About Cops
Sometime ago, I noticed a definite negative attitude toward police by certain persons who post in the Gulch. While I have a number of friends and a relative in law enforcement, I have personally only known cops who are really good guys. They are patriotic persons who believe that they are doing good, and are willing to put themselves at risk at the drop of a hat 24/7. I was wondering how pervasive is the anti-cop attitude in GG, or is it only by people who have had a bad experience, or just plain dislike having anyone having authority over them.
I've known, throughout my life, good and bad cops, as individuals--as well as good and bad CPAs, good and bad Doctors, good and bad car salesmen, etc., etc.. But all those other good and bads don't kill nearly 100 Americans per month of all races and ages, nor are they protected from the consequences of their misdeeds by the state and their good compatriots. And saying that, I fully recognize that there is a number of those shootings that are unavoidable, though I'll continue to question each and every one. We've all seen the Carolina shooting of a fleeing man shot in the back and the cop trying to plant his taser.
But until the good cops weed out the bad cops and the bad practices and the bad enforcement actions, such as early morning SWAT raids to serve misdemeanor warrants by militarized members of their organizations, I'll continue to question all cops, particularly the ones I know personally and individually. Those men take an oath when they enter their profession, and 'I'm just doing my job and following orders', just flat out doesn't cut it any more for me.
I don't have an anti-cop attitude as much as I have a pro-individual-liberty attitude. If they desire my respect, they're going to have to earn it, and I don't recognize or grant anyone's authority over me.
In a nation of 330 million of the supposedly most free individuals on earth, that imprisons more people per capita as well as more in total than any other, and sees near 100 per month dying in interactions with police, more than any other--we've got problems. The hero cop in my thinking is the one that has never had to pull his weapon while on duty, and the one that his neighbors talk to about their difficulties without fear of being reported--not the first responder type that wants hero recognition.
The retired cop (my cousin's kid) never pulled his gun in 30 years except on a target. However, his shoulders are almost as broad as his height. His nickname is "Bear." So, most bad guys don't usually give him much trouble Many first responders are there simply because they are closest to the scene when the call goes out. They are not given a choice when they get a call, also, and remember, they are on call whether they are on duty or not.
If we're going to have a civilization we have to have a government, and that implies police. But a big drawback immediately arises: you can't sign up to enforce only the laws that are moral. It's all or nothing, and if you refuse an order you're fired. Thus, in my view, it is not quite morally possible to become a cop, unless you can find a way to retain enough choice that you aren't required to violate anybody's rights. (The same problem exists with being a soldier, too.) To put it simply, respecting people's rights has to be given priority over following orders. And I don't want badges or guns in the hands of anyone who doesn't see things that way.
If and when we can strip police (and prosecutors and judges and everyone else) of their immunity, so that everyone they bully or injure when they shouldn't can go to court and get justice, then I'd no longer have a problem with them, because once that happens (and the victimless crime laws go away, of course) they'd have to adopt the right set of priorities. And cop would no longer be an attractive job for people who love to bully.
While we're at it, the system should compensate everyone who has suffered damage as a result of even completely legitimate police action if he turns out to be innocent (or at least innocent of anything big enough that the damage would have been called for). Thus for instance, a person who loses his home and his job after a false accusation of rape should be compensated just as if the accuser had done the damage physically. And similarly someone whose home was torn apart looking for stolen property that wasn't there.
Then there's blatant incompetence. For example, when the cop perjured himself on the ticket he wrote because he didn't understand the meaning of the sections he signed. The court accepts ignorance as an excuse for a cop, not for a defendant. The box that says "signed in" is where the ticket is signed, not two towns away. And the cop (a different moron) is supposed to write the current year on the ticket, not some other year. I would have been okay with the court cutting the cop some slack if it was early January. But it was NOT January. Oh, I just remembered the fraudulent discovery, with the cop claiming he had sent all materials, but then using non-discovered notes. But judges can be worse than the cops. See the judges pictured, for example, on the top of the page at http://www.stalincare.com/home/those-....
There are many good police who try hard to make the world a better place, but in the end it is the entire system above them that has gotten corrupt.
What the political class get away with enforcing today, is worse than what the Founders of America went to war over.
Also way too much of the time, the police are used simply as tax collectors by local governments and then the totally unconstitutional asset forfeiture laws make policing for profit a huge business, usually on the backs of the lower classes.
I think that being a policeman or women is a tough profession. Their job must be frustrating to say the least when perpetrators they apprehend get slapped on the wrist and then repeat many times with fatal results.
The complications with policing are many, the law makers pile on new laws and regulations.
Then those same officials pressure to ignore laws. (illegal aliens).
The vetting of candidates for policework is also
Challenging. When I read a sheriff is fined $10000 for requiring citizenship as a job requirement.
I think about how controlling and irrational national govt... meddling is over local .
My recommendation to my kids when they were teens. Be respectful, be good use your manners and don't run from the cops.
The most difficult situations in anyone's life and death, the police are first responders.
Another issue that would improve the police situation in our country would be to take the money out of drugs. Legalize and Millions would no longer be criminals for using or trafficking.they would have to work to make the big money they make on selling narcotics .l think murders would decline all across the country. Just my two bits.
Also when advising kids, I added to what you said "put your hands where they can see them."
Another example was a kid I was in High School with, who got arrested and kicked the window out of the cruiser. He beat the hell out of two officers, and another cruiser ended up helping subdue him. This kid was no offensive lineman or anything. I got into a fight with him in High School for a blatant inappropriate act his did to my girlfriend, and I wiped the floor with him handily. Just more wimps.
My favorite was the shooting in Palm Bay in 1986 (I think). This was pathetic. A senile old veteran lost his marbles and decided to shoot several people. He shot a kid in the neighborhood. Then he shot a police man in a car responding. His partner emptied his revolver at the guy right across the street. He then fumbled his speed loader. They found him shot with bullets all over his lap. Then this guy went into a Kmart and took hostages. He shot some people in the parking lot. Several towns of cops were called in, and eventually the National Guard. They couldn't get to the people who were shot in the parking lot...for hours. One nutty old man held off these guys for hours. This was one of the most blatant acts of police cowardice and incompetence I have seen. I could go on an on about these clowns.
Police are police-friendly. They often do give traffic tickets to each other, and they get other special treatment. This is inappropriate and annoying.
All that said, being a police officer is a very hard job, particularly real cops in urban areas. I have great respect for the guys that can deal with this with polite attitudes and know where to draw the line. The doughnut-eating tax collectors of small towns are often not the same tough customers.
I believe that police officers just like any other job have good and bad people. Sadly today the media makes big news off the few bad ones.
Me now the old dino been around. Me done seen it time after time.
My degrees are in criminology. Most of my work in that has been in private security. I am now in the state military department, which despite posse comitatus does have a law enforcement role. All that I can say here is: "It's complicated."
We know from statistics that college-educated police write more tickets.
We know from statistics that college-educated police have fewer complaints from the public.
We know from statistics that women write more tickets than men.
We know from statistics that women have fewer complaints from the public.
The best police force would be comprised entirely of college-educated women. (For a glimpse into that, there is a novella, "The Good Walk Alone" by Wolf Devoon.)
Criminologists know the unsolved problem of "Rotten Apples or Rotten Barrels." Some departments have bad cultures. We know that. When the college semester 2005 opened, our class assignment was to fix the New Orleans police department. Then Katrina struck and the assignment was canceled. On the other hand, Minneapolis does have its problems, but statistically far fewer of them.
O. W. Wilson was a student of August Vollmer. Wilson re-organized several police departments. His last success was Chicago. No sooner was he congratulated than the department committed the "police riot" at the 1968 Democratic Party Convention. To me, all that proves is that people are not billiard balls so therefore criminology cannot be physics. There are no reductionist answers to the problems.
Also someone downgraded me to a zero. Boo Hoo.
So the suggestion is: Control the borders. Reduce the domestic fire power. Oh, and if cops beat a defenseless person to death as they did with Kelly Thomas in SoCal those cops need to be put in prison with the general population or put to death.
Of course not. Given a limited sized island and a limited population, the rule of law will likely be far different from that of a great nation, given the nature of man.
I know there are some bad apples out there as in any profession. Experience with those officers should not color the entire view of law enforcement officers actions.
Consider this single stat. There have been 60 officers killed in the line of duty so far this year. If there are no more killed, that equates to 5 per month or 1 and a 1/4 every week. That is a record we should not try to emulate ever again.
http://www.nleomf.org/facts/officer-f...
There aren't many jobs outside the military that you are aware that when you walk out the door, there's a distinct chance it could be your last day alive. Police and firemen share that reality.
Not everyone who puts on a police uniform is cut out for the job. Some can't take the stress, and mentally collapse; some have a sadistic streak, and enjoy abusing people; some exercise power to intimidate and coerce; some are ethically weak and can be corrupted. Luckily for the rest of us, those misfits are in a distinct minority.