Cops. A few thoughts from someone who used to be one.

[The Straight Story]

During my training we had a psychologist come in and talk to us.

One of the things I still remember from training that he said (and I am paraphrasing here) "You can't win. If you pull someone over for speeding they don't like you, if you are not around to pull someone over for speeding and driving recklessly people are upset. They pay you to enforce the law, and when you do they don't like you. People will only like you when you don't do your job, but then others won't like you because you don't. That is a lot of stress." - we followed that up with writing down stress factors in our lives at the time.

I have interacted with police many times in my life. Been pulled over quite a few times, usually just let off with a warning (but not always).

Some of the cops I worked with (well, I was a deputy, the term cops seems more all inclusive though) were absolute assholes and were on a power trip. Others believed in going by the book and serving the public and understood their function -- but it is not easy to be one of those people because of how people tend to stick together.

I was hated by many because I was a friend of the Sheriff and was friends with the director of internal affairs. And cops hate internal affairs division.

Cops are often underfunded. Here in my hood they come out when you call, but even when you see someone stealing and write down their plate number they don't even bother to write a report or even write down the license number. I have not asked them to rush off and arrest anyone (my word versus theirs) but recording that information can come in handy to determine patterns. MOST of the stuff going on in my area is drug related - so if you want the cops to take notice...tell them it is about drugs.

When I was much younger, if you called the cops they came out, got out of the car and talked to you.

My grandfather was a police chief, and he even gave his own daughter (my mom) a ticket for running a stop sign. Pulled her over himself. Mom always laughed about it but would relate it often to people when they said cops played favorites (and they do many times, but not grandpa).

Today - times seem much worse. There are still really awesome cops who do their job, cut people some slack, etc.

But times are worse for many in this field. Stretched thin, focusing on drugs, homeland security, new mandates, laws they can't really enforce (texting, etc), domestic calls (the worse IMHO), and more and more scrutiny (which is a good thing - but see below).

The people making the laws, the ones who want less taxes and want to cut services, are the same people demanding more 'production' with less officers. Cops can't keep up with all the changes, court dates, raids, etc and still be able to service the public - they get tossed into crowd dispersal (and some, as noted, can be dicks and go way over board), they get mandates to write X amount of tickets, and slowly but surely get into a place where they want to protect each other and those in their union and become more and more out of touch with the people they are sworn to protect.

They become political tools instead of public servants. They get rated on how much they bring in. The pressure builds and builds.

I can be really hard on cops - I even recently wrote mayor Coleman here in Columbus about it all ripping some cops. But I have also seen the other side and I get that when they come out here to respond to issues they have little they can actually do - because of how politicians are using them.

Poor area here? Check. Focus on drugs because you get more federal funding for such things? Check. Ignore break ins here and spend more resources on such things in wealthy areas because they pay more taxes and want more cops? Check.

Cops can be real jackasses. They can be control freaks who put themselves and their jobs ahead of most anything else. And they can be protective of each other (gotten out of many tickets because of being cop).

But if you want change - it has to come from way above that level. Cops are the low rung on the ladder, they take their orders from politicians. Blame them when they do wrong, yell about them abusing people (I sure do), hold them accountable. But let's ratchet it up a level or two and focus on those that control their jobs. Their bosses.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

1. The problem, as I see it, is that you just can't tell

I know most cops must be more or less "good people" (that is, as good as you or me, not a saint, not a demon). But because some percentage of cops are the authoritarian beat-your-head-with-a-stick types, the ONLY safe and rational assumption one can make about any officer he/she encounters, is that this person is one of those sorts of cops. Good cop/bad cop--they'll all wear the same uniform. Then there are otherwise "good cops" who cover for the bad ones with that thin blue line.

So yes, I know lots of police are good, normal people, but there's no way to tell just by looking.

[The Straight Story]

8. Oh, I agree

I want the cops subject to the same things we are (surveillance, etc).

But in the end, they don't make the laws. If they enforce them poorly bring them up on charges the same as they would do to you and me. Lord knows there are many cops I would be happy to see in jail for their actions.

The problem goes higher and needs to be dealt with there first, otherwise we are just fighting each other in some ways.

The few are using the many, and pitting them against each other. Many cops I have known get this, but don't feel they have the power to fix it.

[Occulus]

15. "but don't feel they have the power to fix it."

Are these people five years old?

The one way- the only way- to combat it is to out the bad ones. The "good cops" could stop all the abuse literally overnight merely by pointing fingers and naming names. If the system works the way it ought to in that sort of situation, charges will be filed and the police directly responsible for the bad acts will be dealt with.

Instead, what we see is case after case, incident after incident, abuse after abuse and brutality after brutality, up to and including murder under color of authority, and this supposed mass of 'powerless good cops' you've conjured proven to be either simply is not there at all or a pathetic pack of wilting lilies.

Here's a hint for you: "good cops" who cover up for bad cops are bad cops themselves. If the majority of the police- all your supposed "good cops"- are too scared or feel too powerless to do anything about it. even to initially report the wrongdoing, they're culpable too, and that makes nearly all police bad police.

I'm sorry, I cannot agree with your main premise. Logic tells me most police are not to be trusted at all because they either cannot, or are too afraid, or demoralized, or powerless to police themselves.

[sendero]

24. IMHO..

.... doctors and cops share the "but for the grace of God go I" attitude. When a "brother" "makes a mistake", they circle the wagons because "nobody understands" and because "that could be me".

None of this is going to change, ever.

I've had my share of dealings with police, mostly over minor traffic issues. I've found that in the big city, most cops are professionals doing their job. In small towns and suburbs, most cops are assholes on a power trip. But your mileage may vary.

[WingDinger]

21. I doubt that internal affairs is as s efficient as the whole rest of the force.

[freshwest]

2. Thanks for the honest insight you shared here today.

[Fumesucker]

3. Best post I've read today.. Recced..

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. They're as frustrated as the rest of us? #Occupy.

[The Straight Story]

11. Yes, many of them are

They won't get press from me or others (because it is hard to find such stories).

There are people in these departments afraid to speak out or act, it is run like the military. Their superiors make it out to be an 'us against them' type of thing. And if you deviate from that you become the 'bad guy'. Natural instinct kicks in, and those in command and control run it all.

I don't want to get into all the stuff that happened to me as a deputy but it was made very apparent to me if you were not serving the politicians you were a target.

Bad cops? Many of them - and I fully support taking them down and exposing them. But the root of the problem is way deeper.

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. Ah, but it IS us versus them...more cops, more reporters, more everyone needs to SPEAK OUT

and further solidify the movement. I know that there is cost for doing so, but the cost of continuing as things are is unthinkable.

[appleannie1]

5. I have worked in 2 police departments as a dispatcher before 911. You stated that well.

The first I worked at for 15 years. The officers were just that. Officers. The Chief was an idiot but they did their jobs as well as they could without leadership. The second PD I worked at was totally different. The department was in the basement of the Borough Bldg. There was a camera on the cement steps to the door of the department so I could see if someone was outside. I saw 2 officers shove a drunk down those cement steps and then laugh when he landed at the bottom. I put in my notice simply because I did not want to be associated with bullies in uniform. I have found that most officers go into it because they truly care but about a third are on an ego trip. They are the ones that give the rest a bad name. But then, they are just like any other group of human beings. Most good but the rest assholes. Because I worked with them, I refuse to be intimidated by anyone in uniform.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended for the good cops out there.

I know there are some.

Thanks for the thread, The Straight Story.

[JuniperLea]

7. Much like the rest of us...

There is good and bad in all groups.

I don't think a boss told that NYPD cop to drag that chick down the street by her hair...

[Richardo]

9. Outstanding post.

Thank you. :patriot:

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. They're being set up to fail.

Increasingly, they are under pressure to fund their own operations. Courts are pressured to generate revenue (although they don't use those words) and to aggressively prosecute drug dealers because they can then seize the assets they believe were purchased with drug money.

This isn't really the cops fault, some will always be assholes, and some are committed to protecting the community, it's the fault of the elected government.

[The Straight Story]

13. Back in grandpa's day

He was both the police chief and the mayor at the same time (small town Ohio).

Crime back then was someone getting drunk and getting into fights or speeding (or, in mom's case, running one of the few stop signs).

Now crime is homeland security, someone texting, someone taking a picture of a water treatment plant, etc. The work volume has went up, pay has gone down, and more and more towns are relying on fines/tickets for their income.

A small town that once worried about a few minor things is now on the hook for fusion centers, terrorism, drugs.

[WillParkinson]

12. K&R for my cop friends...

Who have to endure things like finding a headless corpse and the husband who killed her. Who had to clean up after an accident where a motorcyclist got knocked off a freeway overpass. Who has to take statements from a family where the son anally raped his sister.

Yes, I know there are some bad cops out there. They tarnish all. But I know my friends and know what they do on a daily basis and STILL they find time to stop on a street corner to check on a girl who is lost and crying and help her find her car.

[Dawson Leery]

14. kick

[WildNovember]

16. I agree, their bosses. Street cops are the flak-catchers.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

18. My dad was a cop...

...and when I'm around cops, I generally tell them that.

One of my clients recently paid me to attend an event she'd organized, playing "the roaming photographer" for the day.

I walked up to a group of San Jose cops and introduced myself.

"My name is Mike _________, and I'm working for my friend Judy _________, who organized the event. My dad was a cop, and I was just wondering if I could get a shot of San Jose's finest?"

They knew that was a good-natured ass-kissing joke, so they all stepped back from one of the cops and laughed and pointed and said "You want HIM."

:rofl:



These guys were funny, and they were polite. One of them asked me where my dad served.

And it's like anything else in life...I think that if people approach a cop and treat him (or her) like they're a prick, they're gonna get a prick's response.

Yes, there are people out there who should NOT be on the job.

But I think, to a large degree, that it's a job that can only be done well by a very special kind of person, someone who is tough enough to handle the public, who wants to do the right thing, and who can do the job day after day after day with long stretches between "thank yous" from the people they help.

[trof]

19. Thanks, Straight. K&R, and...

If you don't mind, I think I'll print that and send it to our chief of police.
I think he's a 'good guy', and most of his troops are too.
He was called in to do a house cleaning of a small (but rapidly growing) town force with BIG problems and I think he's done a credible job.

[JohnnyLib2]

20. K & R

[randome]

22. Thank you for a much-needed perspective.

I think the anger we sometimes see at DU is, unfortunately, similar in Nature (notice I said 'similar') to the anger and frustrations that gave us, ugh, the Tea Party.

Calling cops 'pigs' is for those who are so angry they have stopped thinking clearly. And those are not the kind of people I enjoy having conversations with.

[JoeyT]

23. Well except that it runs in entirely the opposite direction.

The teabaggers are authoritarians to a man. Much like the people that insist that we aren't allowed to insult police because they're special somehow.

If you do something bad it makes you a bad person. If you see someone do something bad and you protect them it makes you a bad person. Cops protect other cops above all else.

[JFN1]

25. Do cops ever consider people "hate" cops for the same reasons cops "hate" internal affairs?

This "hatred" is rooted in mistrust. We cannot trust that cops exercise their TREMENDOUS power for the public good, because so often cops exercise their power for personal gain, even if that gain is little more than ego gratificaion.

Stress - poor excuse. Why become a cop, or stay a cop, if the stress is so terrible?

Hey, here's an idea - how about cops playing the game straight, and first, OBEYING THE LAW THEMSELVES (set a good example by living it), and second, by ENFORCING THE LAW, no matter what the politicians and upper-management say. Cops don't have to obey an illegal order, or directive, or suggestion, and cops don't have to bow to pressure to do so. If they feel like they do, then, in my opinion, they are NOT ethically suited to be a cop.

If a store owner accidently forgets to lock the door to his store, some citizens will take advantage of this and steal from him, while others will find a way to let him know, and even attempt to protect his store from those who would take the open door as an opportunity for persoanl gain, rather than as an opportunity to do good and excercise civic responsibility. Most cops, unfortunately, fall into the first category. The OP himself said being a cop got him out of many tickets - rather than pay his way, like we are ALL supposed to do, he went into the open store and filled his pockets.

None of what the OP said sheds new light on cops, at least for me. It sounds more like making excuses for bad people who do bad things, and who do bad things with the arrogance afforded only to those few in our society who stand on OUR shoulders, above the law...you know, just like the 1% do...