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There are a lot of really good cops out there, but when I hear of police boasting about their ability to "read people" I get scared because to me this is no dif

There are a lot of really good cops out there, but when I hear of police boasting about their ability to "read people" I get scared because to me this is no different than thinking you are psychic. As a neuro-atypical person (likely aspergers / high functioning autism), I most likely will not "get" that you are joking. I will be extremely pissed off that you interrupted my routine and are taking up my valuable time. I will want the encounter to end as quickly as possible. I'm probably also nervous because I watch an unhealthy amount of YouTube videos about traffic stops gone wrong. So yeah I'm not likely to see the humour in the situation. I'm just hoping that I did everything that was expected of me, that I don't say anything stupid and can get the ticket and move on with my day already.

Traubenfuchs 3y ago
There are a lot of bad cops out there. 4x the chance of domestic violence. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/homepage/20140910_Domestic_terrors.html https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/homepage/20140910_Domes...
jghn 3y ago
> There are a lot of really good cops out there People say this, but are there? To me, part of the set of requirements to be a good cop is to not only pay lip service about disliking "bad cops" but to actively work to clean the house. If as many good cops really existed and really disdained bad cops, you wouldn't see the bad cops skating peacefully through life the way they do.
- gspencley 3y ago
  > People say this, but are there? Yes. Anyone who takes a moment to think through the numbers logically recognizses this. And the two replies that my comment have gotten pouncing on me saying that, including yours, is the reason why it must be said. The thing about police is that it's one of those things where the routine interactions and police work, which is representative of the vast majority of what goes on, is boring and uneventful. There is no reason for it to ever make headlines. But it only takes one incident of corruption or one costly mistake and everyone is talking about it. That's a good thing, it needs to be addressed. But it really skews public perception and makes people think that that kind of stuff is way more commonplace than it actually is.
  - danaris 3y ago
    Why, exactly, does it need to be said? We have a mountain of evidence showing that, even when there are good cops, the moment they cross paths with bad cops, the bad cops either convert them to their side or get them removed from the force. These are not marginalized people who need their stories told. These are members of a quasi-military group full of self-proclaimed neo-Nazis with effective legal immunity from murdering random citizens of our country, and, as another comment aptly noted, a significantly higher propensity for violence and unwillingness to accept that other people have a right to live—or do much of anything else, it often seems. Moreso if those "other people" are people of color, queer, disabled, or otherwise marginalized. "But there are lots of really good cops!" just screams of apologism and a desire to salve the egos of the poor mistreated fascists.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    I don't know. A cop who is exemplary in every way and yet remains silent about, turns a blind eye to, or defends bad cops on the force is not a good cop in my book.
    - jghn 3y ago
      Exactly. And while I know many otherwise good people who are cops, not a single one of them will do more than pay lip service to "bad cops". For starters, their bar designating someone as a "bad cop" is always far too high.
- y-c-o-m-b 3y ago
  The police officer that lives on my street has become a good buddy of mine and is a good person based on my experience. I can't necessarily say for sure he's a good cop because I've never seen him work, but I would bet money he's a good cop as well. He's never shown me anything that would indicate a violent side, even when we've gone out to bars together and I've seen him drunk. He is very kind and caring to his kids, and seems to have a happy marriage with his wife of many years. He has talked about the homeless population before and seems to talk about them with a degree of compassion. He initially started as a police officer about a decade ago and then left to become an insurance adjuster. Apparently that insurance job did not bring in enough income and ended with false promises, so he ended up back as a police officer after a couple of years. I get the feeling he doesn't enjoy the job; they make him work crazy overtime hours and he has to work night-shift, which makes maintaining a family very difficult. Point being, not everyone joins the force to unleash their abusive side without repercussions, or whatever the current stereotype is. This man is doing it simply to support his family. I hope that helps answer your question some. Human beings are complex and painting all of them with a wide brush is a lazy way to justify hating someone that may not deserve it.
  - jghn 3y ago
    I mean I know a number of people who are cops who are good people. But when I push them on the existence of bad cops they always hand wave it away as either being a) rare or b) not their place to fight against. On a, what I've found is their definition of "bad cop" has a much higher bound than mine. They always mean the stereotypical psychopath cop. They'll rationalize the egregious behavior and not include more run of the mill rule bending as even being meaningful. On b, this was my main point. It's easy to excuse it all as long as one is willing to push the responsibility to others. Or worse, they push back on me asking if I'd report or speak out against someone breaking rules at my work. Well yes, actually. And I'd expect that of others. So my point was that in order to be considered a "good cop" I expect them to at a minimum a) adhere to laws themselves and b) actively work against other cops who do not follow a.
    - y-c-o-m-b 3y ago
      Thanks for clarifying. I'll have to push him on those questions next time and see how he responds. He was one of the police officers during the George Floyd protest riots in Portland, so I've got to hear some of it from his perspective and nothing he said struck me as a "red flag" of any sort. Then again I'm not one to "take sides" on any matter either. I don't care what the court of public opinion wants, because it often lacks empathy or putting oneself in the other person's shoes. This tends to make me an outlier in most controversial topics, so maybe my opinion of what makes a "bad cop" will not necessarily match yours or others.
- kayfox 3y ago
  I have not done any empirical research into this, but I have noticed that there are certain police departments you don't see having tons of issues in the news, so my theory is that in some departments the culture of having high integrity and doing the right thing might be the norm. You sometimes see this come out where one department refuses to cover for another department or its officers doing bad things. Obviously the goal would for that to be the norm instead of the exception.

Traubenfuchs 3y ago

There are a lot of bad cops out there. 4x the chance of domestic violence. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/homepage/20140910_Domestic_terrors.html https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/homepage/20140910_Domes...

jghn 3y ago

> There are a lot of really good cops out there People say this, but are there? To me, part of the set of requirements to be a good cop is to not only pay lip service about disliking "bad cops" but to actively work to clean the house. If as many good cops really existed and really disdained bad cops, you wouldn't see the bad cops skating peacefully through life the way they do.

gspencley 3y ago
> People say this, but are there? Yes. Anyone who takes a moment to think through the numbers logically recognizses this. And the two replies that my comment have gotten pouncing on me saying that, including yours, is the reason why it must be said. The thing about police is that it's one of those things where the routine interactions and police work, which is representative of the vast majority of what goes on, is boring and uneventful. There is no reason for it to ever make headlines. But it only takes one incident of corruption or one costly mistake and everyone is talking about it. That's a good thing, it needs to be addressed. But it really skews public perception and makes people think that that kind of stuff is way more commonplace than it actually is.
- danaris 3y ago
  Why, exactly, does it need to be said? We have a mountain of evidence showing that, even when there are good cops, the moment they cross paths with bad cops, the bad cops either convert them to their side or get them removed from the force. These are not marginalized people who need their stories told. These are members of a quasi-military group full of self-proclaimed neo-Nazis with effective legal immunity from murdering random citizens of our country, and, as another comment aptly noted, a significantly higher propensity for violence and unwillingness to accept that other people have a right to live—or do much of anything else, it often seems. Moreso if those "other people" are people of color, queer, disabled, or otherwise marginalized. "But there are lots of really good cops!" just screams of apologism and a desire to salve the egos of the poor mistreated fascists.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  I don't know. A cop who is exemplary in every way and yet remains silent about, turns a blind eye to, or defends bad cops on the force is not a good cop in my book.
  - jghn 3y ago
    Exactly. And while I know many otherwise good people who are cops, not a single one of them will do more than pay lip service to "bad cops". For starters, their bar designating someone as a "bad cop" is always far too high.
y-c-o-m-b 3y ago
The police officer that lives on my street has become a good buddy of mine and is a good person based on my experience. I can't necessarily say for sure he's a good cop because I've never seen him work, but I would bet money he's a good cop as well. He's never shown me anything that would indicate a violent side, even when we've gone out to bars together and I've seen him drunk. He is very kind and caring to his kids, and seems to have a happy marriage with his wife of many years. He has talked about the homeless population before and seems to talk about them with a degree of compassion. He initially started as a police officer about a decade ago and then left to become an insurance adjuster. Apparently that insurance job did not bring in enough income and ended with false promises, so he ended up back as a police officer after a couple of years. I get the feeling he doesn't enjoy the job; they make him work crazy overtime hours and he has to work night-shift, which makes maintaining a family very difficult. Point being, not everyone joins the force to unleash their abusive side without repercussions, or whatever the current stereotype is. This man is doing it simply to support his family. I hope that helps answer your question some. Human beings are complex and painting all of them with a wide brush is a lazy way to justify hating someone that may not deserve it.
- jghn 3y ago
  I mean I know a number of people who are cops who are good people. But when I push them on the existence of bad cops they always hand wave it away as either being a) rare or b) not their place to fight against. On a, what I've found is their definition of "bad cop" has a much higher bound than mine. They always mean the stereotypical psychopath cop. They'll rationalize the egregious behavior and not include more run of the mill rule bending as even being meaningful. On b, this was my main point. It's easy to excuse it all as long as one is willing to push the responsibility to others. Or worse, they push back on me asking if I'd report or speak out against someone breaking rules at my work. Well yes, actually. And I'd expect that of others. So my point was that in order to be considered a "good cop" I expect them to at a minimum a) adhere to laws themselves and b) actively work against other cops who do not follow a.
  - y-c-o-m-b 3y ago
    Thanks for clarifying. I'll have to push him on those questions next time and see how he responds. He was one of the police officers during the George Floyd protest riots in Portland, so I've got to hear some of it from his perspective and nothing he said struck me as a "red flag" of any sort. Then again I'm not one to "take sides" on any matter either. I don't care what the court of public opinion wants, because it often lacks empathy or putting oneself in the other person's shoes. This tends to make me an outlier in most controversial topics, so maybe my opinion of what makes a "bad cop" will not necessarily match yours or others.
kayfox 3y ago
I have not done any empirical research into this, but I have noticed that there are certain police departments you don't see having tons of issues in the news, so my theory is that in some departments the culture of having high integrity and doing the right thing might be the norm. You sometimes see this come out where one department refuses to cover for another department or its officers doing bad things. Obviously the goal would for that to be the norm instead of the exception.