I have great respect and sympathy for the police. But a complete reformation of how policing is done is needed to build public trust AND police safety.
Generally Speaking Do You Support The Police?
by minimus 82 Replies latest jw friends
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DesirousOfChange
I think the same can be said about cops as is said about lawyers:
Sure there are some good ones, but the bad ones destroy the reputation of the other 1% that are decent people.
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Diogenesister
Ooooo Truth-be-known I like it
I wonder if they read this to the kids during citizenship classes? I’ll ask my boys (they’re in bed). I think it’s very interesting, bringing out that 7th point.
Ive had mostly good experiences of the old bill. A member of my family and her little girl were brutally attacked in their home and the police did everything they could. I mean they were really exceptional. The perp fled abroad and he took a paracetamol overdose. The nearest liver unit was London kings cross....the very ward I worked on. He was flown back to the UK and arrested at Heathrow. I took leave as I couldn’t work on the unit with him there, I couldn’t risk having to care for him.
On one occasion my husband was mugged and beaten up, the guy took £80 and our house keys. We got the keys back but not the money!!! The tragic thing is they caught him and I tried to tell an officer how dangerous he was .....get this, the cop was angry with me and had pity for the culprit since he was only 18!! Problem was, he got out and 6 weeks later his next victim wasn’t so lucky....he died. I was going to go to the press but I thought it would only hurt the family more.
Two under cover cops also saved my dogs life (when we were much younger). She was run over as she was crossing the road with my husband. It as very late at night and we needed to get her to the Blue cross....fast. They pulled up, shoved her in the car and blue lighted to the Blue cross in Victoria. I could have kissed them.
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Simon
I used to pioneer with a friend who was black, worked as a mason, and had a used BMW 325.
We (HE) would get stopped and harassed by the police with great regularity in our lilly white territory.
The truth that can't be spoken is that there is an obvious reason for that - high rates of crime by certain sections of society. People want to convince you it's racism, but there are clear figures to show that it is not.
If you are rated on how well you capture criminals, you'll stop black people more.
(Ooh, controversial!)
If you want fewer people stabbed in the street, you'll stop black people more.
(Yep, I said it)
Why? Because it's a fact. Being PC may be "nice" and give people cozy feelings, but those feelings are less important than the feeling of being stabbed.
Of course it's very unfair to the other members of those segments of society. But their complaint is with their fellows who use them for cover.
If white people were massively over-represented in crime, I would expect to be stopped more often. I would want to be stopped more often.
I support the police as the vast majority do a great job which is often a dangerous and unpleasant job that I wouldn't want to do. I also support having a strong internal police complaints process so that rogue actors can be identified and removed.
Notice that the narrative that the police were a racist gang, driving round and randomly shooting black people has mostly evaporated. The police body cams have done more to stop the frivolous bogus claims against the police than they have to change policing, because mostly it didn't need changing. (Countdown to someone citing some case that is an exception to the rule)
BWT: Whatever happened to Black Lives Matter? Isn't it strange how they seem to have vanished? Now we have Antifa and Russia hoaxes, oops, sorry, I mean the Ukraine Hoax (hard to keep up). BLM and all those cities burning were a product of having a bunch of racists in the WhiteHouse inflaming things, and just like that, they were voted out and the riots stopped. There are still a few attempts to fire up racial tension with hoaxes like Smollet, but the media don't even seem like they have any interest because the government agencies aren't going to play ball and help ignite things - they fed off each other.
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waton
I miss the police walking the streets in the 30s.
I pity the police in Europe now, being spat on harassed, often overwhelmed.
Now police in 3d world ( I mean developing ha ha ) countries is another matter. have cash handy to buy your way out of manufactured predicaments.
Vast difference in north America too. In Quebec, police is financed through fines (not fine). Your wheel has to stop rotating* at an ARRET sign. **, or you will contribute to the municipality. here in the wild west. nobody stops, unless the intersection is crowded.
*** believe it or not, the tire is always at standstill on the road surface !!!!!!!!! even at 100 mph. 0r 467 clips, like bloodhound in South Africa.
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just fine
Yes, most of them do care about the communities they police, even though they see a lot of people at their worst.
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WTWizard
I have more respect for the cops than I do for the dirtbags that make some of the laws or the judges that misinterpret them. Sharia Law is horrible, and Noahide Law (which the judges seem to interpret as constitutional in virtually every country, which to me is an impeachable position because it is blatantly against the Constitution) is even worse. I do not respect lawmakers that impose this abomination--why should everything that is enjoyable be deemed "idolatry" and hence worth losing your head for? And the cops usually take the blame for it?
Cops, and security, when they do their job and use their brains, protect us. Without them, we would be seeing even worse race crime than we have today (thanks to the judges and political correctness laws). We would be seeing more drink drivers on the roads, more random assaults, more vandalism, more thefts (and not always petty thefts), and more mobs gathering to disrupt normal traffic (both vehicle and pedestrian). True, there are bad cops that like handing out tickets for nothing or that are biased (in both directions), but there are so many incidents where a cop shoots an "unarmed" [protected group individual] that legitimately threatens the cop and is wanted for a major felony (such as robbery). Then the cop gets fired and threatened--by political correctness groups.
Generally, the cops do a better job--though not always perfect. It is the way the laws are interpreted, and the political correctness enforcers, that I have little or no respect for.
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Simon
People also have unrealistic expectations, that when dealing with inflamed situations and criminals, that people will always make perfect choices and never a mistake.
The police will accidentally shoot people, the police will also sometimes be shot. It's an inevitable consequence of trying to enforce the law. The option isn't to just "don't make mistakes", the option is to back off and allow a lot more crime ... which means rapes, stabbings, murders, robberies, assaults.
This is why I have little sympathy with anyone who acts like a dick and does something stupid to get themselves shot. Yes, technically, they shouldn't have been. But they played the odds and lost - it's not a 100% situation and never can be. Heck, even managed school trips sometimes end in tragedy, and they are at the other extreme of the safety spectrum.
When you see some of the thuggish behavior that goes unchecked, you sometimes have to wonder - are there enough shootings?
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kneehighmiah
Maybe we should also start rounding up and harassing white young men since they look like mass shooters. Do you see how ridiculous profiling is? I'm black and have family in Federal law enforcement, Department of Treasury in case you were wondering. Profiling is bad and lazy policework not to mention unconstitutional. I'm a college educated black male who has had to take time off from work to get bogus tickets tossed. I was stopped by police while standing in front of my own home once while talking on the phone. Was told "the neighbors called about a suspicious man they didn't recognize." That's obviously a lie because my family has lived at that home for longer everyone except one old widow. I cooperated, but its very sad this happens. I accidentally had expired plates in a white neighborhood and had 4 units and a canine unit respond. They said my car fit the description of a recently stolen car. More lies. I knew my rights and didn't let them search my car. After I showed my hospital badge they treated me nicely, though they did ask what i was doing in that area late at night. I had my new plates with me in my car and they let me change them and I was not cited. But white people need to put themselves in other peoples shoes before talking about things they will never experience. Not to mention Southern police participated in beating, murdering and covering up crimes against black people and civil rights people in the South. It's also a proven fact that black people recieve harsher sentences. So maybe you can see why many of us don't trust police. While I do have great respect for what the law represents and the function of law enforcement, I don't hold officers as individuals with any special regard or view them to be any more trustworthy than other citizens.
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Simon
Maybe we should also start rounding up and harassing white young men since they look like mass shooters.
How do white people look like black people? Oh, you're going of the selected media promoted mass shooters, right?
Do you see how ridiculous profiling is?
No.
I'm black and have family in Federal law enforcement, Department of Treasury in case you were wondering.
Good for you, but no, I wasn't wondering.
Profiling is bad and lazy policework not to mention unconstitutional.
Stopping people randomly is pure pantomime, like airport security - why are they searching old ladies with knitting and not focusing on those most likely to be trying to smuggle things (going off TV, that's Chinese people with raw meat in their pockets). You only have a certain amount of attention to spend, so you should target your efforts. If a certain group is committing a disproportionate amount of crime, it makes sense to stop those more. It acts as a deterrent, just look what happened to knife crime in London after the mayor put an end to stop-and-search, and now people want it back.
I'm a college educated black male who has had to take time off from work to get bogus tickets tossed.
Oh noes. I have also had a bogus ticket, but I just paid it. Is that white privilege? I should have claimed I was being oppressed.
I was stopped by police while standing in front of my own home once while talking on the phone. Was told "the neighbors called about a suspicious man they didn't recognize." That's obviously a lie because my family has lived at that home for longer everyone except one old widow.
So you can read minds?
I cooperated, but its very sad this happens. I accidentally had expired plates in a white neighborhood and had 4 units and a canine unit respond.
Right, so not too law-abiding then and there was a perfectly reasonable reason for their response - them trying to do their job. Would you be OK if your care was stolen, possibly sighted and they just said "meh"? I'm sure there is also some correlation between things like expired plates and other crimes. Here' a tip - pay your bills and licenses, and you tend to get stopped less. I know, hard to believe right? I forgot to renew my tax disc in the UK once and got stopped. You know why I got stopped? Because I'm white and it was a racist cop of course! No, not really - it's because I didn't renew my task disc in time, duh!
They said my car fit the description of a recently stolen car. More lies.
Really? You know that? No vehicle of your make model and color vehicle has ever been stolen? Amazing!
I knew my rights and didn't let them search my car.
Good for you, never give in to "the man". You showed them.
After I showed my hospital badge they treated me nicely, though they did ask what i was doing in that area late at night.
Sounds like they weren't the racist assholes you wanted them to be, but just doing their job.
I had my new plates with me in my car and they let me change them and I was not cited.
Sounds idiotic to have them and not put them on, and they let you off? Those are the worst racist cops ever!
Don't you hate it when cops go around serving their community like that? Awful.
So to summarize - you're out in the street on the phone (weird) late at night, with a vehicle matching one that is stolen, with expired plate, and you somehow think it's racist that the police investigate that? Then you recount that story thinking it will convince others that they too should believe you've had some racist experience?
Is there some plot twist, 'cause I have to say it's not quite "roots", it's sounding more "smollet".
But white people need to put themselves in other peoples shoes before talking about things they will never experience.
So no plot twist.
But there is a newsflash - which is that you didn't experience anything! We all get stopped for various things, we just go about our day and stop imagining it's because of how we look and know it's because of what we did or didn't do. We know that we shouldn't be disrespectful to them, but then most people know they shouldn't be disrespectful to anyone anyway, so they can just be normal when stopped. Sure, it's a hassle, but I'd rather live in a society where I occasionally get inconvenienced than one where there's little law and order.
Not to mention Southern police participated in beating, murdering and covering up crimes against black people and civil rights people in the South.
Yeah, people should never elect democrats - the party of the klan. But that was then, it isn't now.
It's also a proven fact that black people recieve harsher sentences.
No, it isn't. There is such a thing as black privilege though - where minority youths can commit crime and they are untouchable because of various policies.
So maybe you can see why many of us don't trust police.
I believe that many don't trust the police, but it's because of community propaganda more than lived experience (pew poll). People imagine they have experiences racism, because they blame some experience on it. It doesn't mean it's true or they have. The number of hate crime hoaxes suggests there isn't enough supply of genuine racism for the media narrative about it.
It's sad when you see people fed a diet that everyone is racist and out to get them, because I'm sure many grow up actually believing it and it's bullshit. It colors how they react to situations and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
While I do have great respect for what the law represents and the function of law enforcement, I don't hold officers as individuals with any special regard or view them to be any more trustworthy than other citizens.
Are you allowed to become a police officer if you have a criminal record? If not, then they are probably above normal in trustworthiness compared to the rest of the population (basic stats). It doesn't mean of course that a cop must be honest just by virtue of being a cop, but most do a good job and you'd be statistically severely unlucky to be a victim of a cop, compared to the likelihood of being the victim of some other group.