One Group Has a Higher Domestic Violence Rate Than Everyone Else — And It's Not the NFL

[Tsiyu]

http://mic.com/articles/106886/one-group-has-a-higher-domestic-violence-rate-than-everyone-else-and-it-s-not-the-nfl


The NFL has jump-started a national conversation on domestic violence, but there's one group we're overlooking: The people we trust to keep us safe.

In families of police officers, domestic violence is two-to-four times more likely than in the general population — from stalking and harassment to sexual assault and even homicide. As the National Center for Women and Policing notes, two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10% of families in the general population.

snip

"A big part of police culture is the code of silence," Diane Wetendorf, author of Police Domestic Violence: Handbook for Victims, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "The prosecutors depend on police for their cases, the police depend on each other — it's a very insulated system,"

snip

"Cops 'typically handle cases of police family violence informally, often without an official report, investigation, or even check of the victim's safety,'" the Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf writes, quoting a study from the National Center for Women and Policing. "'Even officers who are found guilty of domestic violence are unlikely to be fired, arrested or referred for prosecution.'"


more at the link. Bold mine

It looks like a lot of cops have anger management issues, poor impulse control and violent tendencies EVEN IN THEIR OWN HOMES. Who woulda thunk it? I believe we need an entire reset of our system of law enforcement. DAs should not let cops get away with abuse just so they can win more felony non-violent pot convictions.

[PDJane]

1. Almost every cop wife I have ever known could have told you this,

including me.

[Tsiyu]

3. Can those cops' wives also tell us why cops are so fucking violent?

That would be nice to know.

If they can't control themselves in their own homes, why are we handing out guns and badges to these sick thug fucks?

[PDJane]

7. Mostly because they don't recruit choir boys. The men who want to become cops

Are controlling, authoritarian and often violent men. They often have rage problems. They do a lot of steroids, body building, and they love to intimidate people. They get worse once they are subjected to the siege mentality prevalent in most PD's. It's my personal belief that no man who really wants to become a cop should be allowed to do so.

[Tsiyu]

8. I agree completely with everything you've said

Thanks for your answer.

[on point]

28. You nailed it completely

[Scuba]

34. Bingo!

[99Forever]

36. That is it, in a nutshell.

Well said, Jane. How we go about changing that, I can't even guess, but it HAS to change.

Thanks for your honesty.

[MrScorpio]

37. Truth… nt

[ohheckyeah]

25. my ex federal law enforcement spouse was

ex-military and had anger over issues of vietnam as well as other issues. hr was usually more passive aggressive than aggressive but lost it one night which is when I decided to get out. I knew the cops would do nothing - I called and they acted like I made it all up and if he got away with it once he would do it again. he was really just looking for a beard.

[951-Riverside]

2. You're inciting violence against my brothers in blue!

Shame on you!

Don't call 911 the next time you need help!

Way to paint an entire profession with a broad brush!

[Tsiyu]

4. Ooops!

[applegrove]

5. Soldiers too unfortunately. And gang

bangers as well. Even more so. I don‘t think these points are germaine to the discussion at hand. These are all crimes which should be policed and prosecuted if it is safe to do so. Nobody is saying criminals should get away with their crimes. The point we are at is that there are brothers and sisters who have come together to demand change from government. There is a brotherhood and sisterhood of police who get to constantly negociate change with government to fix things that benefit them. The henius executioner of those two policemen should be treated as a demented lone wolf. The conversation between protestors and power that be should continue. Afterall white people have been negotiating with power in the USA since 1630. African Americans since 1960.

[Tsiyu]

6. THEY ARE GETTING AWAY WITH THEIR CRIMES

All sorts of crimes.

The issue is germane because it speaks to a problem with violence among our law enforcement.

They need anger management training and more scrutiny.

DAs and police need to be forcibly split up for the sake of everyone.

We need a law enforcement reset, in a very big way

[applegrove]

20. The vast majority of police do a great

job. It is only a small fraction that lose control of themselves where minorities are concerned. We need to talk right now.

[ohheckyeah]

26. where are those vast majority

when the other cops are out of control? they turn their heads and that's not doing a great job.

[WestCoastLib]

29. 60% is not "a vast majority"

Did you read the OP here? 40% of law enforcement are involved in domestic violence.

This is not a small fraction that lose control, this is nearly half of them.

[mimi85]

31. Every woman I've known who married/dated a cop is

either divorced or broken up. Bullies for the most part. We can thank our military for some of that - many cops are ex-marines.

[TheKentuckian]

35. How do you measure "a great job"? Who cares about talking we need these abusive and murderous thugs

to stop harassing, beating, and killing not chatter in phony committees and coffee clutch blather shows.

[moondust]

9. I'd like to see a study

of police in other countries, particularly countries like UK where guns and violent crime are uncommon and police do not routinely carry deadly force.

[Tsiyu]

12. I agree

we need to get a grasp on why our law enforcement are so troubled that they beat up their families and kill people for nothing.

If we don't get a handle on cop violence, and it continues to escalate, things will get ugly I fear.

throughout history, you can see that a brute force can only oppress people for so long before they feel they have nothing to lose: why not fight back?

I don't want this. I want us to all get along and the only way to do that is to analyze what's wrong with a lot of cops. When 40% of law enforcement homes are places of violence, there is something desperately, hideously wrong.

[Jesus Malverde]

10. We saw this with the fire department in SF too..nt

[Tsiyu]

14. I would not have thought that

interesting.

[Jesus Malverde]

18. I'm not sure about the percentage but the fire chief threw a beer mug at

Causing injury in a domestic dispute and was not arrested.

There have been some serious drinking issues with the fire dept including a drunk engine driver that killed a pedestrian and then disappeared for hours impeding the investigation.

[mimi85]

32. Me neither...

I've always had lots of respect for firemen/women. Known some fine ones.

[HeiressofBickworth]

11. And a divorce rate of about 85%

So between domestic violence and divorce rates, it would be easy to think that decent men are mostly staying out of the ranks.

[Tsiyu]

15. It appears so

[oldandhappy]

13. Violent occupations

seem to lead to violent behavior. Hmmmm

[HeiressofBickworth]

16. I think it's more like

violent occupations attract people who would like the cover of badge and gun to commit violence. They can do things that would get them jail time in the private sector.

[oldandhappy]

19. agree!!

Angry folk looking for a safe place. The knee jerk reaction to hit, shoot, kick, yell, push, shove -- all covered by the badge.

[Jesus Malverde]

21. If they wanted to save lives they

Would have become firemen.

Very different breeds of public servant.

[Tsiyu]

17. Why does police work have to be "violent?"

I've had many dealings with cops over the years and can't recall any getting violent. There were some who were assholes, but not violent.

How is it that we equate policing with violence when violent crime has actually gone down and most of what they do is patrol and write tickets and such?

I endured more violence working in hospitals, from out-of-it patients who were combative than any violence I've seen out of cops my way.

[oldandhappy]

22. Do you think the 24-hour news cycle

contributes to the development of violence? Situations get covered over and over and over. That is mind pollution. It also teaches violence. Wonder what would happen if we played good stuff over and over and over? Fortunately we have low key guys in our area.

[HeiressofBickworth]

23. In my opinion,

police work becomes violent when police become violent. Too many recent reports on police shootings were in situations that weren't violent until the police got there. Peaceful demonstrations, mentally ill persons, children with toy guns, just to mention a few instances.

I have a relative who is a cop -- I'm not aware of any violence on his part. I'm also unaware of any domestic violence in his home and he has been married for nearly 20 years. So, I get it -- it isn't ALL cops. He has a degree in criminal justice. He was hired before the Supreme Court decision that held that police don't have to hire the best and the brightest.

[safeinOhio]

24. Not all just 40%

and not just men, female LEOs also.

[Cha]

27. "Code of Silence" is a Huge Problem.. The abused dare not speak out or it will be worse for them.

The system is totally fubared.. we have to bring it back from that.

thanks Tsiyu

[WestCoastLib]

30. The police officer I grew up with

This is totally anecdotal,and and not meant to be taken as painting with a broad brush, however, I have found that many people have similar experiences. I know a few cops that seem like decent fellows, however, only one do I know well. Only one of my high school classmates (that I know) became a cop.

He is an asshole. Was always an asshole. He was not bright enough for college. He was semi-athletic and very into sports, but not great at them or anything. He married his high school sweatheart who everyone said was a horrible idea for both of them. They had a couple kids and divorced before most of the rest of us were even married. He's a power tripper, and has always been. Not one of my friends, though I have friends that are friends with him even today. We are getting old now and I'm told he's softened, but the point remains that I wouldn't trust him as far as I can throw him.

One of my best friends, who is an underpaid teacher, was considering going into the police force a number of years ago. He would have been an excellent policeman. He went on a ride along with the local PD and became completely disenchanted with the idea because of how poorly all the cops he met talked about the people and neighborhoods they patrolled. They were complete jerks and he just couldn't bring himself to be around them.

I'm not sure what we can do about it really in today's climate. How can you make the job enticing to our best and brightest? We certainly aren't going to start paying a lot more.

[mimi85]

33. No easy answer to that one, unfortunately.

[2naSalit]

38. My father

was a Mr. Military who was incredibly violent and tortured us. I describe him, now, as a terrorist in his own home. We used to hide from him every day when he came home from work until we felt we could determine what mood he was in.

I think that what we are seeing is a drug enhanced group of thugs who somehow managed to qualify for this line of work when the standards of qualification were greatly lowered... that and the added enhancement and enticement for former military by giving them those comfort perks of the same tools they used in combat to "play" with at home.

The general mindset and steroid use in our public servant corps. should be scrutinized and without delay.

Good OP.

[Tsiyu]

39. I'm sorry that happened to you

Yes, it appears we need some massive retraining for a segment of cops. Many are good people just doing their jobs, but when 40% of law enforcement homes are violent, how can we trust them with guns and tasers?

There was a cop in FLA I believe who recently had to kill a teen who came after him with a machete ( don't have link right now ) and cut him up. That's an understandable use of force. And I can see where cops see all the worst of humanity and can get jaded and cynical about everyone.

But cops need to understand that the public are the ones jaded now. Just as some law enforcement see everyone as "the enemy" so do some in the public now view all cops as "the enemy."

Neither position is based on reality. We have to step out of our own experience and opinion and TALK to each other. Work this out, and get help for cops with violence issues.

I can't believe that anyone who abuses family can feel good about themselves and I can't imagine they are raising healthy families.