Without giving you my life story, just started a new job, where I deal with the police a fair amount. I’ve already noticed a wide variety of opinion regarding the effectiveness of the police and the personalities within, so thought I’d ask the Dope for their overall opinion and experience regarding the police, I’m imagining a range of answers depending on age and area.
For my own part, I think they do a good job, never had any problems with them. What’s your experience?
I hate them. With a passion. I realize my response to police is emotional and irrational because I am biased because of the kinds of cops I’ve come across. So it is something I am not comfortable feeling about police, but I feel it, still.
I didn’t vote in the poll, because although I feel like “Fuck the Police” I don’t know that the feeling can’t be changed.
This is why I almost never post in, “look at what the pigs did to a citizen this time” threads. Because I know I can’t be impartial.
For everyone else who had to look up ACAB, it seems to stand for “all cops are bastards.”
In my experience, which includes some time doing criminal defense, the overwhelming majority of police officers are hard working, dedicated professionals doing a dangerous and often thankless job.
I have had very little interplay with the police in my life. The ones that have given me tickets I did not deserve were at least polite. I ,of course ,was singled out and unfairly ticketed.
When i was young ,I was threatened by a cop because I would not give him my license and insurance information. I was not driving. I thought he had no right to ask me for it. After a while, his partner said I should give it to him because he would likely start smacking me with his flashlight ,if I refused. In the interest of saving my skull i gave it to him.
I have been on softball teams with police and firemen. We were friends and team mates. We also had a good team. They were just people.
I’ve never personally had a problem with cops, but I know people in other states that have seen a lot of corrupt bullies in blue. Around here they seem to be good folks in general. There are always exceptions, of course.
I wanted to be a cop when I was a teenager, so I tend to put myself in their place. I know there are bad people and good people, and all kinds become cops. So…I judge the person, not the uniform. And I give the uniform a little leeway. Not a shitload…being a jerk is not part of the training…but I try to account for fear and edginess on their behalf. I mean, I’m 5’4 and apparantly look like trouble, 'cause I used to be regularly asked for ID for no reason. It wasn’t until MUCH later that I learned that one actually is not required to show ID without cause, but I’d still give it up just to speed things up and get them moving on their way.
Unless I was feeling ornery. 
Hey, I’m no angel, either.
There are dicks, and saints in almost every profession.
Ive never had a bad experience with a cop, though, despite the fact I on more than one occasion deserved one.
Been on both sides of the law, and voted the other option. I don’t judge cops as a whole, though from my experience they tend to fall in one of three categories.
Those who do it for the power. These are the assholes and bad guys for the most part, and I minimize my time around them when I can.
Those who do it because they believe cops should be a force of good in the community. I like these guys, and have much respect for them. I’ll go out of my way to help them, and if I’m going to be arrested, I’d prefer they do it. At least then I can be pretty sure they’re not going to abuse me in some way, shape, or form.
The ones who see it as just a job. Haven’t had much experience with these guys. The cops in my area fall in cat. 1 or 2.
I’ve found if you treat them with respect, you’ll get farther than treating them like assholes, but then that holds true for everyone else as well.
they’re doing a job that’s necessary, and is one that I wouldn’t want to do. from a few people I’ve talked to, if you’re a patrol officer, it’s a crappy job with weird hours, shit pay, and little room for advancement. when city budgets get tight, you get pressured to be revenue collectors (read: write speeding tickets.) when budgets get really tight, your job is first on the chopping block when people vote down millage proposals.
I also don’t feel they do near enough to weed out the bad apples. unfortunately, I think the “us vs. them” situation is unavoidable and helps lead to them protecting each other, right or wrong.
I still like some songs on Ghost In The Machine.
Not really a fan. Cops make me nervous and I don’t like being around them. I have this fear of being harassed or wrongly accused of something and then never being able to get rid of it. It doesn’t help that I’m near two of possibly the most incompetent police forces in the US: Washington, DC and Prince George’s County, MD. I live just across the line from both in Montgomery County and have never had a problem with those cops, but keep me the hell away from the DC and PG County police. PG County in particular has a reputation for beating people.
Edit: I have no real reason to fear being harassed or profiled, since I’m a young white female, but I’m paranoid and I read too many news stories.
I agree with this. I also think cops have a tendency to have the wrong kind of person want to be a cop in the first place. I think most of them are people trying to do a good job with some difficult situations.
I also think our Calgary city cops suffer from comparisons with the Mounties.
they frighten me, I flee from them.
They are the biggest gang in town. And they have legal protection.
I won’t hurt them, but I CANNOT trust them.
edit: and I will NOT “eff” them, I do not want them to reproduce!
For many of them ‘demons in training’ they really are being schooled to live on human misery and cause further hurt, while being above the law in many aspects.
One that I had a lot of respect for confided to me that he didn’t give out speeding tickets because he ‘felt like a f-cken hypocrite’.
In some ways, by having to enforce immoral laws against morally innocent people they are really just pawns, but that didn’t work as a defense at the Norenburg trials, and ultimately the defense ‘I was just following orders’ will not stand.
Not a fan. I don’t have a lot of interactions with the police, but the ones I have had have shown me that a lot of them have attitudes. They want (demand) to be treated with respect, while treating you, the citizen, with barely contained disdain. I guess if you deal with crackheads and scofflaws all day, that’s how you get, but I still don’t appreciate it.
Never had any bad experiences with the police, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. Cops are individuals, and individuals are different. Some individuals are good people, some individuals are assholes.
Strange, I never see many of those. Maybe they hang out on the other side of town. I just encounter the assholes that use their power to make life difficult for whomever they dislike.
As Alfred Hitchcock said, “I am not against the police, I am afraid of the police.”
I do not like or trust them.
Police have changed a lot since I was a kid (I’m 50). I think that is due to a lot of different factors, some of which are out of their control.
I agree with Mr. Accident about the different kinds, although I’d add another category which you’d find in Jackson, which are the burnt-out zombie cops. I have a lot of sympathy for those - it’s gotta be hard to do the job in a place where the pay sucks, the citizens all hate you, and there are only about half as many cops as are needed.
Nowadays I know some cops personally and most of those I respect and admire. I am wary of unfamiliar cops. I’ve had a mixed bag of experiences with them in the last 30 years or so.