Were cops born to be assholes, or were assholes born to be cops?
Having been a cop, I’d like to know exactly the basis for your accusations.
Let me take a few guesses:
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You continually break traffic laws and it pisses you off that the police pull you over for them. Hey, if you don’t like the laws, consult with your state legislature to change them. Cops don’t make the law.
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You’re a minority person who happens to occasionally break the law. Of course, when you do break the law, the only reason the cops come after you is because you’re [black/hispanic/gay/etc.] :rolleyes:
*When a cop was chasing you for commiting a crime, or was just talking to you about something and you put your hands in your pocket. When the officer gave you a lawful order to take them out, you refused, and he shot you! GOOD!
Sorry, but I was trained that if a suspect or potential suspect refuses to take his hand out of his pockets I was to assume he had a deadly weapon. Main goal of every street cop in America: To go home at the end of their shift. If a shithead has to die to achieve that goal, tough!
*Or, maybe, a policeman was being an asshole towards you for no reason and you’re upset. Perhaps if you explained more in your OP we’d know.
Search the SDMB and you’ll find I am very critical of many of the laws in our nation and of the folk who enforce them. Having been a lawman myself, I feel I have some expertise in the subject, and some objectivity in my criticism.
But you, just making a one sentence blanket statement without qualifing it, are really making an asshole of yourself.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that cops are paid to deal with assholes all day, every day. Think about it: you go into law enforcement for whatever reason. Let’s say you actually want to help your community, make a difference. Or maybe you want a badge, nightstick, gun and the authority to tell people what to do.
You deal with drunks, drug addicts, domestic violence, theives, idiot drivers and occaisonally some purely evil shit. Most of the people you deal with are stupid. Your job is to call them on their stupidity and make sure their stupidity/selfishness/evil doesn’t harm other people. So after a few years of having to deal with stupid assholes, you might find yourself relating to them in their terms. Add to that the fact that you could get shot by one of these assholes. It does happen, you know. I think asshole cops are that way from dealing with assholes.
You are free to badmouth the police, but imagine a society without any law enforcement, fend for yourself and the strongest/meanest last the longest. People being people, I don’t think anarchy would be a fun way to live.
I like that idea! Can we start now?
You’re a cop, aren’t you?
Nope, but I reckon he’s an expert on assholes.
That’s not even clever enough for a clever reply.
So this is all you get.
I took the liberty of numbering your statements so that we can make this nice and easy.
- Nope.
- No on all accounts.
- Far from it.
- Well, now you’re getting warm.
- I am honestly sorry if that offended you. I wrote it in a moment of “rage”.
It was a blanket statement.
So I’ll branch out here a little bit.
I’d be lying if I said that I’ve never broken the law; any of us would be. And maybe this is too broad of a statement to make, and feel free to argue with me on this. But be honest with yourself. Cops, in general, seem to look down on society as a whole. Now, if I were an officer of the law, and had to see the shit they have to see on a daily basis, I would not be able to handle it. Because I’m not cut out to be a cop. I think that very few people are. But I have had the good fortune to meet several officers who actually gave a shit about the people they arrest/suspect/help. They don’t treat everyone with the same regard. They realize that just because one jack off does something insane, that another guy that looks/acts/sounds just like him will not do the same things.
But, by and large, and, again, tear me a new one if you really think I’m wrong, cops tend to have severe attitude problems.
So, everyone else in here was pretty much wrong on all accounts. I’m not a thug. I happen to be a very successful middle-twenties white male with no chip on my shoulder. But in the eyes of the law, I guess we’re all equal clods of dirt.
I like cops, and I’m glad there are people willing to do that job. I know there are some bad ones, I’ve met a few, but the two times in my life I’ve had to call them for help, they’ve been there for me, and they’ve been courteous, helpful, cheerful, and quick. I’m a Block Captain for the Neighbourhood Watch program, and I’ve dealt with cops a lot, and I’m sure 99% of them are ordinary folks trying their best to do one of the toughest, nastiest jobs on the planet; long periods of boredom interspersed with sudden life-threatening situations. Sure, some authoritarian assholes make it through the screening and training processes, but not many.
On the other hand, I live in a small Canadian city with relatively peaceful streets; maybe the cops here are different.
How convenient for you… 
I’ve been pulled over a few times in Texas and had need to call 911 as well. In the case of my speeding or expired registration the officers have been professional, in the case of calling 911 for an intruder the officers were professional and fun to talk to, and in the case of a heart attack in the family the officers were pretty good about hanging around.
Maybe it was the chip on your shoulder that got you treated that way. Or maybe you just met an asshole cop.
Marc
My take on it is this: Cops you call - good. Cops on patrol (recursive acronym!) - bad.
I’d be much happier if all law enforcement was by request. That would effectively eliminate all victimless crimes too, which is quite a handy side-benefit
I have got to stop posting in these types of threads. I’ll soon get one of those “one trick pony” reputations.
I am a minority. I live in a large urban city. I am a law abiding citizen (once, when I was 17, a cop gave me a ticket for smoking on the train. This is my entire criminal record.)
Last year I was coming out of my office building and a policeman held the door for me. I was stunned and it must have shown when I thanked him because he said “Yeah, I know. Your welcome.”
Why was I stunned? Because it took 34 years before a policeman showed me any type of common curtesy. Here are some of the interactions I have had with the police throughout me life:
When I was 8, my aunt and I got seperated from the rest our family while at an outing at the NY Botanical Gardens. My aunt is 5 years older than I am. I was scared and crying. We spot two policemen in a squad car. We’re saved! My aunt walks to the car and says,“We’re lost. Can you tell us how to get to Prospect Avenue?” 1st policeman: “Take a bus.” 2nd policeman: “Ha ha!” They speed off.
When I was 13 one summer there was a fire in an apartment building. The super of this apartment building gave some of the neigborhood kids permission (and the key) to hang out in
the least damaged apartment so long as we kept it down and did not use the apartment after dark.
There was about 12 of us in the apartment one day ranging in ages from 11 to 16. In all honesty, we weren’t keeping it down. There was music and the older kids had beer. We hear loud banging on the door. Someone (another 13 year old girl named Tiny) goes to answer the door. It flies open. In fly in 4 police officers who, without further ado, proceed to kick the living shit out of any male they happen to see. They stop long enough to order the girls out, unless they want to get the same.
This is exactly how it happened. Door kicked open. Nightsticks and fists start flying. No one was arrested, but the cops left feeling like they did a good job.
My brother-in-law carpools to work with 3 other black men. He drove a 77 Chevy Impala --definitely not a drug-kingpinmobile (it was a sad day when we finally had to put her to rest). He was pulled over twice a week. It made him very angry. After 3 weeks of this he asked the officer pulling him over why he did this. “You look like somebody.” was the answer he got. "What the fuck do you mean “I look like somebody?” “Step out of the car!”
My brother-in-law was very ready to step out of the car. Luckily for him, his co-workers realized he was about to get, at the least arrested or, at the most, seriously killed. They detained him in the car long enough to convince him that the rest of his answers should not include the word “fuck” and should contain the words: yes, officer; no, officer; whatever you say, officer.
Overheard conversation between two police officers last year during the Subway Series Celebration in Bryant Park in Manhattan. “I’m glad they keep the monkeys down here. Thank God for the LIRR.”
These are just a few incidences of the asshole cop attitude here in New York. But, as I was informed in another thread here in GD, we blacks deserve this treatment. The police are just doing there jobs and we blacks should just all be less criminal minded. You know, like pkbites points number 2.
That is not what I said. What I was saying is that everytime I pinched a minority person they insisted the only reason they were arrested was because they were not white. That is a totally bullshit belief. The jails are alos full of white people who broke the law. I was a cop in a small town, so the majority of my duties was traffic stops. Everytime I pulled over someone who was black, I got screamed and yelled at that the only reason I stopped them is because they were black. Jesus Christ!:mad: As if the fact they were going 50 in a school zone had nothing to do with it. I quit the job to take a position with a consulting firm for 3X the salary, but I’ve been known to take a part-time police job every now & then, or perform lake patrol for the county, and I was a special deputy for a while too, and most of my friends are in law enforcement in one way or another, so I know what’s going on in the game. And I’ll tell you, I’m damn sick of the victim status minorities insist on having. A hell of alot of minorities are criminals as well as a lot of whites are, and that’s what they’re getting busted by the cops for, not because they’re minorities.
[Moderator Hat ON]
I think this is better suited to the Pit. Off you go.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
What happened was someone stated police act like assholes. Then you, pk, implied that he was a criminal, probably a minority, and that his beef was so much bullshit.
I don’t hate cops. They do indeed put their life on the line to protect me and mine. This does not justify the behavior me and mine have to put up with.
Now pk, did only the black people complain when you pulled them over? I suspect not. Did you keep track of the complaints of the whites you pulled over? Did they feel that you were picking on them for some reason? Black people stopped for traffic violations feel picked on too.
I get upset when minorities cry racism every time something bad happens to them because when real racism is involved, people tend to roll their eyes (as you seem to be doing). If you stopped my brother-in-law and he told you the only reason you stopped him was because he was black, would you mumble “victim status minority” under your breath?
I don’t know about anywhere else but it would certainly help matters here in New York, if the police would own up to this attitude and perhaps try to correct it. Instead the police have a special 48 hour law just for them where they don’t have to make any statements to other police, or the DA’s office or anyone. This gives the mayor just enough time to illegally release sealed juvenile court records and for the accused officer and his cronies to get their stories straight.
This is not what happens during those 48 hours, you say? I’m viewing police through my own prejudiced-colored glasses, you think? You may be right. I try very hard not to as I’m a firm believer in judging all individually. But damn if the NYPD doesn’t do a good job of looking biased.
I’m from Texas, where they invented the throwdown gun. I am also a white middle class professional male. I have had friends and relatives who were police persons. I have had my share of traffic violations. I have always been polite and deferential to the officers involved. I know how difficult it is for them. I always say what I am going to do before I do it. (Ex. “My insurance card is in the pocket of my car door. I’m going to reach for it now.”) Some have been very courtious. Some have been assholes. Some have truly lived to the motto “To SERVE and protect.” (I’ll always be grateful to the sherrif who stopped in a driving rain to help me change a tire.) Here is what I have observed.
Are there good policemen. Hell yes.
Are there asshole policemen. Hell yes.
Are there racist policemen. Hell yes.
Is the ratio of good to asshole to racist policemen the same as in the rest of the population. Hell no.
The asshole quotient is higher. There are several reasons for this. Some get worn down by the fact that they see humanity at it’s worse. They rarely get to be part of the good things in society. By the nature of their jobs, they deal with the worse 2% of society. Over time this can cause them to have a negetive view towards all people.
Another reason, is that the “bully” type mentality is attracted to the job. Being able to wear a gun and be able to “bust” heads legally is a plus to this type of person. To them all people are scum of the earth, getting to deal with the true scum is a plus. The departments try to weed these out, but they can never get them all.
And of course there is the percentage of people that just started out as assholes and happened to become cops.
As for racism, I believe that the percentage of racist cops isn’t any higher than in the rest of the population, but just one can make a negetive impact on many different lives. A few can hassle so many people that they start to “flinch” even when the good guys go by. When I was growing up, one small city nearby had a police chief that was Grand Dragon of the local KKK. It was well known and it behooved any one that was a minority, or had long hair, or a beard, to drive around that city if you didn’t want to be pulled over and searched for contraband. This city only had four or five policemen, but they gave the whole area a very bad name. (The best cop I ever knew happened to be working in the town next to it. Go figure.)
It doesn’t take many bad apples to make the whole barrel suspect.
Biggirl, I think you’ve completely misread pk’s response.
He listed several possible reasons why the OP might feel like all cops are assholes. One of those was that the OP was one of the people who considers everything to be racists. Another was that he had a legitimate beef and was overgeneralizing because he was upset. He didn’t make any one guess about the OP; the entire point was that, without a description of the event that precipitated this thread, it was impossible to know why msc75 was upset.
–John
Yue Han, you may be right in that I might be a little touchy. I just happened to agree that cops act like assholes a lot of the time and you don’t have to be a criminal to notice this.
You don’t have to be black either, as evidenced by msc75.
Cops seem more than happy (supercharged, even) to pull someone over when there’s a chance that might get an arrest or a ticket.
However, in the last year, I or someone I know have had at least half a dozen incidents involving broken down vehicles where someone stopping would have made our lives much easier. It’s bad enough when you can’t get a private citizen to stop and help you in broad daylight on a major road. But when you see cop after cop drive by (one even looked right at me as I had my hood open with smoke pouring out of it; looked right at me, and kept on driving), you tend to get a little pissed off.
I think they’re doing the “protect” part somewhat okay, but they’ve got a LONG way to go when I will be convinced that they are serving me.