# I pit the cops who openly applauded police abuse today **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 28, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340 "2017-07-28T19:00:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/181 "2017-07-31T21:16:12Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > No, **you just say they shouldn’t be supported, shouldn’t be respected, and their job should be made as difficult as possible,** and you don’t give a fuck about the consequences of that, because you are protected by them and fail to see it. I did not say any of those things. YOU are putting words in my mouth. But I would expect nothing less from someone like you, completely without honor or integrity. So you can apologize to me now for your lies and false attributions. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/182 "2017-07-31T21:42:14Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Or anyone he thinks might be a bad apple, despite the investigations into the issue showing that they are actually fine, because obviously all coppers are bastards. Pardon me, but you appear to have **Chimera** confused with **crucible**. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/183 "2017-07-31T22:12:52Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I did not say any of those things. YOU are putting words in my mouth. But I would expect nothing less from someone like you, completely without honor or integrity. > > So you can apologize to me now for your lies and false attributions. I’m not going to apologise for being able to read for comprehension. As for being without honour or integrity, I neither know nor care why you think that of me, but it’s not what the people who’s opinion matters think. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/184 "2017-07-31T22:15:49Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > I’m not going to apologise for being able to read for comprehension. As you wish. “Reading for comprehension” does not include falsely attributing positions to other people. I will put your dishonorable ass on ignore. And I curse you, you lying creature of ill-character. May your friends, your family and the public See precisely how dishonorable you are. May the truth of who and what you are, out. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/185 "2017-07-31T22:18:18Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I will put your dishonorable ass on ignore. woe is me > [@](#): > > And I curse you, you lying creature of ill-character. > May your friends, your family and the public > See precisely how dishonorable you are. > May the truth of who and what you are, out. May they indeed. I hope that, in the unfortunate event you or your loved ones are the victims of crime, the police behave exactly as you would wish. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/186 "2017-07-31T22:19:30Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > The president encourages police brutality, the police officers there laugh and cheer, and large numbers of the public leap to defend the president and police. There’s an effect. Well, the loofah faced son of a bitch idolizes Putin and Duterte. And he NOT the only one. He validates this behavior for them ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/187 "2017-07-31T22:23:30Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The idea that there’s something wrong with supporting the police _in general_ is fucking insane. It’s the existence of laws, and those that enforce them, that allow all of us to live comfortable lives. > > Without them, we’d at best be living at the whim of a local strongman, and at worst in a situation of pure anarchy, surviving exactly as long as we could defend ourselves. > > That’s not to say there aren’t problems with the police and the justice system as a whole, but to say you don’t support them is, well, fucking insane. They are, for the most part not your enemies - they are, again for the most part, the ones risking their lives to protect you from those who would harm you. > > However, no matter how much it’s insane to not support them, it’s the existence of a well managed justice system that lets you criticise them (fairly or otherwise) with impunity. Go back in time to an effectively ungoverned state (or even go to one of the effectively ungoverned places that exist now) and see how well you do complaining about the local warlord’s enforcers. It’s so different - even for minorities - now that it would be unrecognisable. > > Try hard, you may find it’s actually possible to criticise them when they’re wrong, and support them when they’re not. It would require an amount of nuanced critical thinking, but as one of the smartest, hippest people on the internet I’m sure you can manage that. So that means it’s not OK to “go after” and prosecute the bad ones, because that would be a lack of support? Or is that subservience? ??? Gotcha. People are mad at the police because they will not clean their own house, because they do cover up and protect “their guys” no matter what… even up to and including frame-ups and murder. Why support THAT? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/188 "2017-07-31T22:25:32Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Why support THAT? Because the alternative is infinitely worse. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/189 "2017-07-31T22:30:48Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Because the alternative is infinitely worse. No. NO. And the alternative is not the chaos you think. When you can’t trust the police to protect you, when they are caught on videos and their own cameras breaking the law, abusing their power and abusing people, and their Department stands behind them, I think the alternative is better — \*\*full independent investigation, FBI intervention, and prison sentences all around, for both the perps and those who conspire to protect them - including chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors etc etc etc. \*\* That’s the alternative, intervention by an outside authority or agency that has the power to MAKE them comply. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/190 "2017-07-31T22:34:14Z")
I think Steophan has made it clear. He’s a dirty cop who will go to any length to protect himself and other dirty cops. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/191 "2017-07-31T22:47:33Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Yeah, we seem to see this sort of thing a lot from police officers and their authoritarian backers. > > You don’t bother to identify who is being ‘overly critical’ or what they’re saying is wrong, you just spam the complaint without merit and then watch who reacts so that you can attack them. > > We’ve had a lot of that crap in the past from the local police union leaders. Complain that politicians who have legal authority over their departments are ‘too critical’, ‘hurting moral’ and ‘interfering with the police doing their jobs’ (:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:). Accuse anyone and everyone who criticises their departments as being pro-criminal, or being criminals themselves. Spew hyperbole about how we all want criminals to overrun our cities. :rolleyes: Claim that the police will quit en masse because of more restrictive policies - while at the same time acting like they have a god given mandate to BE police officers and that anyone suggesting that they actually DO quit is out of line, a criminal, etc, etc. So what then did our resident dirty cop do? Exactly what I said here, and more. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/192 "2017-07-31T22:50:32Z")
Good news all! [Trump was… joking!](http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/politics/white-house-police-tough-suspects/index.html) Ya, that’s the ticket! It was all just a funny joke! That’s it! You know, isn’t it funny when you suggest that police rough up suspects and bang their heads into doors! I mean, that’s a laugh riot! You people just have no sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/193 "2017-07-31T22:52:54Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I think Steophan has made it clear. He’s a dirty cop who will go to any length to protect himself and other dirty cops. So far I am aware of two Sheriffs very recently facing the judge and jury for aiding abetting and **conspiring to cover up** - one in Arizona and one in California - Joe Arpaio and Lee Baca. There’s no reason that can’t include dirty commissioners, prosecutors, beat cops, etc. That’s the “dread alternative”, arrest and conviction, conviction for those who abuse their authority. That “thing” about chaos, blood in the streets, and zombies (whatever) is nonsense. You can come down and come down hard on bad cops, right up to the top and still preserve order. To NOT do it is a crime. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/194 "2017-07-31T22:54:50Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > No. NO. And the alternative is not the chaos you think. > When you can’t trust the police to protect you, when they are caught on videos and their own cameras breaking the law, abusing their power and abusing people, and their Department stands behind them, I think the alternative is better — \*\*full independent investigation, FBI intervention, and prison sentences all around, for both the perps and those who conspire to protect them - including chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors etc etc etc. \*\* > > That’s the alternative, intervention by an outside authority or agency that has the power to MAKE them comply. Ah, you’re a conspiracy theorist. It all becomes clear now. Those who uphold the law are undermining it. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Look out of your fucking window, you are not living in a dystopia, you are living in a mostly functional, well ordered country (despite the best efforts of those who elected Trump and other idiots). That you lack the imagination to see how much worse it would be without that order is, ironically enough, testament to how good you, and your country, have it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/195 "2017-07-31T22:55:55Z")
A cop supporter is someone who unquestionably supports cops. That would inherently mean they’d support bad cops, too. Of course that’s stupid. The alternative is not being a cop-hater. The alternative is to actually use your critical thinking on a case by case basis. **Steophan** , you are a cop supporter. Even in the most egregious cases, you make up asinine excuses for cops. You ignore direct video evidence that a cop is crooked. You pretend that a trial or grand jury in some way proves that the cop didn’t do what we can see him on video doing. You come in and say you don’t support cops roughing up criminals on taking them in, but you do support letting them get away with shooting and killing people who were not any threat to them. You see a populace that is scared of cops, and your solution is to attack them for not supporting them, rather than to have the cops fix their shit. Rather than fighting for reform to make sure we churn out these bad cops before they become a problem, you want to continue the current system where we can see a cop murder someone on video, and still not get convicted. You pretend that “other evidence” is better than actually seeing the action right in front of you. You pretend that a cop deliberately covering up his own crime is still okay. I can only think that you didn’t support Trump here because Trump is not a cop. Because you seem to be incapable of admitting that cops can be bad people, and thus are entitled to no more trust than absolutely anyone else. You want to continue the current system where cops are seen as potential enemies. That’s the alternative. Getting rid of bad cops, instead of making excuses for them. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/196 "2017-07-31T22:57:49Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > That “thing” about chaos, blood in the streets, and zombies (whatever) is nonsense. You can come down and come down hard on bad cops, right up to the top and still preserve order. And as you cite, it’s happening. > [@](#): > > To NOT do it is a crime. Oh? What law is broken by not doing it? Or are you using “crime” to mean “something you don’t like”, as so many other idiots (such as Trump, Arpaio, and innumerable confused anti-governmental leftists) do? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/197 "2017-07-31T22:58:52Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > A cop supporter is someone who unquestionably supports cops. That would inherently mean they’d support bad cops, too. Of course that’s stupid. > > The alternative is not being a cop-hater. The alternative is to actually use your critical thinking on a case by case basis. > > **Steophan** , you are a cop supporter. Even in the most egregious cases, you make up asinine excuses for cops. You ignore direct video evidence that a cop is crooked. You pretend that a trial or grand jury in some way proves that the cop didn’t do what we can see him on video doing. > > You come in and say you don’t support cops roughing up criminals on taking them in, but you do support letting them get away with shooting and killing people who were not any threat to them. You see a populace that is scared of cops, and your solution is to attack them for not supporting them, rather than to have the cops fix their shit. > > Rather than fighting for reform to make sure we churn out these bad cops before they become a problem, you want to continue the current system where we can see a cop murder someone on video, and still not get convicted. You pretend that “other evidence” is better than actually seeing the action right in front of you. You pretend that a cop deliberately covering up his own crime is still okay. > > I can only think that you didn’t support Trump here because Trump is not a cop. Because you seem to be incapable of admitting that cops can be bad people, and thus are entitled to no more trust than absolutely anyone else. You want to continue the current system where cops are seen as potential enemies. > > That’s the alternative. Getting rid of bad cops, instead of making excuses for them. Oh fuck off you asinine, moralising, hypocritical, basement-dwelling turnip. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/198 "2017-07-31T23:04:00Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Good news all! > > [Trump was… joking!](http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/politics/white-house-police-tough-suspects/index.html) Ya, that’s the ticket! It was all just a funny joke! That’s it! You know, isn’t it funny when you suggest that police rough up suspects and bang their heads into doors! I mean, that’s a laugh riot! You people just have no sense of humor. Actually, that was the take I had on it. Kind of like nostalgia for the good ol’ day before liberal judges started coddling. Like he wasn’t talking about a special additional malice, just the standard “rough handling” that miscreants deserve. He’s just showing off his manliness, but only the stuff from the belch and scratch spectrum. He normalizes what ought not to be. Bad enough. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/199 "2017-07-31T23:12:51Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Ah, you’re a conspiracy theorist. It all becomes clear now. Those who uphold the law are undermining it. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. > > Look out of your fucking window, you are not living in a dystopia, you are living in a mostly functional, well ordered country (despite the best efforts of those who elected Trump and other idiots). That you lack the imagination to see how much worse it would be without that order is, ironically enough, testament to how good you, and your country, have it. I am saying that law, that order will NOT be threatened if we hold bad cops accountable to the law. Got it??? THE LAW says that bad cops go to jail just like everybody else. Got it? Being a rotten cop is not upholding the law or upholding order. Covering for them is not upholding the law or upholding order. Doing that, undermines it far worse and far quicker than any “regular” criminal ever could. Your “Those who uphold the law are undermining it. War is peace. Freedom is slavery” IS PURE BULLSHIT. The law holds everyone accountable, including the police. If some are not accountable, then the law IS BROKEN. If someone covers up and protects bad cops THEY are breaking the law. Got it? jesus CHRIST. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340/200 "2017-07-31T23:25:09Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I am saying that law, that order will NOT be threatened if we hold bad cops accountable to the law. Got it??? > > THE LAW says that bad cops go to jail just like everybody else. Got it? The law says bad cops get investigated, then if appropriate tried, then if found guilty of a severe enough crime sentenced to jail. I get it, you seem to want to skip a few steps, like several others here. Law and order is not threatened by hold cops accountable, it’s strengthened by doing that. No-one here, that I’m aware of anyway, has claimed otherwise. What _will_ threatened law and order is making it unnecessarily hard for cops to do their job, presuming them guilty based on any accusation, and insane conspiracies that all judges and lawyers are actively supporting a corrupt police force. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-cops-who-openly-applauded-police-abuse-today/792340.md?page=11)