In some contexts, stupidity and evil are synonymous. Law enforcement is one of those contexts.
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Now we know what Cosby is, it would be prudent to not go to his room.
Knowing what we know about the police, it would be prudent not to escalate the situation for them.
Imagine none of the violence happened at all. What is the headline?
âBitchy woman bitches at traffic stop.â
Oh there is no story then. THE STORY HERE IS THAT SHE WAS (likely) MURDERED IN CUSTODY AFTER A TRAFFIC STOP.
The police do not have the right to physically abuse you for disrespecting them. Or shouldnât. After all⌠Arnât cops just people? Or is that trope only applicable when weâre discussing â#alllivesmatterâ?
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In (Western) Germany a police officer is REQUIRED to have at least a bachelors and most often post bachelors degree to even be hired, because they only want to hire above the lowest rank of officer at this point. They are further required to attend from 1-3 YEARS of training at the police academy before moving past constant supervision.
Police do carry firearms but are responsible for every bullet and should they shoot and kill someone⌠They will go to jail for some amount of time depending on the outcome of hearing. Period.
Either and both of these things would drastically change cop culture in the US. Currently there are instances of PDs turning down applicants who have too high of an IQ. Officers also generally have less than a year of training at the academy.
There is more but just these things would change the US policing force entirely.
Edit: And please no derail with âbut so many guns in the US!â There are guns in Germany also⌠There are also mass shootings. It isnât a night and day comparison by any means.
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Iâm not sure Belgium is the right example to pick.
In the UK, the policy of the Police seems to be one of boring people to submission. Do everything slowly, ask people to repeat what happened, then ask again. I knew someone who went through the police training at Hendon, and he said a lot of it was about filtering out the short tempered. If you made a mistake, youâd have to fill in a form.
Also, be as polite as possible in a way that maximises the sarcasm without it being obvious.
We tend to have a lot of policewomen these days, and that tends to calm things down.
We did also change the name from Police Force to Police Service. And very few police officers carry guns over here.
Not that the British police are perfect.
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When Sandra and the officer are off screen to the right and you can only hear what they are saying to each other, there is a second womanâs voice that is heard asking questions while the officer keeps repeating âYou need to leaveâ⌠I understand those that do community policing are trained to âbe in controlâ of a situation, but Iâm not sure it always winds up being used for the benefit of the community.
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If this is a completely unedited video, we need to figure out how the person in the car at 32:37 managed to teleport away from the camera.
I would not place much trust in any evidence this police department provides.
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You wonât find me derailing you, particularly since you provided what I asked for. Well done!
I am usually crucified here for suggesting guns and cops are not inherently evil. (Despite agreeing that both need better regulation)
EDIT: I donât know if youâre German or an expat, but Germany is pretty lovely. Iâm not sure I could live there without a lifeline of Snark (can you get the various BBC offerings?), but it was quite beautiful the few times I visited.
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Why the distinction between Western and otherwise? Partial holdover of institutions from before the wall fall?
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This is very interesting that the cops on the street are generally respected, considering that the UK has inched ever so closer to what could fairly be called âthought crimeâ.
(Donât get me wrong, the US in typical fashion is only ~5 years behind)
Germany is lovely and yes you can get I think all of BBC. At the very least you can watch Dr. Who.
My edit wasnât for you so much as a general statement because it is the most common response I hear when I bring up German or any European police in comparison to US police.
Guns and cops arnât evil imo. But I think it is safe to say that American Police Culture is evil at this point. They do NOTHING to rein in their issues and instead try to deny them and victim blame. To the point that âgood copâ means a cop that doesnât systematically abuse anyone or their own power. When that should really just mean they are doing their damn job. There are good cops in the US though very few it seems⌠Serpico comes to mind.
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Yes there is much lower bar in in the east supposedly and it tends to get tied into neo-nazi garbage on occasion which is incredibly disheartening.
Not to say the east is bad or that their policing is corrupt. I really donât have anything to go on with that as I spend very little time on that half of the country.
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The news stories should come with a grain of salt. Most cops you meet treat you with respect if you treat them with respect, regardless of your color of skin. Yes, I am a white guy, but I have found that to be the case with just about any authority figure.
I know 4-5 cops either in Chicago proper or the suburbs. They are good people, who care about people.
They have the luxury as well of not having quotas for writing tickets, which means they donât have to be dicks as much to do their job and/or make bonuses. Unfortunately, that happens a lot in small towns.
As it happens, my little brother works in a suburb of Chicago that is regularly pointed to as an example that Chicago needs to follow, because they had 0 murders the last few years. A lot of that comes from community outreach.
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Based on what Iâve seen on police, crime, action type shows, the police will start by asking âwhy do you think I stopped you?â and then ask you sit in the back of the police car and watch a video playback of what you did. Theyâll then do some checks on the Police National Computer to check youâre insured, and you have a driving licence. They might let you off with a warning or write you a ticket.
This happens more than you would think in the US. Just without a cute note.
The phrase goes
âA few bad apples spoils the bunchâ
Implying you must get rid of the entire bunch! I do not understand how the âfew bad applesâ apology works⌠The cognitive dissonanceâŚ
Also US police do not protect or serve anymore according to SCOTUS. They are there to enforce law. Full stop.
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Sadly the opposite (getting the shit beat out of you and put in the drunktank) happens with some frequency alsoâŚ
There are good people in every profession. The issue is weeding out the seemingly overwhelming majority of bad people. Unfortunately this is impossible because it seems the Departments instantly close ranks to protect even the most vile offenders.
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I havenât seen anything to suggest that the majority of police are violent offenders, racists, etc.
They obviously are in certain problem areas. South Central L.A. comes to mind, from what Iâve heard.
From my perspective, bad cops are not an overwhelming majority. There are really bad cops that are a tiny percentage, and sort-of-bad cops which vary by area. Most cops are basically OK from what I have seen, although bad policies can filter down from higher up (quotas, mostly).
But then, you get pop culture indictments that are hard to ignore:
Itâs complicated, because I am the demographic least likely to be harassed by police in this country.
You are 100% correct about closing ranks to protect the bad ones. This is irrefutable.
From my perspective you are a âbad copâ if you protect bad cops from being brought to justice. Being complicit in that system makes you a bad cop. That is why I said good cops are few and far between and Serpico is a good example.
Just being a cop and NOT being racist, NOT abusing your power, NOT acting like youâre above every other non-cop alive⌠That is doing your damn job. Not being a GOOD cop. But that is just my perspective on the whole thing. You donât tell the line chef at McDonaldâs theyâre a good cook for getting your order right. Theyâre just doing the job correctly.
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