioner, that he is simply a servant of the people. How that is recognized and dealt with by his superiors and fellow officers can be crucial to how the rest of the career goes. A lot of bad eggs are quietly removed from the system when this crisis develops... but not all. ..when he retired, I asked him what was the accomplishment he was most proud of.. he said it was that he never lost an officer.. that he sent them out prepared and aware. I felt that was pretty honorable.
Your dad sounds like a very good man. I think the problem is that the crisis period he described can result in poor choices even by guys who are basically good. The old saying "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," can be true. Cops face many situations where they have absolute power over another individual and they know that odds are good that they can violate the law and never be caught. It takes a very good man to make the right choices in that situation. I just have a problem with those that excuse the cops that make the bad choices with platitudes like "it's a tough job" or make the often faulty assumption that the cop is probably in the right b/c they're always the good guys and the suspect is always the bad guy.
