While I agree that the (probably vast) majority of cops are good, professional people, I also think that the profession attracts a higher-than-average number of overly aggressive assholes who believe they are above the law and are attracted to the power of the job.
OK but what about the sheriff? 
I wish that were true. Too bad there is news story after news story of innocent bystanders being shot, beaten and arrested by police.
NSFW
Whenever I hear people complain about cops, I think of this:
Like any profession, there’s a bell curve. I’ve dealt with cops on both sides and unfortunately ridden both in the front and in back of a police car over my years as well.
A few cops are exemplary, a few are bad apples, and most are somewhere in the middle.
Good cop: Truly cares but also can project authority and really works to build relationships in the community - essentially a civic leader in a blue hat. Knows when to arrest and when to merely drive someone home.
Regular cop: Goes out and responds to calls, all day, every day and does what s/he needs to but leaves the notion of prevention aside. Not always long on patience, but mostly professional and does enough good overall.
Bad cop: Macho asses like the one at my old gun range that “can’t wait until I have to shoot somebody!” :eek:
…such as?
This. Since I drive a lot, I’ve had my share of getting pulled over and almost every time (especially here in CA) the cop will start off coldly polite, but when they find out I’m not only not going to argue, I’m going to be nice, sometimes they are so startled they don’t ticket me. Hey, I was speeding and getting a ticket every now and then is the cost of doing business - why should I make his life miserable just because he happened to catch me?
I don’t know that I’d call a man who had been arrested for attacking an officer, who tested positive for bath salts in a postmortem, who was actively struggling with officers, and who had attempted to escape custody at least once already, an “innocent bystander”.
True enough, and if they’d just tuned the guy up I could almost say “He had it coming, cops are allowed to protect themselves”, but they shot and killed this guy.
The point being cops are not immune to reprehensible behavior and panting with a broad brush either way is inaccurate. They’re not all villains, and they sure as hell ain’t all saints.
You want my cop stories, when you haven’t even come back to face the responses to your foolish OP?
Nuh huh, YOU go first. I suspect you go in some kind of trouble and are upset.
According to the article, the man had shrugged off Taserings earlier in the day, and the cop decided to shoot because he believed his partner was being overpowered. It doesn’t really look like an abuse of police power any way you look at it.
I used to be very “pro cop”. But over the last decade in particular, a number of events occurred which have badly shaken my faith in them.
Two of the most compelling:
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at the 2010 G8 summit in Toronto, the police were assholes almost across the board - removal of their ID tags was commonplace and was obviously done as a prelude to committing acts they’d rather not have to answer for (and not pre-emptively prohibited by TPTB as it should have been - in other words, even the police leadership looks the other way). More sinister were the beatings, arbitrary detentions, and general harassment that took place. The Wiki article does a good job of detailing what happened.
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Just last year, a guy of 17 or 18, was alone in an empty trolley car holding a (small) knife. With no warning, and having tolerated his identical behaviour for some time prior, one of the cops shot him nine times. Six of the shots were after he was already down. For good measure, the cops tasered him after the ninth shot. The video is here if you’re interested (several other versions exist). The shooter cop has been charged with murder. Here is the Wikipedia article.
Note also that the above cop shooting is just one more in a long list of the Toronto police “having no choice but” to shoot mentally ill citizens.
What I’ve written above covers only some of the most publicized and outrageous events. There is lots more.
In any case, if I, someone who used to be a strong police advocate feel this way, imagine how those less favourably inclined towards the police must now feel. The OP’er is not alone.
I bet you do.
Most of them probably begin with some variation of “There I was doing something illegal…”
You might not see it, but it sure looks like it to me.
Did you watch the video?
As a black person in America, I’d dispute that, especially the rarely. I’ve had two moving violations in about 40 years of driving, the last over 10 years ago for doing 48 in a 45; I’ve been stopped by the police while driving maybe a hundred times, conservatively. I’ve been stopped while jogging and asked why I’m running when surrounded by others doing the same, stopped while walking for no apparent reason, other low-level harassment. I’ve had guns pointed at me numerous times. The one time I’ve been a victim of a crime and had a car stolen, the police taking the report accused me of fraud based on nothing but the idea that a black person couldn’t afford a 2-year old Honda (?) and this was a scam to get out of the payments.
I’ve never had an altercation with the police. As stated above, I keep my interactions calm and respectful, and I don’t bother with the “why me?” speeches since I know why. But those sorts of experiences, and more excessive behaviors experienced by other minorities that I’ve witnessed, haven’t left me a huge supporter of law enforcement.
But really, what’s most galling is their refusal to police themselves, which effectively puts them above the law. It’s not the bad apples, which can be expected with any group of people, but supporting the bad apples no matter what. A friend’s car was hit by a police car while stopped at a light. The officer driving got out ranting at him, and it was clear the officer was intoxicated. My friend is less even tempered than me and argued with the cop and pointed out he was drunk, something it was clear his young partner knew as she tried to get me friend to not engage her partner. Things escalated and he spent 12 hours in a cell. When he got out to file a complaint, none of the officers would take his report. He kept at it once he left, eventually getting a visit from Internal Affairs who told him they had over a dozen reports of assault and false arrest by the officer, and pretty much all of them mentioned he was intoxicated. It was clear everyone in that guy’s precinct knew he was a drunk and sometimes violent, and they protected him over the public they’re sworn to protect. I’ve no doubt they’d keep doing so after the guy killed someone.
The video shows the last sixty seconds of several hours worth of altercations. Did you read the article?
Yes, the police shoot people who are brandishing weapons or acting like they’re armed and refusing to stand down. Where are these “innocent bystanders” the police are gunning down in cold blood for shits and giggles?
In this thread: many, many white people.