Not Just Indianapolis police

[Blackhawk2001]

Why I'm Fond of "Cop-Bashing" Threads, by dross

First, can we please stop calling criticism "bashing?" Bashing is getting personal, or putting all cops in the same category as a bad cop. I'd say lawyers get bashed on this forum at a much higher level, and rate, than cops. There are just fewer threads about it.

Cops are the government. They are the teeth of the government. Cops are the men with guns that represent the power of the government over its citizens.

Police conduct should be held to a much, much higher standard than most other people in our society. As a society, we give police respect, prestige, enormous power, the benefit of the doubt, higher weight to their sworn statements than the average citizen, and better than average pay for the communities they live in.

In response, they owe us the absolute best behavior. It should be hard to get to be a cop, and easy to get fired. Cops who do wrong should be punished at twice the level of consequence. It should be a special and very costly offense to be found guilty of covering up the criminal behavior of a fellow cop. Cops should be held to the absolute highest standards of conduct.

At the least we should be able to use our freedom of speech to expose, talk about, revile, and beat until the horse is hamburger, any and all misconduct we hear about, read about, or find on Youtube.

Free speech like this is citizens regaining their power, not bashing.

And you policemen don't like it, I can't blame you. Along with arguing your position here, I urge you to ruthlessly turn in, turn out, and publically distance yourself from those among you who aren't worthy to be your brothers in blue.

Those of you who reflexively circle the wagons are just as much to blame for knee-jerk cop-bashing as the bashers, and frankly, it's the same trait in both sides.

The problem I have with your comment is not that police should be held to a higher standard, because I think a crooked cop is as bad as a crooked doctor or lawyer, but that we have so much latitude to Monday Morning Quarterback everything they do.

I understand that others feel they have the same sort of scrutiny at their jobs, but many of those jobs don't involve such constant interaction with human beings acting their worst.

I've watched a video of a sheriff's deputy trying to be reasonable with a driver get gunned down; in my mind he tried to reason with the shooter long after I would have shot him. The shooter pulled out an M-1 carbine and put about 18 rounds into the deputy. So you have street cops getting a "combat" mindset because that's what they see and that's how they're trained - and enough cops get gunned down that the lessons are pretty well engrained in the cops with a survival mentality.

Hooray for cell phone cameras. Between them and police cameras, perhaps we'll be able to better sort out complicated situations so that neither citizens nor police get railroaded by false accusations.

But I'm willing to bet we'll never get the complete story by someone posting a video clip online.

 

[dross]

The problem I have with your comment is not that police should be held to a higher standard, because I think a crooked cop is as bad as a crooked doctor or lawyer, but that we have so much latitude to Monday Morning Quarterback everything they do.

I understand that others feel they have the same sort of scrutiny at their jobs, but many of those jobs don't involve such constant interaction with human beings acting their worst.

I've watched a video of a sheriff's deputy trying to be reasonable with a driver get gunned down; in my mind he tried to reason with the shooter long after I would have shot him. The shooter pulled out an M-1 carbine and put about 18 rounds into the deputy. So you have street cops getting a "combat" mindset because that's what they see and that's how they're trained - and enough cops get gunned down that the lessons are pretty well engrained in the cops with a survival mentality.

Hooray for cell phone cameras. Between them and police cameras, perhaps we'll be able to better sort out complicated situations so that neither citizens nor police get railroaded by false accusations.

But I'm willing to bet we'll never get the complete story by someone posting a video clip online.

Respectfully, my answer to your post is, so what?

Not having been a cop, I'm quite sure it's a tough job bordering on the impossible. Okay. Resign if it's too tough. People stand in line to work as a cop. I'm a citizen, they work for me (as part of the collective) and I have every right to criticize them and second guess them and nit pick them and put them under enormously unfair scrutiny. These guys have the power to ruin lives if they're bad. Just as with politicians, and judges and others to whom we grant power, expect a tough life. If you don't like it, quit. In fact, that's the best way to get a pay raise for cops. Make it so tough to be a cop that fewer people can do it to standard. Then they'll have to pay more to find the rare kind of person who can do such a tough job.

 

[CarmelHP]

Respectfully, my answer to your post is, so what?

Not having been a cop, I'm quite sure it's a tough job bordering on the impossible. Okay. Resign if it's too tough. People stand in line to work as a cop. I'm a citizen, they work for me (as part of the collective) and I have every right to criticize them and second guess them and nit pick them and put them under enormously unfair scrutiny. These guys have the power to ruin lives if they're bad. Just as with politicians, and judges and others to whom we grant power, expect a tough life. If you don't like it, quit. In fact, that's the best way to get a pay raise for cops. Make it so tough to be a cop that fewer people can do it to standard. Then they'll have to pay more to find the rare kind of person who can do such a tough job.

Precisely, if it's so awful then let go. Any cop who gets to the point that they believe it's "us vs. them" in some sort of occupational army then it's time to see the egress. Drunks, crooks, bullies, and power-trippers need to be rooted out and retired to burger flipping.

 

[Compatriot G]

I can relate to the power trip thing. About 10 years ago, I worked armed security in Indianapolis. Initially, I was just a security guard. I would frequently work 12 hour shifts. This translated into 14 hour days for me because I live in New Castle. After a while, I really enjoyed going to work, even though the shifts were long. Eventually, I was accepted into the special deputies program. After the first week, I quit my job altogether. I had a realization. The reason I enjoyed my job so much was the power I had. Even as a security guard, people would do what I told them because I wore a uniform, had a badge and carried a gun. It was going to be even better after I got a real badge and an I-can-arrest-you card. That is when I knew I needed to quit. I was afraid I was becoming the thing I hated, a person on a power trip. I was afraid if I had real police powers I would become Judge Dredd. That was when I knew I couldn't continue working this type of job. The scary part of the whole situation is that it sneaks up on you. You don't realize the power and authority you have are corrupting you.

 

[smitty12b]

It's no different than any other walk of life. Some cops steal drugs and money. Some soldiers cut off fingers for souvenirs. Some fast food workers spit on burgers. Some landlords put cameras in the houses of their tenants to satisfy their twisted mentality.

There will always be people that do the wrong thing. There will always be people that cover for them. Some people have a blind allegiance and feel the need to protect the wrong-doers...thinking that somehow they are protecting themselves. I'll never understand that mindset.

Fortunately both are the minority. The vast majority of all people do the right thing. But that doesn't sell newspapers.

I don't have much...but what I have I refuse to lose for a wrong-doer. In the grand scheme of things...I don't amount to much. But I worked hard to get my place on the bottom rung of this ladder.

How dare you bring truth and common sense into a discussion like this

 

[Lex Concord]

The problem I have with your comment is not that police should be held to a higher standard, because I think a crooked cop is as bad as a crooked doctor or lawyer, but that we have so much latitude to Monday Morning Quarterback everything they do.

A crooked cop is far more dangerous than a crooked doc or lawyer.

While any of the above can endanger your life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness by their dereliction, docs face malpractice and attorneys disbarment for their unethical acts. Cops have statutory immunity while on the clock, and have many in the judiciary on their side by default. Even when the crooked ones are found out, it is less likely that they will be prevented from doing more of the same.