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> I have had numerous encounter with police and never, ever had a problem, nor witnesses bad behavior on the part of police. Well that is just amazing to be ho
by mhuffman 10y ago
> I have had numerous encounter with police and never, ever had a problem, nor witnesses bad behavior on the part of police.
Well that is just amazing to be honest. I have LEO in the family and they all did personality 180s after joining. They converted to an "us vs them" mentality. All of there coworkers were identical.
I am not saying that they ran around being assholes to everyone, but they literally started thing less of "others". Every person in the community is a criminal now, they just haven't been caught.
You can even see it in action. If you have ever came across a person in the grocery store wearing a high-and-tight and they looked at you with bafflement as to why you did not immediately get out of their way when they were passing -- that was an off-duty cop.
BTW, the power-trip doesn't just apply to cops, if you know any correctional officers, you will see the same phenomena.
This power-to-bad-behavior conversion isn't just some anecdotal stories, it is well-known in repeated physiology studies.[1]
You can see it in their personal lives as well.[2][3]
Add to us-vs-them mentality and inflated sense of power a below average IQ (PDF page 92), and you have what we have today.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
[2] http://womenandpolicing.com/violencefs.asp http://womenandpolicing.com/violencefs.asp
[3] http://www.milestonegroupnj.com/?page_id=348 http://www.milestonegroupnj.com/?page_id=348
[4] http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/cdewp/98-07.pdf http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/cdewp/98-07.pdf
- hueving 10y agoThe Stanford prison experiment does not apply to cop to citizen relationships. The power imbalance isn't even close to comparable. Consider your anecdote about getting out of the way in the grocery store. If that happened in a prison the guard would just immediately punish the person. A cop can't do that.
- NoGravitas 10y agoThey can if they're on duty. You'd be charged with interfering with an officer, assaulting an officer (if they bumped into you), and resisting arrest.
- hueving 10y agoThe example was an off duty cop.
- mhuffman 10y agoI strongly disagree. I think it is more imbalanced. Police officers have life and death power of everyone they meet.
- hueving 10y agoSo does anyone carrying a gun by those standards.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoAnyone carrying a frying pan too. Or a brick. Or a pointy object.
- mordocai 10y agoThe difference is a random citizen shooting you will go to jail if they get caught. A police officer will get paid leave with a presumption that you did something to cause it while it is "investigated" by their brothers/sisters in blue.
- hueving 10y agoAnd then they will be arrested for murder if they acted inappropriately.
- mordocai 10y agoIf their brothers/sisters in blue don't like them then they will be arrested for murder if they acted inappropriately. Otherwise the investigation will likely be half-assed or purposely sabotaged. The "blue line" is a real thing, most cops won't take down other cops unless they have to/dislike the other cop.
- BurningFrog 10y ago"The high and tight is a military variant of the crew cut. It is a very short hairstyle most commonly worn by men in the armed forces of the U.S. It is also popular with law enforcement officers and other public safety personnel." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_and_tight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_and_tight
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Jarwain 10y agoI was under the impression that the Stanford Prison Experiment was not a reliable experiment due to a number of confounding factors. Introduction of bias by the lead researcher, influencing the participant's behavior is one such factor. In this way, the experiment is more of an example of how not to conduct research, more so than a reliable indicator on how power goes to people's heads.