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I recall reading an article written by a former cop who said 20% of cops are excellent people and 20% are really horrible people. The remaining 60% are doing a
by thinkcontext 5y ago
I recall reading an article written by a former cop who said 20% of cops are excellent people and 20% are really horrible people. The remaining 60% are doing a job and will be approximately average most of the time but depending on the day or the culture of their department or other circumstances could be a hero or a villain.
I realize its an oversimplification on many levels but I find it useful sometimes in trying to think about cops as people, something which often gets lost.
- SketchySeaBeast 5y agoDidn't that just (roughly) describe a bell curve? And isn't 20% of cops being horrible people way too much? Less than one standard deviation away from the norm and you're already in "make up fake drugs charges" territory?
- jaccarmac 5y agoDid the article talk about what the 60% do about the 20% who are horrible? This is the question that tends to be avoided in discussions that take this line or similar ones. If those numbers are accurate, the majority of average cops outnumber the horrible ones 3:1 and also have the 20% of excellent cops to refer to as examples. I think that's a more useful framing than one which positions the majority of cops as victims of "the day or the culture of their department or other circumstances".
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]