6 ms·

Perhaps the fact that they're human? I interface with my local police at least once a month, not for recalcitrant reasons; they are good people. Is this an an

by ZoF 10y ago

Perhaps the fact that they're human? I interface with my local police at least once a month, not for recalcitrant reasons; they are good people. Is this an anecdote? Yes. Do I like seeing police as a whole cast as evil? No.

oxide 10y ago
I didn't mean to paint with a wide brush, so to speak. I know police as a whole are not evil. I've been let off the hook by police quite a few times, had an officer give me a ride home when I was stranded after walking several miles as a teenager, etc. Police retaliation happens, though. Corruption exists, etc. It's not a huge stretch to imagine local police retaliating against someone who whips out a cell phone. Even if the courts won't convict that person of a crime, police can very much exact revenge just by paying more attention to you than they might have otherwise. Stopping you without cause, searching you without cause, detaining you without reason. There are plenty of ways I could imagine retaliating against a citizen if I was corrupted/otherwise morally compromised, empowered as a police officer, and had a grudge. tl;dr: I'm not casting all cops as evil, I'm stupid, but not that stupid. I'm only speculating that this court decision might not stop an officer with a grudge from retaliating against a civilian. It's perfectly logical, and wasn't intended as a generalization against police. I'm not a cop-hater.
- lbatx 10y ago
  Because a cop was nice to you once doesn't mean he isn't a bad apple. Just means he was nice to you once.
mahyarm 10y ago
Every group will have bad apples, it's statistically inevitable. What matters is how bad apples are dealt with. Because if they are not dealt with properly, 'the bad apple spoils the bunch'. In police / court land, bad apple pruning isn't good enough. On top of that the stakes are high and their are legal malincentives that encourage the government to do the wrong things. It's harder to do bad apple pruning with police because of the risk category and their job responsibilities.
mulmen 10y ago
Please do not put words in my mouth. I did not claim that all (or even any) police are evil or inhuman. I do not think "How will this look in the paper?" calculates into whether or not an officer issues me a ticket for speeding or lets me go with a warning or attempts to search my car. I don't think it is considered at any point by individual officers, including during the use of force. I think the decision is based more on behavior such as if I am evasive or cooperative. I am far more likely to get a warning if I am polite rather than argumentative.
zo1 10y ago
Perfectly reasonable, normal, "good"-looking people can become very bad very quickly. Just because they act decent, polite, etc for 99% of their day, doesn't mean that they're not capable of behaving differently. This is the nature of criminals, as well. They're fine for the most part, until they break a law. The real problem is that we're allowing a parallel "judicial system" to exist in the first place. One that selectively applies certain rules to certain groups, which is in this case, the police.

by ZoF 10y ago

oxide 10y ago

I didn't mean to paint with a wide brush, so to speak. I know police as a whole are not evil. I've been let off the hook by police quite a few times, had an officer give me a ride home when I was stranded after walking several miles as a teenager, etc. Police retaliation happens, though. Corruption exists, etc. It's not a huge stretch to imagine local police retaliating against someone who whips out a cell phone. Even if the courts won't convict that person of a crime, police can very much exact revenge just by paying more attention to you than they might have otherwise. Stopping you without cause, searching you without cause, detaining you without reason. There are plenty of ways I could imagine retaliating against a citizen if I was corrupted/otherwise morally compromised, empowered as a police officer, and had a grudge. tl;dr: I'm not casting all cops as evil, I'm stupid, but not that stupid. I'm only speculating that this court decision might not stop an officer with a grudge from retaliating against a civilian. It's perfectly logical, and wasn't intended as a generalization against police. I'm not a cop-hater.

lbatx 10y ago
Because a cop was nice to you once doesn't mean he isn't a bad apple. Just means he was nice to you once.

mahyarm 10y ago

Every group will have bad apples, it's statistically inevitable. What matters is how bad apples are dealt with. Because if they are not dealt with properly, 'the bad apple spoils the bunch'. In police / court land, bad apple pruning isn't good enough. On top of that the stakes are high and their are legal malincentives that encourage the government to do the wrong things. It's harder to do bad apple pruning with police because of the risk category and their job responsibilities.

mulmen 10y ago

Please do not put words in my mouth. I did not claim that all (or even any) police are evil or inhuman. I do not think "How will this look in the paper?" calculates into whether or not an officer issues me a ticket for speeding or lets me go with a warning or attempts to search my car. I don't think it is considered at any point by individual officers, including during the use of force. I think the decision is based more on behavior such as if I am evasive or cooperative. I am far more likely to get a warning if I am polite rather than argumentative.

zo1 10y ago

Perfectly reasonable, normal, "good"-looking people can become very bad very quickly. Just because they act decent, polite, etc for 99% of their day, doesn't mean that they're not capable of behaving differently. This is the nature of criminals, as well. They're fine for the most part, until they break a law. The real problem is that we're allowing a parallel "judicial system" to exist in the first place. One that selectively applies certain rules to certain groups, which is in this case, the police.