4 ms·

> They're wannabe military tough-guys with laughably worse training and culture, A lot of them are ex-military which is why every incident is treated like a mi

by zer8k 3y ago

> They're wannabe military tough-guys with laughably worse training and culture, A lot of them are ex-military which is why every incident is treated like a mini-fallujah. There should be better psychological evaluation of police. It's harder to get a gun as a citizen anywhere in the US than it is to become a cop.The very least we can do is treat them to a far higher standard than we do citizens given that they have a monopoly on violence and qualified immunity. But that would run contrary to their purpose. Cops aren't there to protect you and me. They are the HR of the local, state, and national Government. They're there to protect the interests of the state.

idiotsecant 3y ago
>It's harder to get a gun as a citizen anywhere in the US than it is to become a cop. I'm normally the last one to be licking boots when it comes to discussions of the role of law enforcement in our society. With that said, this is hyperbole and obviously falsifiable. There are lots of places in the US where it is very easy to get a gun and at least somewhat difficult to become a cop.
- sangnoir 3y ago
  How about: It's harder to kill anyone (and get away with it) as a citizen anywhere in the US than it is as a cop Some cops have bloodlust and/or are in cop-gangs that have initiation-rituals that demand commiting murder before you can join.
  - idiotsecant 3y ago
    Probably more true, although I had to parse this sentence several times to understand what you were trying to say. We put a lot of trust in cops. It's probably unavoidable that some of them will turn out to be terrible people. I am in favor of trying to keep that ratio as low as possible but I don't have any particularly good solutions on how to do that. Do you?
    - sangnoir 3y ago
      I have a couple of suggestions I've heard from others I think are decent. 1. Grand-jury-style civilian oversight of cop malpractice. 2. Make sure bad cops can't get reemployed as cops in the city 15 miles away. 3. Require cops get malpractice insurance as a condition of employment. Instead of paying out of the city's treasury, insurance will payout if the cop gets sued successfully
jaywalk 3y ago
> It's harder to get a gun as a citizen anywhere in the US than it is to become a cop. As a gun owner, I can tell you this is laughably false. I can't go into a police station and walk out as a cop 30 minutes later.
- sidewndr46 3y ago
  The comparison doesn't even make sense. You can make a gun in your own home. You can't make a police officer
  - lostlogin 3y ago
    You can, but not alone and it’ll take 18ish years.
- zer8k 3y ago
  Yeah, you'd have to do 6 weeks of PT first. But you can waiver that.
bamfly 3y ago
> A lot of them are ex-military which is why every incident is treated like a mini-fallujah. The impression I get of the impression other ex-military folks have of veteran-cops, from the veterans I know, is that other veterans tend to regard cop veterans as very-likely to be a two-years-and-out sort (or similar) who jockeyed a desk state-side—and probably poorly at that—or maybe did go to a warzone but never fired a shot in anger, but act like they were In The Shit and can't wait to tell everyone they meet they're a veteran. I.e. not especially good soldiers, the kind who are in for the wrong reasons and had the wrong temperament & attitude for military service. I'll never forget when Trump called in the military (reservists, I wanna say?) to guard DC during the protests. I stayed up that evening watching various live feeds. They looked so very chill. Relaxed stance with the rifles, not seeming at all tense even when totally surrounded by protesters. Didn't start no shit, and there wasn't no shit. Didn't "kettle" people, didn't act threatening, didn't posture and project an attitude like they thought were the Spartans from 300, and everything was fine. Armed like SWAT (rather, SWAT arms like them, but you get what I mean), humvees and shit, but it was such a different vibe. They projected an aura of authority without acting threatening. That's what confident power & professionalism look like. Go figure.

by zer8k 3y ago

idiotsecant 3y ago

>It's harder to get a gun as a citizen anywhere in the US than it is to become a cop. I'm normally the last one to be licking boots when it comes to discussions of the role of law enforcement in our society. With that said, this is hyperbole and obviously falsifiable. There are lots of places in the US where it is very easy to get a gun and at least somewhat difficult to become a cop.

sangnoir 3y ago
How about: It's harder to kill anyone (and get away with it) as a citizen anywhere in the US than it is as a cop Some cops have bloodlust and/or are in cop-gangs that have initiation-rituals that demand commiting murder before you can join.
- idiotsecant 3y ago
  Probably more true, although I had to parse this sentence several times to understand what you were trying to say. We put a lot of trust in cops. It's probably unavoidable that some of them will turn out to be terrible people. I am in favor of trying to keep that ratio as low as possible but I don't have any particularly good solutions on how to do that. Do you?
  - sangnoir 3y ago
    I have a couple of suggestions I've heard from others I think are decent. 1. Grand-jury-style civilian oversight of cop malpractice. 2. Make sure bad cops can't get reemployed as cops in the city 15 miles away. 3. Require cops get malpractice insurance as a condition of employment. Instead of paying out of the city's treasury, insurance will payout if the cop gets sued successfully

jaywalk 3y ago

> It's harder to get a gun as a citizen anywhere in the US than it is to become a cop. As a gun owner, I can tell you this is laughably false. I can't go into a police station and walk out as a cop 30 minutes later.

sidewndr46 3y ago
The comparison doesn't even make sense. You can make a gun in your own home. You can't make a police officer
- lostlogin 3y ago
  You can, but not alone and it’ll take 18ish years.
zer8k 3y ago
Yeah, you'd have to do 6 weeks of PT first. But you can waiver that.

bamfly 3y ago

> A lot of them are ex-military which is why every incident is treated like a mini-fallujah. The impression I get of the impression other ex-military folks have of veteran-cops, from the veterans I know, is that other veterans tend to regard cop veterans as very-likely to be a two-years-and-out sort (or similar) who jockeyed a desk state-side—and probably poorly at that—or maybe did go to a warzone but never fired a shot in anger, but act like they were In The Shit and can't wait to tell everyone they meet they're a veteran. I.e. not especially good soldiers, the kind who are in for the wrong reasons and had the wrong temperament & attitude for military service. I'll never forget when Trump called in the military (reservists, I wanna say?) to guard DC during the protests. I stayed up that evening watching various live feeds. They looked so very chill. Relaxed stance with the rifles, not seeming at all tense even when totally surrounded by protesters. Didn't start no shit, and there wasn't no shit. Didn't "kettle" people, didn't act threatening, didn't posture and project an attitude like they thought were the Spartans from 300, and everything was fine. Armed like SWAT (rather, SWAT arms like them, but you get what I mean), humvees and shit, but it was such a different vibe. They projected an aura of authority without acting threatening. That's what confident power & professionalism look like. Go figure.