# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/81 "2009-05-31T14:09:05Z")
> [@Brunhilda](#): > > I agree with one of the previous posters; I have heard of distracting blows in martial arts. As far as i can tell, none of the “distracting blows” you describe involve kicking a man in the face while he’s lying prostrate and in a position of surrender on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/82 "2009-05-31T18:36:31Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > As far as i can tell, none of the “distracting blows” you describe involve kicking a man in the face while he’s lying prostrate and in a position of surrender on the ground. **Brunhilda’s** techniques are the beginner and intermediate stuff. Kicking someone in the face after they’ve surrendered is an advanced technique. Only to be executed by someone well-versed in _Decency: How to Shed The Personal Failing_ and other such schools of thought. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/83 "2009-05-31T18:57:39Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > **Brunhilda’s** techniques are the beginner and intermediate stuff. > > Kicking someone in the face after they’ve surrendered is an advanced technique. Only to be executed by someone well-versed in _Decency: How to Shed The Personal Failing_ and other such schools of thought. Winner! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/84 "2009-05-31T21:41:27Z")
A distraction blow sounded to me like something Gob would use in an act. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/85 "2009-06-01T11:43:21Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > 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. Funny…my respect for them is going up. Yes, the majority of them are good folks who do an outstanding job. And they have to put up with the double whammy of the occasional bad apple in the barrel who does something stupid, and people who very ignorantly paint the entire profession with a wide brush and say that the actions of the few indicate the actions of the entire group. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/86 "2009-06-01T13:08:50Z")
I Never said I blame them all. I just think the problem is bigger than a few bad apples. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/87 "2009-06-01T14:13:57Z")
**Clothahump** , how many bad apples _does_ it take to spoil the group? That’s not a rhetorical question, despite it’s use of the cliche. You raise a good point that higher prominence of assumed-to-be isolated incidents does not _necessarily_ mean that the whole of police are bad. But, if you imagine a world in which more and more and more similar videos and evidence start sprouting up, where/when do you begin to change your mind? I’m interested in your point of view as to the tipping point – what’s the spectrum of a few, sporadic and non-representative events to pervasive and endemic corruption and loss of integrity? I’m not going near the suggestion that this (or the other videos that pop up from time to time) indicates that there is a national police crisis – but am curious if videos of this nature would ever justify to you a wide-scale, national introspection of police conduct. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/88 "2009-06-01T19:03:25Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Thinking about it, yeah, Bush was in office when I fist started noticing all these stories, but correlation does not imply causation. Also, I believe that there were a lot of officers like this before, but they’re just getting reported on more often. I would hazard a guess that the correlation is not with Bush, but with the increasing availability of cell phones with video capability that can record these incidents, coupled with the ability to post them directly on the net without going through the media filter, which now turns them into something more than “wild, unsubstantiated claims by punk gangbangers” that never make it into the news. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/89 "2009-06-03T00:03:34Z")
> [@Category5](#): > > Why do the cops do this when there is a news helicopter hovering overhead? Because they believe whatever they do is right ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/90 "2009-06-03T04:15:05Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Lately, I keep hearing more and more stories or news reports about police abusing their power or crossing the line, or what have you. [No kidding.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc57ZJ8nVpg) If it were up to me, the U.S would make a federal agency whose sole job is to police the police and issue fines to municipalities for police misconduct. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/91 "2009-06-03T14:22:55Z")
OK, now I see what they mean by “distraction blow.” In [this video,](http://newsfornatives.com/blog/2009/05/21/5-police-officers-beat-unconscious-man-2/) we see the technique used very effectively, as five police officers beat an unconscious man. The officers successfully distracted the man from the fact that he had just been ejected from the car. In fact, the guy didn’t even know he had had the shit kicked out of him by the cops until he saw the video, he just assumed his injuries were from the accident. That’s a hell of a “distraction!” So let’s test the “bad apple” theory with this situation. There are five cops there. All five are beating the guy. If the “bad apple” theory were true, shouldn’t like one cop be beating him, and the others trying to stop him? What are the chances of five out of five cops all being “bad apples”? (Note: I saw this video on the news the other day, but the video at the link is blocked for me right now. If it’s the wrong video someone let me know and I’ll google some more.) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/92 "2009-06-04T13:37:22Z")
So, a cop shot another cop over in NYC. Apparently, the shot cop was chasing someone who was breaking into his car… yadda yadda, horrible tragedy, etcetera. Thing is, apparently, multiple cops wind up on scene for the shooting, and they don’t recognize this guy as a cop. He’s dying. They don’t bother to call for an ambulance till someone discovers he’s a police officer. [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/nyregion/04shoot.html?hp](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/nyregion/04shoot.html?hp) But don’t worry. You can always file a complaint if something goes wrong… really. > **[New York News & Talk Radio - WCBS-AM | WCBS Newsradio 880](https://www.audacy.com/wcbs880)** > > WCBS Newsradio 880 is one of America’s most listened to radio stations providing news and information in New York City. Stream, read and download from any device on Audacy. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/93 "2009-06-04T15:04:49Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > So, a cop shot another cop over in NYC. Apparently, the shot cop was chasing someone who was breaking into his car… yadda yadda, horrible tragedy, etcetera… Apparently this is becoming such an issue across the country – cops shotting other, not in uniform, cops – that police forces are changing their policies about off-duty cops. Used to be, cops were never _really_ off duty, they were expected to jump in if they witnessed a crime. Now, some cities are telling their off-duty cops to stay out of the action, the risks to them are just too high. ---
**Author:** ![Neverender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neverender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverender)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/94 "2009-08-25T00:26:35Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#): > > OK, now I see what they mean by “distraction blow.” In [this video,](http://newsfornatives.com/blog/2009/05/21/5-police-officers-beat-unconscious-man-2/) we see the technique used very effectively, as five police officers beat an unconscious man. The officers successfully distracted the man from the fact that he had just been ejected from the car. In fact, the guy didn’t even know he had had the shit kicked out of him by the cops until he saw the video, he just assumed his injuries were from the accident. That’s a hell of a “distraction!” > > So let’s test the “bad apple” theory with this situation. There are five cops there. All five are beating the guy. If the “bad apple” theory were true, shouldn’t like one cop be beating him, and the others trying to stop him? What are the chances of five out of five cops all being “bad apples”? > > (Note: I saw this video on the news the other day, but the video at the link is blocked for me right now. If it’s the wrong video someone let me know and I’ll google some more.) Don’t be silly, they aren’t beating him! They’re punishing him for not wearing his seatbelt. It’s what his momma would have wanted! I find it incredibly hard to feel any sympathy for these criminals, but that doesn’t make it OK. Does anybody else get the feeling that some cops became cops just so they could do this? Kind of makes me glad I live in the UK, where police daren’t intercept suspects like this for the fear of all the paperwork it would entail. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/95 "2009-08-25T15:00:07Z")
I recently read an excellent book that explained, to my satisfaction, the reason why police beat perps after a high speed chase or after any sort of adrenalin rush. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. There actually is a physiological reason for it. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/96 "2009-08-25T15:05:28Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Thing is, apparently, multiple cops wind up on scene for the shooting, and they don’t recognize this guy as a cop. He’s dying. > > They don’t bother to call for an ambulance till someone discovers he’s a police officer. > [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/nyregion/04shoot.html?hp](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/nyregion/04shoot.html?hp) From your link: > [@](#): > > Mr. Browne said the report did not capture all of the available information about when an ambulance was summoned to the shooting scene, on East 125th Street between First and Second Avenues, He said that the Emergency Service Unit officers arrived at 10:31 p.m., and reported that they had a “perp,” or perpetrator, in custody and asked to “rush a bus” — police parlance for asking that an ambulance rush to the scene. > > “Before taking any action, they called for an ambulance,” Mr. Browne said. Others, too, called for an ambulance, he said. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/97 "2009-08-25T16:08:28Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > At least many policeman can spell. Not in my experience. My favorite police reports have involved theft of “jewry,” or the one where the officer couldn’t decided whether it should be spelled “come” or “cum”. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/98 "2009-08-25T17:56:45Z")
They seem, possibly, to have updated that article, Bricker. I won’t say it with authority, but I don’t think it was in that link when I pasted it. Notice the article says ‘a version of this article appeared in the NY Times.’ ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/99 "2009-08-25T18:28:08Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Not in my experience. My favorite police reports have involved theft of “jewry,” or the one where the officer couldn’t decided whether it should be spelled “come” or “cum”. hehe, I received a new case recently where the officer wrote that, during a search of a car, he found marijuana in the “club department.” ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923/100 "2009-08-25T20:23:56Z")
Here is a radical idea: What if we made law enforcement compulsory for every able-bodied adult? There is no career in police work anymore; it’s like the Israeli army. At some point between age 21-30, you have to give two years of service as a cop. I’m still torn on whether that should be a paid position or volunteer work. But let’s say you complete x weeks of training. (12 seems good, how’s that work for y’all?) Then you go out on the streets to relieve the last crew of cops who are just finishing up their two years. Maybe the terms overlap a little, so noobs are always partnered with someone who has more experience. This way, nobody really gets all that power-trippy because they aren’t a cop long enough for all the power to go to their head, the law gets enforced and people are a lot more compassionate about cops because, hey, everyone has to pull duty. So less sass to cops on duty, that sort of thing. Seriously, it was just an idea off the top of my head. What say ye? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/losing-my-respect-for-the-police-lame-semi-rant/496923.md?page=6)