2 ms·
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 bei
by 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 agoThanks 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.
- soco 3y agoBy this logic, we'd also have a bad time trying to find good doctors, at least in the countries I know a bit (no idea about the US). Malpraxis is definitely not a thing around here.