Damn. I just got into this thread. Obviously I'm not reading 2 complete threads, the second and shorter one currently 125 pages, but I did check out the original and the last post, both of which are sickening.
Yes, cops do have a dangerous, often thankless job. You have to give them that. But they also have an attitude problem. Cop culture has changed quite a bit from the days of the Andy Griffith Show, when a guy wanted to be a cop to help people. The mentality today is more one of wanting to "catch bad guys". And yes, there are some truly "bad guys" out there, but for the most part people are just people. There are very few clear-cut "good guys" and "bad guys" and it's often the cops who are the bad guys in many situations these days. But if you're becoming a cop to "catch bad guys" then you're entering into it with the wrong damned mentality to start with because more than 99% of the people you will probably run into on a daily basis are not bad people, they're just people, imperfect and flawed, just like you. They don't have a child tied up in their trunk. They aren't running drugs or guns for a violent and bloody cartel. They didn't just hack up their parents.
Of course the person with the attitude problem doesn't see a problem. Many cops today just have the wrong attitude toward people and the wrong understanding of what they are there for. They don't realize that they exist to protect us, not to "take out bad guys". And you see it over and over again in many videos, they take it personally when you run or otherwise irritate them.
The way I see it, police culture today has three major problems, the three Ps. That's aside from the "us against them" or "protect our own" mentalities which have probably always existed.
The first is Power. A lot of people become cops for the power. This is not the mentality you need in a police officer. If someone is an officer because they want the power that person is a bad cop. They are there to protect the people in theory, something they can't do if they're at the job for their own personal reasons. This is the problem in the first video in the first post in the first thread.
The second is Payback. Piss them off, they'll get back at you. I had a nephew pulled over for DUI. When asked to take a breathalyzer he asked for a blood test. He actually said, "I'm not refusing your test, but I want a blood test." The officer responded only with the original question, "Will you take a breathalyzer test?" This went on until the officer finally decided that he had refused, escorted him, in handcuffs, to a place the cameras didn't see and punched him in the ribs. If you can't control your fucking temper then YOU ARE the bad guy. This is the problem in most of the "excessive force" videos, of which there are too many to mention.
The last is Punishment. They feel a need to personally punish a "perp", outside of the law, before even charging him with a crime. Television makes us love this one. "Watch your head", the heroic cop will tell the s"bad guy" before bashing his head against the side of the car. And we love it! We did just see the guy try to kill a bunch of people. We KNOW he's guilty. The story made that clear. And we're pretty sure he's going to get out of it in court because we know there's a season 2. So this is justifiable because it's the only punishment he's going to get. At least until the hero cop catches up with him again next season. But real life isn't always so cut and dried. Real life is messy and gray. The last video of the dog biting the unarmed, naked man was a little Payback (he didn't immediately do what he was told) and a little Punishment (he's running around naked, there are lots of "could haves" which could be inferred, best to punish him because he's probably a pervert, even though the man is clearly mentally unstable in the video).
Unfortunately, at least one of these three qualities are probably present in nearly every single police officer, if not at first, then after they've worked the job a year or two and become acclimated to "how it's done". And maybe not always, but sometimes. There are people who become officers for good reasons. But our desire as human beings to fit in is very strong. I have a friend who became a police officer. Great guy, then and now. But even he has succumbed to this desire to fit in. He was involved in a story another friend told me. Her boyfriend was behind the wheel of his car, passed out drunk. But the keys were in his pocket, not the ignition. So they woke him up and told him to go home, then drove off and waited a little distance away so they could bust him when he drove away. There he was, drunk, but harmless, and they created a situation where he was no longer harmless just so that they could do something about it. Because of this the charges were thrown out. There wasn't an issue until they created one. This cop is a really, really good guy, but he was still a bad cop that night. And that's one of the problems that's hard for us to even see. Yes, there are "good cops" and "bad cops", but the reality is that most are a little of both. Like good guys and bad guys, it's usually not as clear-cut as we would like to believe. So we tend to judge a person's entire worth on a single action or a small sampling of their actions. Most of the time, even the cops involved in things like this last video are probably pretty decent people and pretty decent cops. But sometimes they're not. The guy in the first video, he was just a prick on a power trip. There is NEVER an excuse for that shit. He is a bad, bad person, the fucking end. Or maybe he's not. I guess I'm making a judgement based on one action right there too, but it sure feels right.
The only real fix is a total makeover of police mentality. Perhaps a new division whose sole responsibility is to go through each and every police interaction and tell the officer where they went wrong, when they should have had more empathy, what they should have done differently and what they did right. Not a division which is there to bust them or catch them doing wrong, just one that is there to explain what "empathy" means in each interaction. Their desire to fit in would take right over and they would want to get good reviews every time. One thing is sure, SOMETHING needs to be done to fix the system.
Yes, cops do have a dangerous, often thankless job. You have to give them that. But they also have an attitude problem. Cop culture has changed quite a bit from the days of the Andy Griffith Show, when a guy wanted to be a cop to help people. The mentality today is more one of wanting to "catch bad guys". And yes, there are some truly "bad guys" out there, but for the most part people are just people. There are very few clear-cut "good guys" and "bad guys" and it's often the cops who are the bad guys in many situations these days. But if you're becoming a cop to "catch bad guys" then you're entering into it with the wrong damned mentality to start with because more than 99% of the people you will probably run into on a daily basis are not bad people, they're just people, imperfect and flawed, just like you. They don't have a child tied up in their trunk. They aren't running drugs or guns for a violent and bloody cartel. They didn't just hack up their parents.
Of course the person with the attitude problem doesn't see a problem. Many cops today just have the wrong attitude toward people and the wrong understanding of what they are there for. They don't realize that they exist to protect us, not to "take out bad guys". And you see it over and over again in many videos, they take it personally when you run or otherwise irritate them.
The way I see it, police culture today has three major problems, the three Ps. That's aside from the "us against them" or "protect our own" mentalities which have probably always existed.
The first is Power. A lot of people become cops for the power. This is not the mentality you need in a police officer. If someone is an officer because they want the power that person is a bad cop. They are there to protect the people in theory, something they can't do if they're at the job for their own personal reasons. This is the problem in the first video in the first post in the first thread.
The second is Payback. Piss them off, they'll get back at you. I had a nephew pulled over for DUI. When asked to take a breathalyzer he asked for a blood test. He actually said, "I'm not refusing your test, but I want a blood test." The officer responded only with the original question, "Will you take a breathalyzer test?" This went on until the officer finally decided that he had refused, escorted him, in handcuffs, to a place the cameras didn't see and punched him in the ribs. If you can't control your fucking temper then YOU ARE the bad guy. This is the problem in most of the "excessive force" videos, of which there are too many to mention.
The last is Punishment. They feel a need to personally punish a "perp", outside of the law, before even charging him with a crime. Television makes us love this one. "Watch your head", the heroic cop will tell the s"bad guy" before bashing his head against the side of the car. And we love it! We did just see the guy try to kill a bunch of people. We KNOW he's guilty. The story made that clear. And we're pretty sure he's going to get out of it in court because we know there's a season 2. So this is justifiable because it's the only punishment he's going to get. At least until the hero cop catches up with him again next season. But real life isn't always so cut and dried. Real life is messy and gray. The last video of the dog biting the unarmed, naked man was a little Payback (he didn't immediately do what he was told) and a little Punishment (he's running around naked, there are lots of "could haves" which could be inferred, best to punish him because he's probably a pervert, even though the man is clearly mentally unstable in the video).
Unfortunately, at least one of these three qualities are probably present in nearly every single police officer, if not at first, then after they've worked the job a year or two and become acclimated to "how it's done". And maybe not always, but sometimes. There are people who become officers for good reasons. But our desire as human beings to fit in is very strong. I have a friend who became a police officer. Great guy, then and now. But even he has succumbed to this desire to fit in. He was involved in a story another friend told me. Her boyfriend was behind the wheel of his car, passed out drunk. But the keys were in his pocket, not the ignition. So they woke him up and told him to go home, then drove off and waited a little distance away so they could bust him when he drove away. There he was, drunk, but harmless, and they created a situation where he was no longer harmless just so that they could do something about it. Because of this the charges were thrown out. There wasn't an issue until they created one. This cop is a really, really good guy, but he was still a bad cop that night. And that's one of the problems that's hard for us to even see. Yes, there are "good cops" and "bad cops", but the reality is that most are a little of both. Like good guys and bad guys, it's usually not as clear-cut as we would like to believe. So we tend to judge a person's entire worth on a single action or a small sampling of their actions. Most of the time, even the cops involved in things like this last video are probably pretty decent people and pretty decent cops. But sometimes they're not. The guy in the first video, he was just a prick on a power trip. There is NEVER an excuse for that shit. He is a bad, bad person, the fucking end. Or maybe he's not. I guess I'm making a judgement based on one action right there too, but it sure feels right.
The only real fix is a total makeover of police mentality. Perhaps a new division whose sole responsibility is to go through each and every police interaction and tell the officer where they went wrong, when they should have had more empathy, what they should have done differently and what they did right. Not a division which is there to bust them or catch them doing wrong, just one that is there to explain what "empathy" means in each interaction. Their desire to fit in would take right over and they would want to get good reviews every time. One thing is sure, SOMETHING needs to be done to fix the system.
Have you ever noticed all the drug commercials on TV lately? Why is it the side effects never include penile enlargement or super powers?
Side effects may include super powers or enlarged penis which may become permanent with continued use. Stop taking Killatol immediately and consult your doctor if you experience penis enlargement of more than 3 inches, laser vision, superhuman strength, invulnerability, the ability to explode heads with your mind or time travel. Killatoll is not for everyone, especially those who already have convertibles or vehicles of ridiculous size to supplement penis size.
Side effects may include super powers or enlarged penis which may become permanent with continued use. Stop taking Killatol immediately and consult your doctor if you experience penis enlargement of more than 3 inches, laser vision, superhuman strength, invulnerability, the ability to explode heads with your mind or time travel. Killatoll is not for everyone, especially those who already have convertibles or vehicles of ridiculous size to supplement penis size.
