[Havoc313]

I believe that police are necessary because without laws or someone to enforce them this world would be chaos. I have meet a several police officers that love their job and but there's the type that abuse their power.

[mieu]

It's not illegal if they're not around
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[eli]

Funny I should fall on this post as I was just talking about this with a friend of mine earlier tonight.
I also find they are a necessary evil, but I definitly feel that something is not right with anyone who decides to become a cop. You have to be blind to not see how much you are a tool for the institutions and how corrupted the police force is.

It's fine to be a kid and think you'll go out and shoot the bad guys. However, if you grow up and still think that as a human being you are balanced enough that you can make that kind of decision... I just think there is something inhuman in being willing to sign up for a job where you might be called upon to shoot and kill someone.

I know I will probably offend lots of people with my comment. But I live in a town with more than one incident of cops killing unarmed people and cops attacking peaceful protests. I dream of a world where we won't need cops.

[CaelestisPeste]

They're necessary; I can't say they're evil though. Humans are imperfect (in terms of being trustworthy and law-abiding), and to regulate our civil society, we use other human beings. A person, who I know, has a more pessimistic view, and believes it's basically thugs enforcing thugs.

[KeithP]

I've known a few cops. Two are city police. When I really knew them (it's been awhile), they were good friends to have. But they were both for the most part insecure or arrogant douchebaggish type folk. But, again, good friends.

I knew about five or six different RCMP throughout my time as a journalist. First name basis. Saw them and talked to them all a lot. Three of them, on two separate occasions, let me go through ride programs although I was blatantly stoned. The first time I took a roadside test until the main cop was all, 'Wait, people in town know him, we can't do this right here.' Then they told me to drive home, and if I get in an accident, they don't want to hear about it (aka. we're being nice, so if you fuck up, you're paying for it).

All of those RCMP were nice people who had a job to do, but didn't abuse their 'power'. I had almost just as much power as the village reporter. Meh.

I've known of dick cops. But it's all in your attitude. If you hate them, they're going to hate you. If people hated you all day long at your job, how happy would you be?

[Pingo]

I recognize that they can save lives and whatnot, and I appreciate that. Also I have met a lot of very nice police officers. However I find that a lot of cops tend to have some kind of superiority complex or something. They have this "I have a badge so you have to respect me" kind of attitude, and sometimes they take advantage of that.

I've seen cops put their lights on and blow through intersections and then turn their lights off immediately after. Also they will speed like crazy because they know they won't get pulled over.

[VF1J]

	Originally Posted by eli To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I definitly feel that something is not right with anyone who decides to become a cop. You have to be blind to not see how much you are a tool for the institutions and how corrupted the police force is.

It's the same with the military and various other organisations. There are just things that attract people to it, whether it's being able to exert some sort of control or the opportunity to drive around in fast cars.

A couple of the people I've met who have gone into this career path are of a 'control freak' nature and expect people to conform and adhere to norms, rules and values.

[Sethis]

I dislike them, but at the moment we're better off with them than without them. If they were to suddenly disappear tomorrow people would go nuts. Legal consequences are really integrated in decision making. Bear in mind that I have met policemen who were very nice and helpful. It's not the policemen I dislike but the police. It's just a job these people found in order to make a living.

[Selene]

I feel the same way about law enforcement officers as I do about others in essential services, as long as they look stunning in their uniforms, that's all that matters. The Gurkhas, however, intrigue me on many levels.

[JTG]

	Originally Posted by eli To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I definitly feel that something is not right with anyone who decides to become a cop. You have to be blind to not see how much you are a tool for the institutions and how corrupted the police force is.

I think most people get into it with good intentions, but it's the kind of job that changes you psychologically. Somebody above compared it to military, and i think they're different in many respects but much the same in this way.

I support the idea of law enforcement, and i see a need for police, but most cops i know are toolbags when they're on the job. It has long been known among those close to police how much they cross certain lines, but now in the age of camera phones, more people are discovering how brutal and warped they can be.

The bad ones are a minority, i think, but proportionately significant enough that i find it concerning.

[EdR]

I believe that the police provide an essential service and are a necessary component in the civilized society equation. I also believe the police in the US are reasonably free of corruption, at least compared to most of the world.

They surely draw a large proportion of their muster from a certain character type, but so do most professions. Just think of accountants, stock brokers and religious leader types when you start to parse police archtypes.

[thod]

I have listened to them talk on the TV realities shows. My impression was one of 'institutionalized'. Their main concern was to play things 'by the book' and thus avoid sanction. They had little thought as to what they were doing, only that they do the will of their master and thus retain his pleasure. Thus they have been corrupted. The purpose of the police is first and foremost to maintain public order. They are not a tool to be used to impose the will of the elites on the people. Indeed, should the elite command them to act in such a way as to increase discontent, they have a professional duty to say "no". It is not the function of the police to baton charge protesters and thus provoke a riot, even though the elites wish it so. It is always their function to keep the peace. The police are not a military force, they police by consent of the policed. This too has slowly been changing with the militarisation of the police being sent out to 'get' those the elites wish brought down. Thus we see how the concept of the policeman has changed from public servant to hound.

The solution has to be to remove them from control of the political elite in the same way that the judiciary must be separated. The elite having no say in who holds the posts (they will substitute "yes men").

[eli]

	Originally Posted by JTG To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I think most people get into it with good intentions, but it's the kind of job that changes you psychologically. Somebody above compared it to military, and i think they're different in many respects but much the same in this way.

I think that the job does change you, but also that the attitude I'm deploring is institutional. I mean if you look at shady practices like undercover police going into protests to commit violent acts, so that there colleagues have a reason to come in and arrest everyone, you have to realize that the problem is within the organization, not with just with a few bad apples.

[nettneu]

	Originally Posted by Havoc313 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I believe that police are necessary because without laws or someone to enforce them this world would be chaos. I have meet a several police officers that love their job and but there's the type that abuse their power.

Sure, something like the police is necessary, for the situation we're in at the moment anyway. Although they could doubtless be improved, I think I'd tend to give higher priority to improving the laws that they have to enforce.

[JTG]

	Originally Posted by eli To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I think that the job does change you, but also that the attitude I'm deploring is institutional. I mean if you look at shady practices like undercover police going into protests to commit violent acts, so that there colleagues have a reason to come in and arrest everyone, you have to realize that the problem is within the organization, not with just with a few bad apples.

Agreed i guess. It is a systemic thing in some ways. In addition to shady things like you've mentioned, police almost never get in trouble for breaking the law.

There have been many cases in the news recently (some even local to where i live) of police killing people who were either innocent or already in custody. Just by beating them to death. Apparently being uncooperative is now a capital offense.

In most cases, it gets swept under the rug. The force looks out for their own, and they stonewall the media/outsiders when people try to ask what's going to be done about the offense.

[iWonder]

I hate them simply. In my opinion they get away with countless injustices, and many times get a slap on the wrist at most hiding behind that badge. They should be punished more severely for their wrong actions in my eyes, which would set all of them straight even if it means making a few as examples to the rest of the boys in blue..

[MissionPossible]

Police are human beings, and thus, they come in all types, especially in a country where people have a relatively reasonable level of freedom to make choices. The overall social nature of any police force in my my country can be different from town to town, county to county, but that doesn't make every policeman on those forces necessarily a person to distrust or despise. Police live a difficult life, doing a difficult job. How each man handles that life is a matter of personal character.

[John F Kennedy]

There was once a guy with a gun shooting in the adjacent building. The police put a tape around a few buildings, including mine, but the guy escaped. I came out to do some shopping not knowing any of this, and the police let me through. Coming back 10 minutes later I lifted the police tape to go back home, and a policeman charged at me screaming "Don't fuck around with us, man!!". He pushed me back very roughly maybe 5-6 metres. That was pretty shocking, and it took me a couple of hours to get back together mentally. It was maybe 10 pm. The police were turning people away at the point of the tape. I sat in a cafe and then in a bar until 3 am, in a crowd of clubbers with my stupid two bags of shopping, skimmed milk and all. When I came back home the tape and the police were gone.

Normally I find it funny when people say "I used to think A but now I think B because this and that happened to me". I then think "If you had a brain you should have figured this simple thing mentally beforehand". But with this incident this is exactly what happened to me: before it I had a mostly positive attitude toward police, and now I'm extremely weary. I don't like them. They say events change you, and in this case it was true for me.

---------- Post added 04-08-2012 at 12:54 PM ----------

Originally Posted by thod To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I have listened to them talk on the TV realities shows. My impression was one of 'institutionalized'. Their main concern was to play things 'by the book' and thus avoid sanction. They had little thought as to what they were doing, only that they do the will of their master and thus retain his pleasure. Thus they have been corrupted. The purpose of the police is first and foremost to maintain public order. They are not a tool to be used to impose the will of the elites on the people. Indeed, should the elite command them to act in such a way as to increase discontent, they have a professional duty to say "no". It is not the function of the police to baton charge protesters and thus provoke a riot, even though the elites wish it so. It is always their function to keep the peace. The police are not a military force, they police by consent of the policed. This too has slowly been changing with the militarisation of the police being sent out to 'get' those the elites wish brought down. Thus we see how the concept of the policeman has changed from public servant to hound. The solution has to be to remove them from control of the political elite in the same way that the judiciary must be separated. The elite having no say in who holds the posts (they will substitute "yes men").

This is what has happened because of the accession of the Conservatives in the government of Canada.

[babsa]

I think everyone can agree that the police force is necessary. The main problem i have with them is that there is no respect between the two of us, it is only fear, and they have the power. I have only had a few run-ins with the police, and on every incident it has left me bitter towards them as a whole.

[Typhon]

I have mixed feelings on this issue. We don't need people to keep us in line but rather to apprehend those who act unlawfully. But the way that peace officers have morphed into policing enforcers is worrying and needs correcting, though as long as we march towards strong government I don't see that happening.

[holdyourhead]

Depends which country's police you're asking me about.

[themuzicman]

	Originally Posted by Havoc313 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I believe that police are necessary because without laws or someone to enforce them this world would be chaos. I have meet a several police officers that love their job and but there's the type that abuse their power.

They represent the state and the power of the state, and when on duty should be treated as such.

[nettneu]

	Originally Posted by themuzicman To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	They represent the state and the power of the state, and when on duty should be treated as such.

You mean they should be overthrown?

[AlfredSchnittke]

I guess it isn't really feasible, economically, but it would be nice is being a police officer required a Ph.D. and paid very well.

Right now it seems to me that one of the main issues with the police is the type of individuals that are attracted to that type of work.

It seems almost too obvious that it's mainly people looking to abuse power, indeed that need to abuse power to feel good about themselves, and probably with rather low IQ's.

A few good ones might make it in. I've known a few good ones myself. But overall the quality of police officers qua human beings is appalling...

[themuzicman]

	Originally Posted by nettneu To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	You mean they should be overthrown?

Umm.. no. Since we're a Democracy, we'd just elect the same people and do the same thing.


But they do things by killing people, breaking things, and restricting rights. And we should expect that's what they're going to do.