Being from the UK I have had no experience with american police other than what I see on TV and in films. I realise that they are not all ‘loose cannons’ as often portraited in films but on TV they are often seen to be acting in a very harsh manor towards people who they have not proved to have done anything. In the case of the program I saw last night the police pulled over a suspected gang member and I can understand there caution with such a suspect who may be carrying a gun etc. My question is …through your experiences with them do you think that they could show a little more respect to the public rather than take an authoritarian attitude? Or do you think that is required in order to keep the peace and do there job?
Gesh, as I’m sure you realize nothing on TV is real (unless British TV is radically different than its American counterpart). TV cops are portrayed as being much more aggressive (what we in America call “tude”) than real life cops because it’s more dramatic.
Here in NY, the police have had alot of image problems. I think it stems from the “us against them” attitude of the police.
I don’t know how much play our police problems have been getting across the pond, but there have been some very serious breaches in the public trust. The authoritarian attitude may be helpful in situations where it is imperative for the police to gain control of a situation. It is not needed when dealing with the ordinary citizen.
Cops’s attitudes toward the public vary. Cops whose job, through location or assignment, puts them in constant contact with crooks, troublemakers, people with no respect for the law or cops, will eventually show less respect for the general public. They just mirror the attitude of the people they deal with.
On those “real life” cop shows, they do push their authority to the limits to make it more exciting for the film crew.
I’m talking about TV shows that follow cops around, not purely fictional ones. Now I realise that they to are edited and staged as they are in effect ‘shows’, but if a police officer is pulling over a suspect then he still has to do his job and that is what you see for the main part. In these instances I have only ever seen a cop be rude to the suspect . Hey I think I have just got a problem with abuses of power so I’ll shut up now!!
In order to understand a police officer’s “attitude” you have to understand something about real police work and the reality of police work. Neither is trivial to understand. So to start I suggest reading the following two books “What Cops Know” and “Cops”.
Okay … barring actually going and reading those books.
Here are some things to keep in mind. Note, I am speaking with a broad brush here, obviously what I say doesn’t apply to every cop.
Police officer’s see the worst of humanity. They see the lowest levels of depravity that one human can do to another. This causes the police officer to form an emotional shell out of necessity. This also causes police officers to view criminals with a fair amount of disdain even “minor criminals”. They get sick and tired of seeing speeders and reckless drivers, for example. Why? Because they are the ones that show up at a mva and have an 8 yr old kid die in their arms.
One of the first things a police officer learns is that everybody is out to hurt you. Reporters love to twist stories to make cops look bad (makes their editors happy or something). Civilians who feel wronged by cops file complaints, which even if baseless hurt a cop’s career. And of course the obvious is that criminals want to hurt and kill the uniform (i.e. you). So, cops don’t exactly like to get close to people, especially if they are dealing with you on a professional matter. See a copy in the store? Chances are he’ll smile and say hi. Cop stops you for littering chances are he will be more abrupt.
Also, police officers need to keep their emotions in check for legal reasons. First of all, losing their cool can find them suspended, fired or even jailed. This becomes an acquired habit. The second reason, is that if a cop gets emotional he can help a suspect go free. Imagine, a cop is interviewing a rape victim. He gets fired up and tells her “Oh, well, get that bastard don’t worry.” A good defense attorney will argue that the cop lost his objectivity and didn’t stop to consider any other possibilities. So when the cop interviews the rape victim he’ll seem cold, distant, and has to ask terrible questions like “Have you had sex with him before?”, “Were you going out?”, etc. People here this and thinks “Asshole cops”, but the reality is that it is this cold objectivity that prevents a case from being thrown out.
Go read those two books. It covers more than I could hope to cover on this message board.
I recommend the above book. It is the non-fiction account of a reporter following a Baltimore homicide detective squad around, the very same on which the fictional TV show Homicide: Life on the Streets was based. It’s great if you’re a fan of the show since a lot of the situations - fictionalized for the show - are taken verbatim from stuff that this reporter saw and heard. Wish I could remember who wrote it.
I think it also depends on circumstance. If you’re stopped in an area that has known gang or drug activity, the cop is going to treat you differently than if you’re stopped in a relatively peaceful area of town. The reality shows like Cops only air the exciting footage, that tends to be shot in the high-crime areas of a city. A segment of the officer pulling over somebody’s mother or grandmother in the suburbs to tell her she has a burnt out tail light doesn’t make for good TV
Last weekend I met a friend of my fiance, who works undercover on a vice & narcotics squad. He said he tends to assume the worst about the people he’s after, because most of the time the worst is true.
My only contact with police officers has been after speeding, and generally they were defensive until I proved to be of a non-violent and agreeable sort. I imagine it’s pretty scary to approach a person who you can’t even see properly, not knowing how they will react or what kind of stunts they might try to pull.
I can see that you are all right it just gets to me when I have done nothing wrong and they pull me over and give the impression I am scum, but looking at it objectively I suppose that they are doing a tough job and all and I should allow for a little abruptness from them until they can figure who I am.
One of the ways that American TV shows are unrealistic about cops is that they give you the impression that it’s common to be in situations where you shoot your gun. In fact, on average a American cop has only a 50% chance of shooting his gun even once (I mean, other than on a practice range) during his entire career.
Here, we have the LAPD Rampart scandal.
At last count, there were over 65 vacated convictions due cops lying on the stand or planting evidence. This in addition to the beating and shooting of unarmed people, extortion and drug abuse by Los Angeles police.
Some stereotypes fit.
Thats how stereotypes come about isn’t it?
Does anyone know how the hell those cops got away with beating Rodney King? Thats the kind of thing that makes me question how real Cop shows from america are, and I’m not saying that it is just american cops that are bad or that they are bad at all in general I just wondered what the american publics perception was and how they view such incidents as the Rodney King thing.
My brother-in-law is a police officer. As a matter of fact my 30 year old sister has been married to two cops, this is her second. Her first husband was a college graduate, his degree was in industrial psychology. He wanted to be a detective, but the FBI wanted people with degrees in bookkeeping and computer programming. His father had been a “special forces” officer, we call them “rent a cops” or part time police officers. He joined the force because he wanted a career in law enforcement, he wants to be a detective. He will have to do his time as a regular cop, perhaps ten years or so before he’ll be able to move up. This man was what I thought an ideal police officer should be, dedicated, goal-oriented, and non-bigoted.
My current brother-in-law has been a police officer for awhile. He is not as well educated but intellegent. He’s kind of a man’s man, likes to box, sky dive, and play sports. I don’t believe he is as interested in the same kind of career. He could actually quit at any time and make much more money. His father and brothers own a crane business that does very well. I believe he does this kind of work because it is never dull. He is always on the go. He is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and excellent marksman. He often teaches classes in self-defense at the academy. I honestly believe he likes teaching the classes better than the police work.
Both of these men are fair minded individuals. They are not assholes at home or on the job. They work in a very large county that bumps up against Richmond, Virginia. There is a very diverse population in Chesterfield. Both men have worked “the pike”, an old section of Rt.1 that has many transients, low income housing projects, and drug neighborhoods. Both men have become a little jaded about their work. Like what has been said before; if you are constantly in touch with people who have nothing but disdain for the law then it would be extremely hard to stay fresh. I can just imagine what the job must be like for LA cops or NY cops or even Richmond police that work in high crime areas. I can’t imagine what it must be like for their families wondering nightly whether or not they will be injured or killed.
It can’t be nice that’s for sure, and whilst I appreciate the difficult nature of the job it is a choice to do it and surely they are aware of the possible dangers etc. My gripe was more along the lines of the fact that they are providing a service, and as a ‘customer’ I expect a certain service from them. Based on that expectation I think that cops everywhere not just in america or the UK should understand this fact and try to treat everyone accordingly. Hey if you break the law then expect to pay the price. Am I asking to much seeing as though they are after all human too?
But who is their “customer”? Not you at the time they busting you for speeding. The people they are serving are the people who aren’t speeding but hopefully deterring you from speeding and causing an accident.
If a police officer catches you doing wrong, they don’t owe you polite service. They shouldn’t be mean about it either. Police are taught, and should be, to be professionally neutral & objective (talk to your local police about whether this is taught at their police academy). Some people misunderstand this as being rude, because humans, being social creatures by nature, aren’t used to this kind of detached treatment.
Does this apply to all cops? Of course not. Some are real jerks. Some are real friendly. Most are doing their job as they have been taught to do it, or as they have become conditioned to doing it.
