# I hate the oppressive police culture in the USA **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 15, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534 "2014-09-15T04:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/161 "2014-09-19T20:43:29Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > With only seven posts so far, one of them breaking a rule, two of them thumbing their nose at the chiding for it, and the rest all seemingly troll-like in nature, it’s clear you’re here for only one reason. I’ll show you the door. Attica! Attica! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/162 "2014-09-19T21:05:15Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Attica! Attica! 😃 But sir, they are dead! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/163 "2014-09-19T21:48:54Z")
Nonsense. Just a flesh wound. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/164 "2014-09-19T21:50:14Z")
They’re feeling much better ! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/165 "2014-09-19T22:46:36Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Sometimes I wonder if there is a generational issue here, if you’re not a minority or live in an area where police were more reasonable decades ago you were a young person before the sea change in US policing from community servants to actively looking for a reason to arrest every member of the public they see. > > And now as older adults you are out of the age range usually targeted by the cops for harassment, hence you have no reason to believe cops are heavy handed. > > I could be off base but who knows, it is a theory. > \*Just to add to this all my bad experiences with cops have been in urban areas in the south, I agree rural areas are a different experience. That is likely a valid aspect of it. I am having trouble finding info about arrests, but when you look at incarcerations the % who are incarcerated is much higher than in the past. [http://www.project.org/images/graphs/Adults-in-Jail\_2.jpg](http://www.project.org/images/graphs/Adults-in-Jail_2.jpg) The legal system is a business now, not a public service. Criminalizing as many aspects of life as possible justifies hiring tons of cops, attorneys, probation officers, prison workers, etc. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/166 "2014-09-20T00:05:04Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Attica! Attica! 😃 Al Pacino! Al Pacino! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/167 "2014-09-20T02:15:14Z")
> [@XT](#): > > I think this will work out well for you… Depends on what result was intended. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/168 "2014-09-22T17:21:21Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I hate it, probably the number one thing I hate about the USA. People in the USA, random law abiding citizens make sure they never leave the house without ID in case they are stopped randomly by police even if they are not driving. > > Does anyone who has only lived in the USA realize how insane that is? How utterly insane? Do they realize most other countries citizens would laugh at such an absurd suggestion? > > The USA is SWARMING with cops, cops that love to harass random pedestrians. I’ll stop right there and simply say this: cite? Please show proof of the hordes of cops out there harassing pedestrians. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/169 "2014-09-23T03:41:19Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > The legal system is a business now, not a public service. Criminalizing as many aspects of life as possible justifies hiring tons of cops, attorneys, probation officers, prison workers, etc. Yes I think this is a big part of it, police and the legal system have gone from being a strain on taxpayer money to being a money generating business. > **[Kids for cash scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal)** > > The kids for cash scandal was a political scandal that occurred in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in 2009. Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, two judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, were exposed for receiving kickbacks in return for harsh adjudications on juveniles deliquents to increase occupancy at a private prison operated by PA Child Care. Conahan and Ciavarella sent thousands of children in Luzerne County to extended stays in private youth detention cen Co... I could spend all night posting similar “cites” about the privatization of the legal system. I had to laugh recently when I was looking at a local police blotter in the USA, and there was an arrest for and I quote “camping within city limits”, hah! Glad they got that villain off the street. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/170 "2014-09-24T07:47:28Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Drinking in public (even just having an “open container”) is verboten in a number of countries (including Australia, That’s a bit of an oversimplification. In Aus, some cities prohibit drinking in some areas. Drinking laws were brought in around the time the WTL tried to get prohibition up. These were state laws. In the 70’s, state drinking laws were mostly used, in Qld, NSW and WA, to pick up and jail blacks. The state drinking laws were repealed by Left-side governments. in Qld and WA (dunno NSW, SA, NT). (This did have the effect, even in Aus with generally good weather, of killing off a lot of alcoholics who depended on being picked up to dry out, warm up, and get fed.) In Vic, my state, there are not many ‘aboriginals’. Drinking-in-public laws were repealed because everybody else was doing it, and because of a very immature attitude towards drinking by the government. The predictable result was more drinking in public. This eventually led to the state government bringing back a drinking-in-public framework which allowed local councils to regulate drinking-in-public. This means that in Vic, some councils prohibit drinking-in-public in some areas. I assume that other states have brought in similar rules: they don’t like getting out of step with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534/171 "2014-09-24T11:56:41Z")
Many times if police are truly getting out of hand it just takes a few people to reign them end. Take for example a KC suburb I know of called Roland Park. I had some bad dealing with police there in the past but they were later cleaned up when a new mayor was elected and cleaned house by firing the chief and several officers. Same with many a small town sheriff office. And in another case I know of up[ in Dakotas where a new police chief came in and cleaned up a major meth problem. Mostly by getting a variety of jurisdictions to work together. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-the-oppressive-police-culture-in-the-usa/698534.md?page=8)