How do you really feel about cops?

[JontRevolting]

Yea but that's what I am trying to point out. It's illogical to say you don't like cops because you "know a few who have..." blah blah blah.

I don't see how you can say that's illogical when the reasons I've stated for not particularly liking cops are perfectly logical and are more the result of my environment,personality and the actions of said cops.I realise that not all cops are the same...some folk have great encounters with them but there are definitely those who don't.Now I've never personally had much to do with them but I know good people who have and there's weren't so good,hence my disliking for them in general.

 

[Dak]

The problem with a lot of police (different from other enforcement agencies) is a lot of them only require a few months of training and passing some tests. Some don't require a college degree. You do get these hotshot assholes who want to be Judge Dredd and forget that their duty is to protect and serve the community.

Yeah, I think this kind of nails it. Most other LEAs have incredibly more stringent requirements, both in education and/or physical fitness. It appears to be incredibly easy to get a police badge, and the local police are the large majority of LEA encounters people will have.

 

[no country for old wainds]

my incredibly placid skinny nerdy buddy was drunk on the london underground and his ticket wouldn't work and his brother got into an argument with the staff, and some plain clothes policeman came over and arrested my friend and accused him of trying to strangle them and push them down some stairs. he had to go through like a year of court dates to clear his name, they finally got access to the CCTV and it proved everything they said was bullshit and they seemed genuinely surprised, like they were convinced their version of events was true. i don't know if they were bad people or idiots or badly misinterpreted something or what, but twas a very strange situation and what i've learned from it is you've gotta be wary. if THAT guy can get arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer, ANYONE can be arrested and charged for ANYTHING. gotta be super careful.

 

[J.]

it's simple:

 

[MetalAges]

 

[Dak]

Yeah, I have no sympathy for Michael Brown et al. OTOH, some laws are bad, and some people get in trouble and aren't even breaking the law/haven't been breaking the law.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I've never had a bad experience with the police. I've never had a real positive experience either, but even those douchelord cops have only given me warnings for doing dumb stuff. I once crossed a "police barricade" which consisted of two tiny cones into a block party and was immediately pulled over and given a warning. That police officer has since been fired, thankfully.

When my town got ravaged by a tornado back in 2013 the police helped out a friend of mine who was literally running from the tornado. he wasn't really in that much danger, but debris could have hurt him. So I guess I do have a positive experience after all.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Treat cops like a wild preditor. Stay calm, no sudden movements. Even if they touch you, stay still. Sudden movement or noise will only make the situation worse, and in some cases can be fatal. Do not assume the cop will act rationally, especially if its power is threatened.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Cops are cool with me. Never had a big problem with one.

 

[Matt]

The cops in the St Louis area, including the ones that shot Micheal Brown, are completely fucked up. The city is basically a thousand small municipalities that each have their own police force and city administration that need funding. Most of the officers are white (and untrained, unlike the STL county cops) and most of the municipalities are poor (and black). The cops prey upon their jurisdictions, including the highways that intersect them, and issues an absurd amount of tickets per year and then do a terrible job of responding to actual emergencies. Even with all of the changes to the judicial system these problems haven't been addressed. Micheal Brown was just one of many examples of police incompetence here.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Not really a fan. Once people accept that private surveillance is the way of the future and fight two-party consent laws, cops will have little more societal value than as delivery systems for the accused to court. Cops are terrible witnesses and cannot be trusted to provide honest testimony under many scenarios. Additionally, in the event someone is breaking into your home, self-defense or capitulation are really the only options, cops have no duty to protect you and even the ones that might want to will likely not arrive in time.

But yeah, Michael Brown was a piece of shit that deserved every bullet.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

I don't see how you can say that's illogical when the reasons I've stated for not particularly liking cops are perfectly logical and are more the result of my environment,personality and the actions of said cops.I realise that not all cops are the same...some folk have great encounters with them but there are definitely those who don't.Now I've never personally had much to do with them but I know good people who have and there's weren't so good,hence my disliking for them in general.

I just mean that...

there are roughly 800K police officers nation wide (in the USA...not sure where you live, but it doesn't matter)...

Having a few bad encounters with some, or knowing people who have had bad encounters, should not have you concluding that you don't like police officers in general. It presupposes that all cops are the same. More sense, I'd think, so say that you don't like the types of cops you've run into or that your friends have run into. But again, that number is so insignificantly small compared to the total number of cops. But from an emotional point of view I get where you're coming from.

 

[0Marty]

Dislike them. Lots of cops (and even more ex-cops) are involved in criminal activities, varying from thefts, through murders to organised crime, are abusing their power, are incompetent in solving crimes, and generally annoying.
Examples - they really want to catch you speeding, they have a few places, where the trafic signs placement is controversial and the hide in there and measure your speed. Of course, no one measures speed near schools etc.