When I am around a police officer I feel...

[armyowalgreens]

[FrenchieCat]

1. Depends on the occasion.

[depakid]

7. Also depends on where

[FrenchieCat]

11. I'm not quite sure how we've gone from one Cop to All Cops.....

Interesting how this is morphing.
I do not like it much.
and don't find anything productive about it.

[depakid]

13. Some places have a nasty culture that tends to "breed" bad cops

LA comes to mind- as do areas of the south.

Other places simply lack accountability methods (other than civil lawsuits). In these places, you're right. A few rogue cops who end up walking way scot-free for shooting unarmed people dead (even naked people) - end up creating an inaccurate perception. The Portland, Oregon area comes to mind.

[TheKentuckian]

2. I'll say that never in my life have I ever thought that I was glad a cop was around.

Admittedly, there have been times where I may have wished for one but never has one been present and added anything positive or productive to the situation.

[Bette Noir]

52. Once, I saw a guy pulled over for an illegal u-turn that had held up traffic.

That's the one time I was glad to see a cop.

And the time I was pulled over for non-working brake lights, but she gave me a warning, not a ticket, that was nice.

Other than those times, no. Too many times, I've seen police officers start fights, beat people up who were minding their own business.

Yeah, I'm from LA. Why do you ask?

[Blue_In_AK]

68. When a drunk young stranger was crawling through my teenage daughter's window

at 2:00 a.m., I was extremely glad that my neighbor, who was outside smoking a cigarette, called the cops and they arrived before I even knew anything was going on.

I've had negative experiences with cops before, but on this particular occasion I was really glad they were on the job.

[Prism]

3. Nervous

I always feel as if I'm guilty of something, and that at any moment there rests the distinct possibility that the officer will let me know.

[armyowalgreens]

5. Yeah that's how I feel. But then again, I often have reasons to be nervous.

[Chemisse]

34. That's just how I feel

And I no longer have any reason to feel that way. Some things just stick with you I guess.

[misanthrope]

66. Same here**nm

**

[armyowalgreens]

4. Being a college student with an affinity for a few things illegal...

I tend to get really uptight when police are around. Especially campus police.

But overall, my experience with officers has been fairly positive. Even the douchebags seem to at least follow the law.

[cboy4]

6. Other. That I'm going to be fucked with

And I'm white.

I can only imagine how black folks feel, which is why I completely support and empathize with Professor Gates.

[murielm99]

8. I guess I am going to have to risk being flamed.

I am sure there are many instances of racial profiling. We've all seen video and other clear cut evidence. We have friends who have told us of instances, and we have seen some examples posted here lately by people who have no reason to lie.

But I know a lot of cops. Many of them are Democrats. Our former county chairman is a retired cop. Quite a few of our members are cops or retired cops.

I have seen some cops in action and I see how their training works. Most of them just want to get people calmed down and send everyone home. Maybe everyone won't be happy with the outcome of an incident, but they would rather go home than go to jail. And the cops don't want all the paperwork, or the hassle that can come from bogus arrests.

Of course there are arrogant cops and bad cops. There are people like that in every profession. I don't believe that cops are any more racist than any other group or profession.

I feel safer in the presence of a policeman.

[cboy4]

10. Yes murielm99 .. but the argument that the cops don't want all the paperwork

or the hassle that can come from bogus arrests doesn't wash when the cops in fact believe the arrests are not bogus.

That's the problem, and why it's applicable for Professor Gates to say he doesn't even feel safe in his own home. And certainly not in the presence of a policeman.

Perhaps one has to experience a negative encounter to understand the distrust.

And I'm not saying you haven't had one.

[ccharles000]

9. safer

[REP]

12. I was told, as a young child, that 'Officer Friendly' was a lie

I grew up in a large city, and I'm white.

I've been pulled over for DWP (driving while poor) when I drove an old car - I suspect also for looking like I might be Hispanic (I have black hair and very fair skin). Usually no tickets written, just hassled, or a 'fix it' ticket for a cracked tail light lens.

Now that I'm not poor and drive a nice car ... I don't get pulled over.

I know there are lots of decent cops; I've met some of them. But unless they're the cops I know, I don't feel safer around cops in general.

[cherokeeprogressive]

15. Driving an old car while having black hair and very fair skin?

I grew up in Los Angeles County. I don't remember anyone in my entire life telling me that they got pulled over for being a white person with black hair driving an old car.

Please.

[REP]

17. At night, I might be confused for Being Hispanic

But with my old car, no doubt I was Poor.

I was pulled over for driving a POS in a city where Hispanics are routinely ticketed for spitting on the sidewalk. It ain't LA; I live way up north.

[cherokeeprogressive]

20. At night, you might be confused for being ExtraTerrestrial.

I don't buy for a minute that you were pulled over for driving a car that was over x years old, with white skin, and black hair.

Way up north... but you don't say where you consider to be way up north.

Bullshit on you. My 42 year old Mustang (1967) has never resulted in any kind of encounter with law enforcement in any way, shape, or form.

[cboy4]

24. He said he was pulled over for driving an old car with cracked lights.

Why would you call him out as a liar like this?

If he was driving a piece of shit car, and the cops thought he may have drugs in it, or a gun .. or he was driving suspended, etc., I can totally see them pulling him over.

Jesus, just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

I happen to believe him.

[REP]

79. Actually, I was pulled over for no reason one more than one occasion

No reason given, at least - other than 'what are you doing in this neighborhood?' which was 1/2 mile from where I lived (I was visiting my then-boyfriend now-husband) or why was my car messy (I had a laundry basket of clothes I had just done at the laundromat in the back seat).

Sometimes, yes, it was because the tape over my cracked lens was off and I got a fix-it ticket.

[REP]

80. ' 67 Mustangs aren't '86 6000 LEs in Silicon Valley

Don't believe what you want. It still happened.

Doesn't happen now; I drive a very, very nice 2 seater.

[JonLP24]

85. Civility

Do not call another member of this message board a liar, and do not call another member's post a lie. You are, of course, permitted to point out when a post is untrue or factually incorrect.

<snip>

There are no exceptions to these civility rules. You cannot attack someone because they attacked you first, or because that person "deserved it," or because you think someone is a disruptor. We consider it a personal attack to call a liar a liar, to call a moron a moron, or to call a jerk a jerk.

Rules are at the bottom on every page on this site so need for a link. Other then your rebuttal, all you offered was anecdotal evidence to counter anecdotal evidence.

[Bette Noir]

54. When I used to drive an old junker, I got pulled over all the time.

Hardly ever, now that I have a nice car. In the junker days, I was once followed by a cop for 15 miles before being pulled over, ordered out of my car, and questioned. The cop suspected me of "casing" homes in the expensive neighborhood where I had been parked, for future burglaries. Duh-- I had been parked at the beach. I guess poor people aren't allowed to go to the beach, in spite of state law that beaches belong to everyone.

[REP]

82. Well, it didn't happen to him, so it doesn't happen

We just imagined what happened to us.

[cherokeeprogressive]

14. Other - Safer if I'm not breaking any laws, paranoid if I am.

Got the seatbelt on? Check. Driving the speed limit? Check. Using the turn signals? Check. Car currently registered and insured? Check.

When I'm doing as I should, as determined by people who wrote the laws who WERE NOT POLICE OFFICERS, I don't have a problem. Why should I feel otherwise?

[depakid]

16. "Why should I feel otherwise?"

Reporting from Tenaha, Texas -- You can drive into this dusty fleck of a town near the Texas-Louisiana state line if you're African American, but you might not be able to drive out of it -- at least not with your car, your cash, your jewelry or other valuables. That's because the police here allegedly have found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: Sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.

More than 140 people reluctantly accepted that deal from June 2006 to June 2008, according to court records. Among them were a black grandmother from Akron, Ohio, who surrendered $4,000 in cash after Tenaha police pulled her over, and an interracial couple from Houston, who gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care, the court documents show. Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with or convicted of any crime.

Officials in Tenaha, along a heavily traveled state highway connecting Houston with several popular gambling destinations in Louisiana, say they are engaged in a battle against drug trafficking, and they call the search-and-seizure practice a legitimate use of the state's asset-forfeiture law. That law permits local police agencies to keep drug money and other property used in the commission of a crime and add the proceeds to their budgets. But civil rights lawyers call Tenaha's practice something else: highway robbery.

http://candidblogger.blogspot.com/2009/03/blacks-pulled-over-and-robbed-by-texas.html

[cherokeeprogressive]

18. Point me to the specific record of what the "candid blogger" alludes to and I will apologize for my

post. Arrest records are public. Otherwise, you're posting anecdotal shit that can't be backed up. Arrest records are public.

Pretend I'm from Missouri.

[depakid]

19. Run a search for Tehana, Texas- here's another article from the "mainstream" media

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Property_seizures_seen_as_piracy_.html

[Name removed]

70. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TexasObserver]

22. Run a search for "sexual misconduct, police"

You'll find a whole host of cases where police used their power to commit sexual assaults on women.

They're not all good guys.

[depakid]

25. Never said they were

One of the cops who wasn't charged in a recent (bad) shooting of an unarmed man instead ended up in trouble for sexual misconduct!

There's a real problem in the state with that- and if Oregonians aren't careful, they'll end up with an LAPD mentality on their hands.

That said, corruption and racism tends not to be endemic or institutionalized as it is elsewhere.

[TexasObserver]

26. Some of those who hold power will abuse it.

The checks on the abuse of police power have been weakened since Bush took office, and they remain weakened.

[LanternWaste]

55. like teachers, pastors, and doctors...

"used their power to commit sexual assaults on women. They're not all good guys."



Much like teachers, pastors, college profs, and doctors... or just about any posistion of authority.

[TexasObserver]

61. This topic is about police. Not teachers, not pastors, not doctors.

[misanthrope]

69. Teachers, pastors and lawyers aren't protected when it comes to physical force**nm

**

[TexasObserver]

21. Here's a much worse case, involving sexual misconduct by officers.

Portland expected to settle police misconduct cases
by Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian
Monday February 23, 2009, 1:31 PM

Portland city council members on Wednesday are expected to settle two lawsuits stemming from a former Portland officer's misconduct during a traffic stop.

The two women said then-Officer John Alexander Wood told them to lift their skirts and show him their underwear or he would take them to jail for driving under the influence during a traffic stop in the early morning hours of July 21.

The women said they complied with Wood's requests and he concluded the stop without writing a ticket.


http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/02/portland_expected_to_settle_po.html

What is it with cops female drivers?

[misanthrope]

67. You forgot the "check" for...

...person in immediate vicinity who can do anything they want, lie about it in a report and receive preferential treatment before the bench.

[depakid]

81. That would be Tulia, Texas -every bit as bad and in some ways worse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulia,_Texas

[brer cat]

23. I'm always glad to see them

But I live in a very small town and know them all on a first name basis. The one living across the street was a childhood playmate of my son's.

[pecwae]

27. Other.

No different than being around anyone else I'm not familiar with.

[4lbs]

28. Other. As with others, it depends on where I am located.

At the bank:
I feel safer.

At my home:
What the hell is a cop doing in my house or yard?

At the courthouse (when I was on jury duty):
Indifferent... they're supposed to some police there right?

[Starry Messenger]

29. Nervous.

I have never had a positive individual experience with law enforcement personnel and I would consider myself excessively law abiding.

[elocs]

30. Where I live, feeling safe is never really an issue one way or another,

so safety has no bearing concerning how I feel about a police officer. If I am flirting with speeding, that is a different matter. Overall I would have to say my feeling is ambivalent--they're simply there.

[quaker bill]

31. I simply

do not like being around people who are carrying weapons, even if I believe in their good intent. Accidents happen.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

32. No difference

I grew up around them, at least 3 kids in the neighborhood had fathers who served with the township police, and my cousin is with a local department.

[Vidar]

33. Threatened.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

71. Me too.

[Kind of Blue]

35. Always feel less safe because

I never know how they're going to react during a situation. Regardless of training, I see them as human beings with the right to carry weapons and in my county, the many police shootings of unarmed unruly people is always justifiable homicide. Thank goodness, they've started using bean bag.

[ejpoeta]

36. I am always nervous, because in the past I have been pulled over

when I wasn't nervous. I know. stupid, but eh. See, I used to drive cars that were not in the best shape. Once I was pulled over because I had no tail lights. I've been pulled over because I had no headlght, but I had the replacement in the back seat as I had gone to get the replacement to have it fixed. I got a ticket for that, but they dropped it after I showed I had gotten it fixed. I also got a ticket on that occasion because it was October and my license wasn't renewed by my birthday in september.

I have only ever gotten one speeding ticket.... don't even know why i was speeding. it was the only time i was ever pulled over for speeding. many of the times I was pulled over it was for stupid shit with my car. and usually they'd just let me know and send me on my way. I was younger then. But in general, I get nervous just seeing a police car. I don't have to be doing anything... i am not speeding.... my inspection is good... my registration is good..... but i still get nervous. LOL!

[specialed]

37. Less safe...

they have guns. They're just people subject to everything any other person is subject to and that alone should scare the shit out us all. :)

[rucky]

38. Not really about safety, but if I see a cop when I'm driving...

I know they could find a reason to stop me or anyone, if they really want to. So I just hope they're not bored, or don't notice, or don't disapprove of my bumper stickers, etc.

[Echo In Light]

39. ...or they'll tailgate, hoping to pressure the driver into any driving variance to justify....

....pulling the driver over. Seen em pull that shit many a time.

[stray cat]

40. If I am in trouble and need help - definitely safer and those I met always helped

The pay is low, the risks and unpredictability are high. I am thankful for the job most police officers do. However, power can get misused by some. Also, never knowing if the person I stop is going to shoot me or if I intervene in a domestic dispute and the abused party tries to kill me when I arrest the abuser - I suspect that could be a bit stressful compared to my job.

[Vinca]

41. I used to be one (decades and pounds ago) and can attest

to the fact there are a few good cops out there . . . the media just doesn't cover them.

[City Lights]

42. Nervous, but not for the reason stated in the poll. nt

[freddie mertz]

43. Depends, of course.

When some cops attacked me and my friends at an anti-war rally back in the day, I felt threatened and angry.

When a cop answered my report after I was mugged, I felt some consolation.

This is too complicated a question for a simple answer.

[RB TexLa]

44. We are supposed to notice when they are around us?

[Orsino]

45. Safer.

I know that, generally, police officers want to protect and serve, and are willing to do it for very little money.

Sure, we've ceded too much power to them, but the men and women inside the uniforms have proven their dedication at some point.

[1]

46. when they are directly behind me in my car? i am the best driver ever!

otherwise we do not have much contact. i live waaaay out in the boonies. if i needed the police at my cabin, it could take hours for them to get here (even if i could get in touch with them.)

that is why i disagree with those here that want to restrict my ownership of guns. i am all i have to protect me and mine out here. i think its great if you can have a cop at your door in a few minutes (if that is what makes you feel safe.)

i don't live like that.

so leave my rights right where they are. in the constitution, thank you...

[Statistical]

47. Police have no duty to protect. Why would anyone feel safer around them?

The purpose of the Police is to:
1) stop crimes in progress
2) arrest suspects
3) gather evidence for successful prosecution

They do not exist for protection. To "protect and serve" is a great slogan that has nothing to do with the power given to them by the state.

[1]

50. To "protect and serve" is a great slogan...

awww, man...

you mean 1-adam-12 was lying to me?

[graywarrior]

48. They start off with good intentions (maybe) when they first become cops

Then, in order to survive in that environment, they turn into psychotic, psychopathic, borderline criminals with nervous disorders filled with paranoia and suspicion and develop serious drinking problems. That's my take on them. They see you as a possible suspect instead of a person. They trust no own outside their negative angry little world. They don't even trust their own kind. They're like Dementors.

[misanthrope]

72. Sometimes they remind me of merely another gang or crime family**nm

**

[Thothmes]

77. They probably get that way because of the psychotic

pychopathic real criminals that they have do deal with over a 20 year or so career in the police.

[varelse]

49. I tend to feel like leaving

the longer I hang around, the higher the likelihood he (or she) will find *something* to harrass me about.

This doesn't mean I feel less safe: only that I feel more paranoid.

[hlthe2b]

51. Depends on the cop

Some project "approachable" body language--those that are trained in and respect the principal of community policing. Those that believe that they are separate and superior from the standpoint of power and authority to the general public project that as well. Their attitude and body language projects the disdain for the public that it is clear that they feel. I avoid the latter as much as possible. The former, I treat as any other "neighbor."

[blueamy66]

53. voted other

Safer? I guess that would depend....but I have never been in a situation when a cop's presence made me feel safer.

They make me feel annoyed. Just annoyed.

[michreject]

56. no difference

I don't bother them and they don't bother me.

[closeupready]

57. I am frightened by the fact that they could easily kill me with their guns.

But I feel marginally safer.

[a la izquierda]

58. Other:

my brother in law and my cousin are cops. My uncle was NYPD for 20 years. If I was nervous around every cop, I'd never be able to attend a family function.
That said, when I'm driving around, I can get nervous if a cop pulls up behind, even if I have no reason to be. That's doubly true in Mexico, where if I get lost, I don't ask cops for directions-I'll go into a store and talk to someone else.

[guitar man]

59. I still get nervous around cops

I've been a biker all my life and in the past have been profiled,hassled, beaten and arrested. Now the culture has changed because with the advent of the RUBs when the cops pull over a Harley now they don't know if it might be a judge, doctor lawyer or CEO they're dealing with.

But I still remember all the times I got jerked around just for being "long haired greasy scooter trash" and it still makes me uneasy when cops are around, especially when I'm on my bike.

[BlooInBloo]

60. Cop = person who's allowed to kill me and not get in trouble.

[redqueen]

62. Other: Anxious.

I don't go around breaking laws, but due to past experiences, I will likely always feel anxious around officers.

[TahitiNut]

63. Sorta like being around nitroglycerine ... can't be sure when it'll go off.

:shrug:

[burrfoot]

64. So yeah,

some cops are assholes. So are "some" of any other group we could possibly name. Abuses of power, even tragic abuses of power, do happen. It gets caught on video. Doubtless, more often it doesn't. Now, sometimes people drink and drive. The results are tragic. I don't distrust every driver, though. Sometimes priests molest, sometimes teachers take advantage; but I don't distrust every priest or every teacher.
As mentioned above, there are good cops out there. I've worked with a few (I work with kids in foster care) and they have been polite, friendly, and professional; without fail.

That's just my experience, of course, YMMV.

[Juche]

65. Depends on the occasion

[bermudat]

73. It all depends on one's perspective

The poll should have gone one step further and asked how many of the people who marked 'safer'

were white and how many of the folks who marked 'less safe' were people of color.

[Raine]

74. Nervous

and less safe.

[misanthrope]

75. Nervous...

...I've been the victim of profiling before, stopped for nothing more than driving on I-10 (in a rental car, my hair was long, my wife is Lebanese and could appear Latino to some). Had we said the slightest thing wrong, the officer could have legally thrown us in jail, seized everything we had (with no way to get it back) and we would have been up the creek. Such was the law in that part of Louisiana.

Or the time I was doing nothing but walking across a parking lot on my way back to the house and was strip-searched in public with no probable cause other than not having a valid driver's license on me.

I know some good cops, but they are few and far between.

[Mimosa]

76. Cops work under extreme stress

This 'suicide by cop' happened a few days ago in GA.

http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/autopsy-report-released-in-100116.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Excerpt:

A Duluth woman was shot four times and her elderly mother once during a confrontation this week with a Gwinnett County police officer, according to autopsies released Friday.

Gwinnett County police officer Lyndsey K. Perry, a 10-year veteran of the department, shot 51-year-old Penny Schwartz in both arms and twice in her side, according to her autopsy. Schwartz’s mother, Barbara Baker, 74, was shot once in the chest.

The shootings occurred Tuesday after police were dispatched to handle a suicide threat at Baker’s home in Duluth. Baker called 911 alleging that her daughter had threatened to kill herself. Schwartz also told her mother she wanted police to shoot her, but Perry didn’t know that when she arrived at the scene, said Cpl. Illana Spellman, a Gwinnett police spokeswoman.

Shortly after Perry arrived and began speaking to Baker, Schwartz came downstairs and brandished a gun, Spellman said. Feeling threatened, the officer opened fire.

Perry could not be reached for comment Friday. Police said she was distraught and shaking immediately after the shooting.

WSB radio reported Friday morning that Perry posted a statement on her Facebook page saying she was at peace with what she did. Perry’s profile seemed to have vanished several hours later, though, when a search on Facebook produced zero results.

Officers often struggle with the emotional aftermath of such encounters, agonizing over whether they did the right thing or responded correctly to what was happening, said James Drylie, who co-wrote a book focusing on the problem called “Copicide.”

[bamacrat]

78. Even if Im not riding dirty i still feel less safe.

I always think cops are going to try to find a reason to approach me, confront me, accost me or just treat me as a hoodlum. And Im a white male in the south. They lurk, its more like harrass and arrest instead of serve and protect. Many seem to be on a power trip, happy to intimidate people in all circumstances. i work in retail (at work now, great economy and all) and we have police that come to our store and they are almost always dicks, act like they are above everything and should have their asses kissed. Im reminded of a great song by the one ice cube...fuck tha police.

[Xicano]

83. It increases my paranoia

Like looking in my mirror and seeing a police car.

[optimal-tomato]

84. Nervous

I have an unhealthy relationship with authority figures. A combination of respect, disdain, and fear.