I had a Prince Georges’ county cop threaten to kill me in a holding cell because my buddy (the driver) unknowingly cut off his right of way in a parking lot.
I interact with police quite regularly as my work dictates. The vast majority of officers are without a doubt honest, loyal and incredibly good people. Yet of course there are a few who ruin it for the rest of them.
My biggest complaint with police and government in general has been a move towards secrecy in their daily operations. In the name of public safety many jurisdictions have fully encrypted their communications, making it impossible for the public to police the police.
I understand there is a persuasive argument that ‘the bad guys might be listening’, however the reality is for years most departments already had partial encryption when it was needed and could always use a cell phone if they wanted (which can’t be monitored). Deep down I can’t shake the belief that the real reason is to get the interested public off the back of the authorities.
So here in DC when it comes to light that a DC cop, who has been charged with pimping out under aged girls was first reported on by a tipster two years ago before being recently arrested. Add to that the general aura of criminal misbehavior in government in Washington I find I am disappointed that authorities do not take the idea of transparency in government (and policing) more seriously.
I would like to trust them but I’m not being offered good reasons to do so…
Most of the cops in the area are good (the really bad ones must wind up in Detroit for the most part, sadly enough, but I don’t go down there if I can help it) but there are some that get their jollies by writing tons of bullshit tickets (ticketing people for not stopping when they did stop, etc) then getting paid overtime to go to court when people try to fight it. 'Course the judge always sides with the sleeze.
Stay classy, PG County.
The former chief of police of my very small town is currently in prison for selling confiscated weapons. A good friend will no longer come visit us because she repeatedly got pulled over by the local cops here for driving while black. I’ve never received a speeding ticket here, although I’ve been pulled over many times. Coincidentally, my business discounts services to cops.
So yeah, what was the question?
Small town nearby had at least one overzealous officer, he pulled me over for a traffic infraction one mile outside of his city limits. Kicker was I had no proof of insurance or registration on this car i was driving- he coulda had a field day…but no he let me go and didn’t say anything about anything
a few months later he is involved in a bar brawl and gets fired, locals rally to his defense - but his record becomes public, not such a stand up guy after all!
My town’s police are competent and honest; an excellent combination. The town has a long term rep for being fair and clean.
Though I did need to look up what probity meant.
I trust the police department the same way I trust a wood chipper. I’m sure it does a fine job at it’s intended purpose in the right hands. They’re dangerous if you don’t watch what you are doing, I don’t personally have a use for one and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to get my hand caught in one, so I keep my distance.
Define “local cops” (do national bodies count? regional? city-level only?), define “live”. Out of half a dozen police bodies involved, there is a wide range of trust I put on:
- their desire to help people vs their desire to bully people,
- their ability to do their job,
- their superiors’ ability and willingness to not be complete jerks,
- and their brains’ temperature.
I greatly distrusted the police in the Chicago area, where I moved from. Mostly because I commuted over a busy highway and saw them pulling people over every day, for non-obvious or petty reasons. I got pulled over twice in the 5 years I lived there, for petty reasons. And I’m white, so it wasn’t a race thing, although I had non-white friends who claimed to get pulled over far more than was justified (I believe them).
I moved to Ithaca, NY this year. I like the police here a lot. I haven’t seen them pull over anyone who didn’t deserve it. Driving the wrong way on a one-way street, or blowing a red light–that’s it. Most days I don’t even see a cop car (unless I drive past the police station). I really like it because I assume they’ll be around when needed, but are not obnoxious or fund-raisey about it.
The problem with the question is in CT we all gave up individual cops and use the state police. Many are fine upstanding people, honest and good at their jobs. We also have some pretty scummy jackasses who are on a power trip. Unfortunately they shuffle the guys around occasionally so I can not depend on getting one of the good ones out here in the ass end of nowhere. I can run into one of the power tripping jackasses while on the road. So, while I trust police in general, I can not trust any specific one that may respond to a call out here. 53 year old white middle class chick.
Honigplätzchen
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup honey
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Directions:
-
In a saucepan over low heat, melt together sugar, shortening and honey. Let cool. -
Mix together eggs, vanilla, baking soda and ginger. Gradually add to cooled honey mixture. -
Slowly add 4 cups of flour to mixture. Stir until well blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) until golden (about 12-15 minutes).
It’s a tough question for me, because I trust how the local cops would treat me, but I don’t trust how they might treat teens of color. I’m not a teen, and have no color whatsoever. I don’t *know *that they’d come into a situation with prejudice against them, but I don’t *trust *that they’d be perfect in that regard. I do have complete confidence in their competence, however.
I have never even gotten a ticket.
I have seen too much corruption and abuse, from my teen years and the cops who abused teen girls sexually to the ones who take pleasure in smacking around illegal immigrants who are too afraid to defend themselves. I know several police officers from high school and they were all bullies, every single one. They picked wise and fitting career paths.
Seriously? Details. I haven’t had occasion to deal with the cops in that part of our county.
The Memphis-cops-speeding thing is absolutely true, though. I quite literally had to leap out of the way to avoid being hit by a speeding, no-lights-on cop car. What’s really vexsome there is that my glasses got knocked off, makingit quite impossible for me to get the license plate.
PSXer, may I suggest you start your own poll rather than stealth-slandering other posters in this one?
NM
Out of all my friends, there is one who vehemently urges others not to trust the cops. He’s a cop and is extremely honest but has seen things that color his feelings.
Yeah, sorry about that. Honestly, though, that was the first word that came to mind.
Skald I tell you the Bartlett cops are racist. Almost every single time I see them pulled over with someone, it’s a black or Latino person. And they’re known for pulling people over going two miles over the limit, they will catch you if your tags are a day expired (happened to my roommate earlier this year; he’d paid online but the receipt wasn’t enough to avoid the ticket, although the charge was dropped after a court hassle). They’re just jerks, but at least people are less likely to speed. Unless of course, you’re a cop. Then you do whatever the hell you want.
Hmm. I’m religious about never speeding and keeping my tags current, but mostly I just have little occasion to go to Bartlett. I’m going to send a link to this thread to my niece, who lives there, and see if she has any comments.
Since all radio transmissions are recorded and discoverable, secrecy is hardly the issue. On every case that comes up both sides get copies of all the radio transmissions and phone calls at the time of the incident. Everyone knows they are being recorded. The fear that the wrong people could be listening for tactical reasons is a real one. Especially now that you don’t need a scanner, only a cellphone app.
I think you should be more worried about the void left by the impending demise of the newspaper industry. Back when we had a local weekly a reporter would come in and check every police report. Now the only papers left cover most of the state. They basically only cover the crimes that we put out press releases for. And not always then. With the internet it’s a lot easier to bitch about local issues but local reporting is getting much worse.
I’m on a department that should have about 100 officers but is currently less than that. There is not one that I feel is dishonest or that I wouldn’t trust. The majority are competent. There are a few who’s judgement in a tense situations makes me nervous. A couple are kind of stupid. The biggest problem is probably laziness. You can get by just doing the minimum. Which is good news for most of you, fewer tickets. Since I’ve been on we have had a few who were fired. It’s always been for personal problems that spilled over, not for conduct with the public.
Keep in mind, I’m in an area in which police salaries are pretty good. Competition for jobs is stiff. Departments can be picky. Most require college. We currently have a pharmacist (Pharm.D.) and a clinical psychologist (PhD) who wanted to change careers. An executive with a MBA just retired. Quite a few masters degrees around here. The demographics of the department are much different than it was with the guys retiring when I got on.