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I have published this link because I was chocked when I encountered this news. This does not match with my understanding of police. In such services as DGSI, I

I have published this link because I was chocked when I encountered this news. This does not match with my understanding of police. In such services as DGSI, I would expect to see many smart people who have a true vocation for the service and some ambitious politicians who try to climb the hierarchy (not exclusive). Of course, there are some depressive, desperate, alcoolic or crazy people. Maybe there are spies paid by foreign countries, but I would not expect to see greedy treators. Maybe, I have a crazy theory. What if this guy was selling this data to try to catch big fishes ? What if this guy did this in secret because his boss is a risk averse politician ? A person frustrated by the inertia or other ineffectivity of the service and experiencing other difficulties in their life may fall into this madness. I think they have regular psychological assessment because this job is very hard. I am just an imaginative layman. My source of knowledge about police is my father (RIP) who was a police officer. He had friends who worked in dgsi.

thinkingemote 8y ago
You are willing to believe that someone may be mentally ill, desperate, alcoholic, acting to expose internal weaknesses or a spy but you are unwilling to believe money as a motive.
- reacweb 8y ago
  Work in police exposes people to many traumatic situations. You may encounter very tragic situations or cases where your efforts to help result in more damages. Facing a gun is traumatic. This work can hurt even the strongest and can ruin their life. I have more difficulties to imagine these people selling their soul just for money. Often it is easier to leave police for better paid private activities.
  - pnwalien2 8y ago
    It seems that maybe you ought to do some deeper research into the subject. Here are some good topics to get you started: Corruption in the Baltimore Police Department. The Seven Five (a documentary about NYPD corruption.) Operation Countryman - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/19/files-shed-light-on-alleged-efforts-to-hide-1970s-police-corruption https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/19/files-shed-l... Corruption in France: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/05/us-france-police-corruption-idUSBRE8941AA20121005 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/05/us-france-police-c... Corruption in the DEA: https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/08/stealing-bitcoins-with-badges-how-silk-roads-dirty-cops-got-caught/%3famp=1 https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201...
    - reacweb 8y ago
      IMHO, corruption in french police is not widespread. The situation of police in Marseille (your link) is very extreme and not really representative of the whole country. The optimistic view is that police is fighting very hard to stop corruption and even in terrible places like Marseille, they have succeded to stop a big case.
  - okmokmz 8y ago
    > I have more difficulties to imagine these people selling their soul just for money. Despite what you seem to think, police are not more righteous or just than any other person, as we've seen through the constant abuse, corruption, and violence perpetrated by LEO and intelligence agencies. In fact, due to the kind of people drawn to the positions and the screening to filter out people who are too intelligent to blindly follow the state, I would argue that "these people are in fact MORE likely to fall for corruption or "sell their soul just for money" as you say
Neracked 8y ago
I am French and there are rumors that some people inside the police forces are earning side money by funneling information from the police files to former police officer working as private investigators (with the advantage of having insider access to police data). I always assumed that this practice was widespread. That is just an extension of the traditional practice of "tricoche" (police officers performing investigations for private customers).
- reacweb 8y ago
  It is obvious that former police officer working as private have their relation network. This makes former police officer so valuable. Active officers trust them and want them to succeed (they may need to go private themself one day). I have not heard about money transfer. This may happen sometimes at small scale, but corruption is a very sensible subject in police. People do not want to be caught as corrupt. This is very damaging to reputation.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ElBarto 8y ago
This happens in every intelligence service, in every country. That's why intelligence personel are themselves usually subject to surveillance and intelligence.
okmokmz 8y ago
>This does not match with my understanding of police Sounds right in line with my understanding of police >I would expect to see many smart people who have a true vocation for the service Too bad we end up with, partially due to agencies screening for the particular personality types they can use and control, power tripping sycophants with no critical thinking abilities who will blindly follow the state while simultaneously breaking the rules they're meant to enforce for personal gain >but I would not expect to see greedy treators. Maybe, I have a crazy theory It sounds like you have an incredibly idealistic view of police officers due to your father, which is understandable. >What if this guy was selling this data to try to catch big fishes ? Highly, highly unlikely >A person frustrated by the inertia or other ineffectivity of the service and experiencing other difficulties in their life may fall into this madness. This sounds like a poor excuse to defend crooked LEO > I think they have regular psychological assessment because this job is very hard. They have psychological assessments so the government can ensure they will follow orders, have no dissenting opinions, and will blindly defend other LEO/intelligence officers even when they are in the wrong
drasticmeasures 8y ago
It looks like a chicken, acts like a chicken, talks like a chicken, so it must secretly be a horse...
okmokmz 8y ago
Conveniently, there's another post on police officers today https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18147076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18147076
- reacweb 8y ago
  Police in France is very very different of police in the different states of US.
  - okmokmz 8y ago
    You say that, and yet here we are discussing French police corruption that is exactly like what occurs in the US
buboard 8y ago
Private data is power and power corrupts people. The only real solution is not to have that data in the first place
Matticus_Rex 8y ago
Oh, precious cinnamon roll.
- dang 8y ago
  Personal attacks will get you banned here. Please don't post like this again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - Matticus_Rex 8y ago
    How is calling someone pure and innocent a personal attack?

thinkingemote 8y ago

You are willing to believe that someone may be mentally ill, desperate, alcoholic, acting to expose internal weaknesses or a spy but you are unwilling to believe money as a motive.

reacweb 8y ago
Work in police exposes people to many traumatic situations. You may encounter very tragic situations or cases where your efforts to help result in more damages. Facing a gun is traumatic. This work can hurt even the strongest and can ruin their life. I have more difficulties to imagine these people selling their soul just for money. Often it is easier to leave police for better paid private activities.
- pnwalien2 8y ago
  It seems that maybe you ought to do some deeper research into the subject. Here are some good topics to get you started: Corruption in the Baltimore Police Department. The Seven Five (a documentary about NYPD corruption.) Operation Countryman - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/19/files-shed-light-on-alleged-efforts-to-hide-1970s-police-corruption https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/19/files-shed-l... Corruption in France: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/05/us-france-police-corruption-idUSBRE8941AA20121005 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/05/us-france-police-c... Corruption in the DEA: https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/08/stealing-bitcoins-with-badges-how-silk-roads-dirty-cops-got-caught/%3famp=1 https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201...
  - reacweb 8y ago
    IMHO, corruption in french police is not widespread. The situation of police in Marseille (your link) is very extreme and not really representative of the whole country. The optimistic view is that police is fighting very hard to stop corruption and even in terrible places like Marseille, they have succeded to stop a big case.
- okmokmz 8y ago
  > I have more difficulties to imagine these people selling their soul just for money. Despite what you seem to think, police are not more righteous or just than any other person, as we've seen through the constant abuse, corruption, and violence perpetrated by LEO and intelligence agencies. In fact, due to the kind of people drawn to the positions and the screening to filter out people who are too intelligent to blindly follow the state, I would argue that "these people are in fact MORE likely to fall for corruption or "sell their soul just for money" as you say

Neracked 8y ago

I am French and there are rumors that some people inside the police forces are earning side money by funneling information from the police files to former police officer working as private investigators (with the advantage of having insider access to police data). I always assumed that this practice was widespread. That is just an extension of the traditional practice of "tricoche" (police officers performing investigations for private customers).

reacweb 8y ago
It is obvious that former police officer working as private have their relation network. This makes former police officer so valuable. Active officers trust them and want them to succeed (they may need to go private themself one day). I have not heard about money transfer. This may happen sometimes at small scale, but corruption is a very sensible subject in police. People do not want to be caught as corrupt. This is very damaging to reputation.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ElBarto 8y ago

This happens in every intelligence service, in every country. That's why intelligence personel are themselves usually subject to surveillance and intelligence.

okmokmz 8y ago

>This does not match with my understanding of police Sounds right in line with my understanding of police >I would expect to see many smart people who have a true vocation for the service Too bad we end up with, partially due to agencies screening for the particular personality types they can use and control, power tripping sycophants with no critical thinking abilities who will blindly follow the state while simultaneously breaking the rules they're meant to enforce for personal gain >but I would not expect to see greedy treators. Maybe, I have a crazy theory It sounds like you have an incredibly idealistic view of police officers due to your father, which is understandable. >What if this guy was selling this data to try to catch big fishes ? Highly, highly unlikely >A person frustrated by the inertia or other ineffectivity of the service and experiencing other difficulties in their life may fall into this madness. This sounds like a poor excuse to defend crooked LEO > I think they have regular psychological assessment because this job is very hard. They have psychological assessments so the government can ensure they will follow orders, have no dissenting opinions, and will blindly defend other LEO/intelligence officers even when they are in the wrong

drasticmeasures 8y ago

It looks like a chicken, acts like a chicken, talks like a chicken, so it must secretly be a horse...

okmokmz 8y ago

Conveniently, there's another post on police officers today https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18147076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18147076

reacweb 8y ago
Police in France is very very different of police in the different states of US.
- okmokmz 8y ago
  You say that, and yet here we are discussing French police corruption that is exactly like what occurs in the US

buboard 8y ago

Private data is power and power corrupts people. The only real solution is not to have that data in the first place

Matticus_Rex 8y ago

Oh, precious cinnamon roll.

dang 8y ago
Personal attacks will get you banned here. Please don't post like this again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- Matticus_Rex 8y ago
  How is calling someone pure and innocent a personal attack?