RE: Good Cop/Bad Cop? Nope. All Good.
February 24, 2019 at 8:38 am
(This post was last modified: February 24, 2019 at 8:47 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Cops are more likely to kill you than a terrorist is. In some counties and states, cops have had the hilarious distinction of killing more people than the criminals have. It isn't because we have more crime, thus necessitating a stronger response by police. The brits have higher crime rates per capita than we do a couple of times over and yet their police manage not to kill good guys -or- bad guys, by and large. Is it because america is a dangerous country and a cops job is super risky? Nah. Farming is more dangerous than police work. The lawn mowing business is more dangerous than police work.
They've become a mythologized and heavily militarized force without the restrictive standing orders, military process, or training. Perceptually surrounding by enemy forces and equipped with gear and a legal system that makes unfortunate mistakes easy and largely free of consequence. When you put it all into perspective it's not even surprising that the state of policing in the us is what it is.
-and then, we can add the specific nastiness of an individual cop on top of all of that. The system of policing we have produces misery regardless of the intentions of the cops themselves - so on the one hand it's silly to refer to those individual intentions..but on the other, part of our systemic failure is that we facilitate the worst of individual intentions. In theory, addressing the systemic failures would reduce the effect of bad actors, but that's only a sideline benefit, because the greater mass of abuse comes from legitimately good people with badges who would just as soon be rescuing kittens from trees, or whatever the hell it was they dreamt of as a kid. We've probably all been there, working a job and the customer on the other side of the counter has a legit grievance..but what can we do about it? We can;t do what they want, these are the rules, we have to do x y and z and we can't do a b or c. It's like that, except in the place of some returned item it;s a bullet and criminal charges.
They've become a mythologized and heavily militarized force without the restrictive standing orders, military process, or training. Perceptually surrounding by enemy forces and equipped with gear and a legal system that makes unfortunate mistakes easy and largely free of consequence. When you put it all into perspective it's not even surprising that the state of policing in the us is what it is.
-and then, we can add the specific nastiness of an individual cop on top of all of that. The system of policing we have produces misery regardless of the intentions of the cops themselves - so on the one hand it's silly to refer to those individual intentions..but on the other, part of our systemic failure is that we facilitate the worst of individual intentions. In theory, addressing the systemic failures would reduce the effect of bad actors, but that's only a sideline benefit, because the greater mass of abuse comes from legitimately good people with badges who would just as soon be rescuing kittens from trees, or whatever the hell it was they dreamt of as a kid. We've probably all been there, working a job and the customer on the other side of the counter has a legit grievance..but what can we do about it? We can;t do what they want, these are the rules, we have to do x y and z and we can't do a b or c. It's like that, except in the place of some returned item it;s a bullet and criminal charges.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
