# Losing my respect for the police (lame semi-rant) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923 "2009-05-19T02:05:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/1 "2009-05-19T02:05:58Z")
Not important, but I feel like saying this anyway. Lately, I keep hearing more and more stories or news reports about police abusing their power or crossing the line, or what have you. I know the response will be that the majority are good and only the bad cops get press, but from the tiny things like cops not ticketing other cops for speeding, or the blue wall of silence whenever a scandal hits, to crap like [this](http://www.evilchili.com/videos/30646/Cop_Gives_Suspect_A_Boot_In_The_Face), it just gives the feeling that overall, cops believe that they can do whatever they want, and if they do it while performing their duties, that makes it OK. Kind of like Nixon’s “If the president does it then it’s not illegal.” mentality. And as for the video I linked to, yeah, the guy isn’t innocent and emotionally it might make some feel good to see that happen, but these are supposed to be professionals, and to kick someone in the face after they give up and offer no resistance isn’t right. But videos of cops beating up suspects keep coming out on a regular basis. Who knows, maybe putting up cameras in public places like they do in the UK will be a good thing if they can will make a cop think twice before punching or kicking an unarmed and non-resisting suspect, or if they do it anyway, then there will be evidence to use against the cop in court. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/2 "2009-05-19T02:56:03Z")
This entire thread is already a disaster. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/3 "2009-05-19T02:57:21Z")
I’m well aware that people will come in here and pit me. Oh well, so be it. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/4 "2009-05-19T02:59:43Z")
I wasn’t talking about the content. By the way, that was an awfully fast response to a thread that had been ignored for 50 minutes. A little too fast, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/5 "2009-05-19T03:00:38Z")
Sorry, but I’m not sure what you mean by that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/6 "2009-05-19T03:06:20Z")
A professional and neutral police force is a very difficult thing to achieve, and very easy to lose once it is achieved. For the police, it’s all too easy to slip permanently into the Thin Blue Clique; the job entails being suspicious, and some people _are_ out to get you. This is why it pisses me off when the police, or their bosses, abuse their power and lose the people’s trust. It breaks something rare and precious. Every time the powerful take refuge in ‘us versus them’, civilization–the ‘we’–dies a little. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/7 "2009-05-19T03:08:49Z")
At least many policeman can spell. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/8 "2009-05-19T03:10:37Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > A professional and neutral police force is a very difficult thing to achieve, and very easy to lose once it is achieved. For the police, it’s all too easy to slip permanently into the Thin Blue Clique; the job entails being suspicious, and some people _are_ out to get you. > > This is why it pisses me off when the police, or their bosses, abuse their power and lose the people’s trust. It breaks something rare and precious. Every time the powerful take refuge in ‘us versus them’, civilization–the ‘we’–dies a little. I know that its human nature to get pissed off some times, but the cops are supposed to be trained professionals and know better. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/9 "2009-05-19T03:13:15Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > At least many policeman can spell. If you’re talking about me, yeah, I’m horrible speller. I’ll be eternally grateful for spellcheckers. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/10 "2009-05-19T03:14:14Z")
Link doesn’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/11 "2009-05-19T03:19:24Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Link doesn’t work for me. A guy leads police on a high speed chase. He goes most of the way the wrong way on a one way street. He starts to lose control, hits a park car, gets out and starts running through the yards of some houses. He then runs into a bunch of fences and has no recourse but to give himself up. He lays down in the grass with his arms spread. The first officer who shows up kicks the guy in face before arresting him. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/12 "2009-05-19T03:19:53Z")
I think you meant to say LOSING your respect for the police. To “loose” something is to free it or set it forth, as in, “the king loosed a pack of vicious dogs upon his captive arch-enemy.” It’s sort of an arcane usage but you still see it sometimes. It’s more common to see the word “loose” without the “ing,” in which case it means that something is loose (as in, not tight.) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/13 "2009-05-19T03:21:40Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I think you meant to say LOSING your respect for the police. To “loose” something is to free it or set it forth, as in, “the king loosed a pack of vicious dogs upon his captive arch-enemy.” It’s sort of an arcane usage but you still see it sometimes. It’s more common to see the word “loose” without the “ing,” in which case it means that something is loose (as in, not tight.) Crap. I know the difference between the two words. Guess that’s what happens when you let your emotions get the better of you. If a mod could fix the title, I’d appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/14 "2009-05-19T03:24:06Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I know that its human nature to get pissed off some times, but the cops are supposed to be trained professionals and know better. Well sure, but look at the example that’s been set by the military and the CIA. Those guys are supposed to be trained professionals too. When the Feds torture, it’s unreasonable to expect the local boys _not_ to get ideas. That’s just part of the price some want us to pay for our freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/15 "2009-05-19T03:25:25Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Crap. I know the difference between the two words. Guess that’s what happens when you let your emotions get the better of you. If a mod could fix the title, I’d appreciate it. Ok. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/16 "2009-05-19T03:27:51Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Well sure, but look at the example that’s been set by the military and the CIA. Those guys are supposed to be trained professionals too. > When the Feds torture, it’s unreasonable to expect the local boys _not_ to get ideas. That’s just part of the price some want us to pay for our freedom. There have been plenty of cops like this before the Bush administration. And mentally I know that I shouldn’t paint all cops with such a broad brush, but when I keep hearing and seeing things like this (or other things, some better, some worse) over and over again, emotionally I feel like this is a big problem and not just a few bad apples. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/17 "2009-05-19T03:31:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Ok. Wow, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/18 "2009-05-19T03:44:57Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > There have been plenty of cops like this before the Bush administration. Oh sure, but now they have role models. That strikes me as a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/19 "2009-05-19T04:15:34Z")
I couldn’t help but notice the kick in the face cop soliciting a high five from the canine cop who allowed his dog to nip the harmless prone and subdued suspect. Hope these guys are proud of themselves:rolleyes: And I hope they get run out of the force. Unfortunately, we need cops like we need taxes. Thank God we have the press. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/20 "2009-05-19T04:48:54Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > This entire thread is already a disaster. Ha! As for the video, my favorite part is when the chopper reporter seems genuinely thrown off…but still intuitively ‘covers’ for the cop by calling it a “kick to the ‘shoulder’”. Funny. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923.md?page=2)