In the Line of Duty

[Thumpalumpacus]

True, I should've said "if you want to make the case that most cops are good... etc."

That's what I meant, lazy phrasing

But when people defending cops say "not all cops are bad" which is the argument i was parroting - they're not saying that they're all bad apart from this one good one i managed to find that lives near me, they're saying that most are good and that it's just a few bad apples we should not focus on so much - that's what's debatable

Fair enough, and well-spoken -- forgive my tendency to pedantry.

As far as "bad", I'd agree that those cops who sit silent while another cop does something illegal definitely have dirty hands. And that's too many of them.

"Most"? Definitely debatable.

Judging from my personal run-ins with police not related to me (and there's been a few and then some), most are decent guys in the situations we were in -- mainly traffic tickets, no violent crimes, no drugs. I've had enough cops be assholes to me even under those circumstances that I know a good proportion of them are either badge-heavy, jaded by continual run-ins with dipshits, or looking for a game to run. But I've also had them let me go without paperwork when they had me dead-to-rights.

I don't really care for the either-or thing that happens with public opinions about policing, and I sure as hell don't care for generalizations.