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When it gets them fired. And if it especially makes them hard to hire again somewhere else.
by mahyarm 10y ago
When it gets them fired. And if it especially makes them hard to hire again somewhere else.
- jaredklewis 10y agoCops in the US regularly shoot unarmed civilians and get off with desk duty. The idea that a cop will lose his job for harassing someone is wishful thinking.
- schrodinger 10y agoI really doubt thats true. Got any numbers? I'd bet it happens very infrequently, and is very newsworthy when it happens. Still not remotely ok though…
- mahyarm 10y agoThat's why they do it, because they don't get fired. They'll start caring a lot more when they lose their jobs and suffer penalties, and it's not hard for it to happen when they do that.
- SturgeonsLaw 10y agoI just think it's incredible that the norm has become so skewed that suggesting that the consequences for beating or killing someone be losing your job are seen as unrealistic.
- rblatz 10y agoCops have tough jobs, the vast majority of police officers mean well and are good people trying to serve their community. I think people in threads like this forget that. But like any group of people there are assholes, we need to have a zero tolerance policy for police officers that violate rights. And for egregious situations we need to hold them even more accountable. Police aren't the law but an agent and servant of it.
- wutbrodo 10y agoThat's the complaint I've heard any reasonable person make: the culture of covering up for the disgusting actions of the bad apples implicates far more than the bad actors themselves. It may be beyond any individual cop to change the way the system works, but the culpability doesn't stop at the bad actors themselves.
- vacri 10y agoI can't remember who pointed it out, but someone said that everyone is missing the point when they talk of bad police being a 'few bad apples' and the rest are fine. The full phrase is 'A few bad apples spoil the whole barrel'.
- lbatx 10y agoCorrect. In addition, someone covering up for a bad apple is, well, a bad apple.
- hueving 10y agoHow exactly can a cop in a different precinct/city/state be held responsible for "covering up" bad actors in an unrelated department?
- wutbrodo 10y ago> How exactly can a cop in a different precinct/city/state be held responsible for "covering up" bad actors in an unrelated department? I truly do not understand how you took this away from reading my comment. I even went out of my way to say that it's more complicated than individual honest cops being to blame. You may want to work on your reading comprehension.
- hueving 10y ago>the culture of covering up for the disgusting actions of the bad apples This implies to me like you think this culture is prevalent in most police departments. Yet you base this of the events a tiny minority of police departments. >You may want to work on your reading comprehension. Try to keep insults off of HN. If I misunderstood you, you should take that as a reflection of your own communication skills and clarify in another comment. Don't just waste everyone's time by just expressing your state of bewilderment.
- lsh123 10y agoShort answer: unions. In general public worker unions is a bad idea and police union is even worse. Union with guns is a very dangerous force and it is able to push the police agenda through local governments.
- Natanael_L 10y agoUnions aren't dysfunctional everywhere. The problems you have with them has more to do with your work culture than with the idea of employees cooperating to protect their rights.
- ladzoppelin 10y agoThat is not why they do it. They do it because they are crazy, scared, stupid, malicious, or just using bad judgement. If anything, they became cops so they can lawfully use force against people but that's probably the minority of cops not the majority.