Are police out of control?

Watcher

Watcher

Just another old creaker
Registered Senior Member
I'd like to hear some opinions on this. Recently it seems to me that police across the US have really gone off the scale regarding abuse of authority.

I base this on the many personal accounts I have heard regarding police action that ranges from simple rudeness and obnoxiousness to outright brutality.

Today I heard an account from a VERY timid girl who was stopped for going 60 in a 55. Unfortunately, she did not have her insurance ID with her. (In my state you normally have 30 days to provide it) The unhappy officer made her get out of the car, DREW HIS WEAPON and forced her to spread 'em against the trunk. He then proceeded to write her a ticket for 70 MPH which she did not notice till later; of course she was in such shock that she did even read it until she got home.

There is absolutely no question that this is an unexaggerated account - and it is simply another in a long line of similar excesses I hear about all the time.

Do you have similar stories, and what is your opinion regarding what I see as the deterioration of professionalism in our police departments??
 
if things went as you said they did, then obviously this is unacceptable. but you always have to hear both sides of the story. also, do you know this girl personally or is this hearsay?
 
Both good questions...

I know her very well. I work with her.
And no, she is not black, she's a short white girl that is about as meek a person as you might imagine.

So it sounds like you tend to think that there ISN'T a trend toward abuse of authority? Or that you don't think it's particularly relevant?
 
The unhappy officer made her get out of the car, DREW HIS WEAPON and forced her to spread 'em against the trunk.
Click to expand...
Maybe he wanted to feel her up? Cops are pigs after all...
 
nope. where there is authority, there will be abuse (general rule of thumb)
smaller depts work well, larger doesnt. plenty of variables so.....

baltimore is the worst i hear. la sucks too
 
Watcher

Police have to deal with rude, drunk, high, low, obnoxious, dangerous, belerigent people on a daily basis. They tend to see the worst "in" people because they deal daily with the "worst" of people.

Most police departments have a system for people to make complaints. Your friend should not hesitate to file a formal complaint.

Policemen aren't perfect. For the most part they start out as ordinary people who are trained to do an extraordinary job. Sometimes this does tend , over time, to give them a bad attitude.
twenty years ago the average police officer never even drew his gun in the line of duty during his entire career, with the rising crime rates it is now a common place event for their weapon to be drawn.

Most police departments have programs that allow civilians to do a "ride along" , and seeing is beleiving. At least it was for me.
 
If that's true watcher that's disgusting!!! That cop needs a fucking punch.
 
police across the US have really gone off the scale regarding abuse of authority
Click to expand...

Well, first off, if you really want to get into this, maybe you should bring up a few popular cases. Going off on a rant about "my poor little friend who says ..." isn't going to accomplish much because, as otheadp said, we're only hearing one side of the story. Consider this from the officer's point of view: he's pulled her over for speeding. She may be a timid little girl, but she's in control of a two tonne vehicle. Maybe she was just timid, as you described, but is it possible this came across as nervousness? Is it also possible that she reached for her glove compartment before he asked her to produce her licence and insurance? (This could be perceived as going for a weapon.) Is it possible that her car matched a description of one that was recently involved in a chase?
Most of the time police won't remove someone from the vehicle unless they need to arrest the person, or if they need to search the vehicle. Did he search the vehicle? I'm not trying to justify what happened, I'm just saying that we're not hearing both sides of the story.

Perhaps we could bring up something recent in the news - say the recent "hung jury" case of that officer caught on tape slamming a youth against the back of a police car, or the arrest of about 200 rioters is Montreal who were allegedly protesting the WTO meeting.

There are thousands of police officers in North America, and all of the ones I know or have dealt with are upstanding people who are very professional. However there will always be a few bad apples and the media tend to jump on anything that looks in any way bad.
 
Sorry to not have any info, but i was under the impression that a lot of police departments in the USA had had training with the army etc in countrer terrorism etc. and you only need to watch the coverage of protests etc in seattle etc etc to see how easily the police can get nasty.

Which is not an excuse to go random police bashing ok? My fatehr has retired from 30 years in the police, and my grandfather was the youngest chief constable in scotland many years ago, i can hopefully stand somewhere in the middle on all this.
 
Here in Arizona it seems almost common to hear about a car thief being shot dead, the police here use deadly force a little more freely than in other parts of the country. Weve got a reall cowboy for a state sheriff. Joe Arpaio likes to get his face in the paperse, he's done things like brilnging back chain gangs, putting female prizoners on web cams (god only knows why). Solving prison over crouding by making a "Tent city" for prizoners out in the desert... he kind of gets off on flashy extreem law enforcement.
 
El_Sparks

re "AHEM"

The problem with using a few links is that only the bad incidents make the news. For every bad cop there are hundreds of good oneswho never make the news.

Who do we call when something goes bump in the night? Lets face it, we call the police. Even those who complain about the police call the police for help without hesitation.

http://www.odmp.org/yeardisp.php?year=2002
 
Last edited:
otheadp said:
if things went as you said they did, then obviously this is unacceptable. but you always have to hear both sides of the story. also, do you know this girl personally or is this hearsay?
Click to expand...

That will become clear after knowing the policemans history. hence its very important to lodge a complaint.
 
justiceusa said:
re "AHEM"

The problem with using a few links is that only the bad incidents make the news. For every bad cop there are hundreds of good oneswho never make the news. ...
Click to expand...
They are given the power and if they abuse it then that destroys society, thats why.
 
SpyMoose said:
Here in Arizona it seems almost common to hear about a car thief being shot dead, ...
Click to expand...

Hmm, but I bet they didn't steal any more cars after that, huh?

I know many cops personally and I daresay I wouldn't be one if they paid me a gazillion dollars a year! They deal with the scum of the Earth every day, all day and they get no thanks from us for doing it. In fact, they get in the news ONLY when they do something "wrong".

I ride with them sometimes and you wouldn't believe the number of "violators" that they let go just because they don't want to cause the guy/gal so much trouble for violating some law. Sometimes they "fall for" the sob story and let them go without citations. Cops are mostly nice guys ...just like you and me.

How would you like a job where the newspaper published every single mistake you made? ...no matter how trivial?

Baron Max
 
Baron Max said:
I know many cops personally and I daresay I wouldn't be one if they paid me a gazillion dollars a year! They deal with the scum of the Earth every day, all day and they get no thanks from us for doing it. In fact, they get in the news ONLY when they do something "wrong".
Click to expand...

Yeah, when was the last time anyone's ever said anything nice about cops in general who just do their damned jobs and do it right? Oh wait. . . don't we call them fucking heroes? We tend to hear about 'em when they screw up because someone gets beat or killed :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top