I hope to generate some discussion here for future posts, but I am also just plain curious. Please answer quickly and from the hip:
What’s Wrong With Cops These Days?
Let’s see what people think…
The Philosophical Cop Police Blog
Ramblings of a Police Officer and Philosopher
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The Philosophical Cop Police Blog 
Matt, apparently I don’t live in the same world you live in. Even though I’ve spent my life in small towns, I hear there’s a drug problem in some other places. I hear that some people break into other people’s property and “borrow” items they didn’t work for. I hear folks don’t always get along with the people they’re living with and try to give their face a new look. I hear children need medical attention because the parents got tired of kicking the dog and found a new target. I hear of women who need someone with the ability to use force stronger than the man choking them. I hear about these types of things because they are on the TV almost every night, at least in my world.
The police don’t stop crime? They don’t prevent criminals from selling drugs to yet another idiot? They don’t put a stop to a thief’s crime spree? They don’t stop that same thief from beating an elderly man in his own home? They don’t stop a parent from beating on the other children? They don’t stop a serial rapist from going on to his next victim? Really? That’s not what I hear on the TV almost every night.
Maybe I should come live in your world because if what you said is all that ever happens in your world….that would be great.
thats right you heard it on tv so it must be true. cops get there after the rape robbery and assault. they categorize and document the crime and if there are any leads they follow them up to the best of their ability. it is almost NEVER that a cop actually stops a crime. and by the way, criminalizing more things ie., drugs, having no insurance, free speech etc., does not make more heroes, it makes more regular people into criminals. maybe you should stop watching so much tv and come to a city some time. it is no where near as scary as they want you to think. did you ever wonder why all of the shows on that boob tube are about the heroics of cops and lawyers and judges? just what percentage of the people on earth do you figure to be criminals that you need protection from? you can exclude the criminal cops from your figures if you want.
Police are by definition a reactionary force, called law enforcement. In order for them to enforce a law or city ordinance and a statue laws must be broken. Police would love to stop a crime but sadly they’re often too late. Proactive policing is the job of the FBI or Secret Service and other government institutions. Police are lucky if the perpetrator is still at the scene of the crime.
I am a clinician for the mentally ill and work in a dangerous part of the city. I see all lot of things that most people don’t see. I’ve been attacked on several occasions by my clients. I will only call the police if violence has occurred or imminent, calling the police on drug deals or prostitution is a waste of my time and theirs, the crime was committed and the “perps” leave before they can respond A crime has to be occurring before they can act, if they can set up a situation like drug deals and prostitution stings they will. However it can only be done if they have the budget to do so.
Traffic enforcement is probably the most important thing they can do. I went to Indonesia on a two way highway they will fit 5 cars side by side causing accidents and death. I used to believe that cops were just revenue agents but going to a different country will change your mind trust me it’s a harrowing experience
i have been to many other countries, although not indonesia, and i have had little to no problem with any crime anywhere but the good old USA. of course that comment should be tempered with the notion that i never spent any really significant time in those places, maybe just a few months total. but police in other places do not act the same as they do here. they do not seem to be on the same assanine paower trip. they do not bark out orders as if their lives depend on controlling the public at every moment they are in uniform. the idea that traffic enforcement is their main job is the stupidest thing i have ever heard. they are called police, because they are supposed to police our nieghborhoods, to be ever vigiliant protectors of the public, not the overlords of our existence. their presence on the beat, visible in our streets is their tantamount importance, but that is barely what they do. what they do is hide out in their squads and wait for dispatch. hardly heroic work. and while they are busy doing nothing they get to power trip and parade around in those snazzy jack booted uniforms like they have some god given authority over the masses. what does it take to be a cop again? a GED and 5′-3 inches of height?
ged 5′ 3 and the abillity to almost never think for yourself.
Its not about a ged. For nycpd it is a special breed of individuals. U have assholes in every professional job. Yea we bark orders to get a situation under control…please doesn’t always work. We are sent to unknown and have split seconds to react. I have perps that see me in the streets and actually look out for me cause even when I barked and locked them up I gave them respect. I am female and 5’2″ by the way and retired. Never hurt by a perp. Did patrol my entire career on midnights, lead a few times on overtime in the city. Not once had a complaint against me. U have no clue what a cop is or does. Oh yea I have a college degree.
are you a retired officer BECAUSE you have a college education by chance? i agree that sometimes a little edge is required to defuse a potentially violent situation but when a cop pulls over a car load of kids having fun on graduation night whats all the barking for? even if the kids are drunk and potentially harmful to other motorists, whats all the barking solve? saying a cop needs to be an ass to do a good job is like implying that a parent has to beat their kid all the time if they want them to grow up right. its just untrue and ignorant. i believe the best leading is done through example. cops should try treating “perps” like people instead of thinking they need to be rude to get things done. if you treat someone with respect nine times out of ten they’ll give it right back. same with being an asshole. simple.
yea there are cops that do that and have power trips they all so hit and hurt people im scared of them.i never boke the law.and now they decided that i dont need my car.and falseafied a report.im thating this all the way to grand jury
they manipulate the info to influence the publics opinion.
oh i agree, it is a special breed of individuals… power high, frightened, control freaks. the fact that you had to “bark out orders to get the situation under control” is exactly what i meant in the comments above. everywhere else i’ve been it wasn’t like that. cops only behave like assholes here in the USA, probably because you think you are a breed apart. always colluding to protect one another from the crimes you commit daily while using the crimes that others commit daily as justification for the way you behave. here is yet another perfect example. i can’t wait to hear your defense of the officer in this article who killed two people in a DUI accident and is about to be let off even though there is video taped evidence of him doing shots in the bar minutes before the crash. his bretheren managed to not breathalize him for 7 hours after the fact. and don’t give me that one bad apple crap, you liars are all the same. there was a whole department that stood by for 7 hours after a double fatality accident that this scum bag caused who did nothing to make it right. lets hear the excuses.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2208736,CST-NWS-ardelean28.article
i feel that knoxville police are dirty my friend gave a so called friend a ride because his tags on his truck was not the right tags. so this friend got out (not my friend)into a gray car all of a sudden cops was all over the place.they pull my friemd out of my car(mind you i wasnt there)by his hair through the window. he ask what was going on they told he that they found 200 pills in my car.i k now for a fact and put my life on it that it isnt true.then they threw him down and kick his ribs in.the pills come from a gray car and they were all ready bagged and mark in two seconds.(hoiw is this possilbe)i had to bail him out and he was couching up blood.they took my car and now i have n o way to get around im disabled and afaid of the police.i will never put my faith in our police or give a red cent to them again
one more thing they have way to much power and we dont have rights what happen to our rights i know theres a drug problem and im all for it to stop it BUT COME ON THAT A LITTLE MUCH
There is nothing wrong with the police- it has everything to do with the system as a whole, which focuses punishment on the individual. Nobody ever asks, why is this criminal a criminal? Nobody is born a doctor or a lawyer, and nobody is born a criminal- we are poured into the mould, but nowadays nobody cares; they just care about someone taking the blame. The problem with the police is that they do their job, but unfortunately because of the focused punishment, their job results in ruining somebodys life- when you are branded a criminal, thats what you will be, and you can never escape a label like that. Look at the recidivism rate! Good god, why does that not turn a light on in everybody? 85% of prisoners will return to prison! These are people! just like you and me, except they made different mistakes; sure, some belong there, but those who go back were at one time out, so they paid for what they did, and then did something to go back- and thats wrong. The average prisoner walks out with 100 dollars to his name and a label that will deny him employment in 75% of the ‘open’ market jobs. Insurance costs more, and nobody trusts them at all, and everybody is waiting for the criminal to screw up again, so why are we surprised when it actually happens? Self fulfilling prophecy. Peoples lives are absolutely ruined after being convicted of crimes, and i believe that our society looks at criminals as criminals and not fellow human beings, and we dont take into consideration the system that made them that way. It aint fair, and thats the truth; but its not the police officers fault, the fault lies with social class warfare and the individualistic society we are born into, resulting in egotistic people who dont give a shit about anything except their next paycheck.