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Police don't care about guilt or innocence, they care about clearing their cases - and they rationalize this by shifting that responsibility to the courts. Thei
by marcusbooster 16y ago
Police don't care about guilt or innocence, they care about clearing their cases - and they rationalize this by shifting that responsibility to the courts. Their goal is accountability, not in the moral sense, but because it makes their job easier.
Every year their lobbies push for more invasive monitoring techniques that they euphemistically call "tools in the toolbox", which of course are usually granted during an election year.
- michael_nielsen 16y agoI've known many police officers who care deeply about guilt or innocence.
- andreyf 16y agoWell, surely there exist some police officers/detectives/etc who see their personal career as more important than the ideals of their profession. It would also seem reasonable that, on average, these officers are better at advancing to powerful positions than those who care about ideals.
- woodall 16y agoIt would also seem reasonable that, on average, these officers are better at advancing to powerful positions than those who care about ideals. It does not seem reasonable because you have cited no statics or data. It would seem reasonable to assume, that on average, ants are all red. You can't just say something and it become true.
- dstorrs 16y agoI think you're confused by the word "reasonable." GP post is using it in the sense of "a plausible hypothesis", which it is -- it is plausible that people who care about their careers to the exclusion of all else (e.g., ideals) will advance farther and faster. Whether it is correct is a separate issue -- that is where the statistics and data come in. Actually, "on average, all ants are red" is a good counterexample for plausibility -- talking about a universal truth that applies "on average" is not logical even at a casual glance, therefore it is not reasonable.
- dagw 16y agoThe problem is that the opposite hypothesis is also plausible, and without no data about why one is likely to be more "reasonable", the statement doesn't really say anything.
- andreyf 16y agoAgreed. I think that's the common ground between marcusbooster's sentiment and michael_nielsen's experience with individual officers. To expound just a little, I think it's likely that there both exist police departments where careerists do well, and others where responsible officers do. I think we can also all agree that we ought to encourage a legal structure where officers can't advance their careers by falsifying evidence/extracting confessions from innocents/etc.
- Natsu 16y agoIt's weird, because all the cops I hear about are bad cops (the only exception being some during 9-11). But all the cops I've met offline have been decent and professional, even when they were giving me a ticket or warning. Granted, it probably helps that I've never been in serious trouble, nor have I been suspected of anything bad.
- nollidge 16y agoShouldn't be surprising. How often are you going to hear about the mundane but good works of 99% of police officers vs. the one bad apple? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias
- pavel_lishin 16y ago> But all the cops I've met offline have been decent and professional, even when they were giving me a ticket or warning. Tickets and warnings are no big deal. Let me know how you feel about them if you're ever arrested.
- joe_the_user 16y agoIn the article itself, the officers in question did care deeply about guilt and innocence. They were simply wrong about it.
- drunkpotato 16y ago"Police" don't care about anything. Individual police officers care about guilt or innocence, or don't. Please don't commit the type error of ascribing an emotion to a group noun.
- whimsy 16y agoThis is so common that it's been named the Ultimate Attribution Error: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_attribution_error http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_attribution_error
- nopassrecover 16y agoApple doesn't care about design? A group does have a nature that is reflective of it's driving members which is why we have corporate law and can treat corporations as individual legal entities.