[QUOTE=Jodi]
This is complete and utter bullshit. I have worked with law enforcement for years now, including reviewing at length the training they receive. I have never yet met one who was “taught what to say to get a conviction” or who was a “professional liar.” You can slag off the whole field with that broad brush of yours, but that doesn’t mean they are as a class without personal integrity or professionalism. So enjoy your delusions of persecution by jack-booted thugs, but unless you’ve got some cite to back this up, it’s nothing but crap.
[/QUOTE]
I used to believe ‘most officers are true heroes of our modern world’, but over the years I’ve heard many anecdotes about lawlessness, dickheadedness, and outright brutality and murder committed by the brave in blue.
Of course anecdotes don’t make it true.
Of course, some days I get to read about the atrocities committed by law enforcement against citizens, some who easily merit serious police attention, some completely in the clear. None deserved the outcome of their encounter with officer friendly.
No longer can I take the side of police ‘automatically’ when the latest hippie v. cop story comes across the wire.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
Regardless of how they’re trained, they still do lie and shade the truth and back each other up. Cops lie all the time. Everybody knows that. It’s not a secret
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
Because police are taught what to say to get a conviction. They are professional liars when it is called for. People are very unlikely to start trouble with a cop. It does not pay. They usually just accept the injustice and hope it goes away.
[/QUOTE]
I can buy this. I’ve read about it too many times, I’ve heard the stories first hand, second hand, even in forums. It’s not hard to believe that anyone would lie to protect their job, their co-worker, and their friends, in any situation. Including (and maybe specifically), employees of state and federal law enforcement. We spot these guys at least 25 honesty points just for donning the uniform.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
If a police officer is beating the shit out of my wife, do I have a right to defend her. What if he tries to rape her?
[/QUOTE]
Gasp! How can anybody say such a thing?
How can anyone believe something like this hasn’t happened already?
Police powers have been abused since police powers were invented. It doesn’t seem too far a leap from jailhouse nightstick up the poop-shoot or 41 bullets fired at a man with a deadly wallet, to B&E/wife raping in a private residence. The convictions and allegations we read about only include the ones that were caught.
It just no longer seems logical to believe the bad apple theory any longer, it seems naïve.
Quite sad actually.