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>If cops wanted to win the trust of the public and work alongside their fellow citizens to keep their communities safe There's no reason to think this is what

>If cops wanted to win the trust of the public and work alongside their fellow citizens to keep their communities safe There's no reason to think this is what they want.

voidfunc 2y ago
Bingo. Cops are people too. They want power over _something_ and money to support their families. All that other nonsense about protecting people, laws, safety... it's in pursuit of more power and more money.
cmcaleer 2y ago
Police forces that follow Peelian principles tend to want this, as it makes their job much easier.
lolinder 2y ago
Who are "they"? I know plenty of cops who definitely do want this. The internet is fond of talking about police as though they're a uniform entity that exists in more or less the same shape across the country (or the world). They're not. The US alone has about 18000 law enforcement agencies spread across 3.7 million square miles and at least 10 distinctive regions and 50 states. Each reports to a different government body with different rules and different amounts of public participation, each has a unique culture. Plenty of our police departments are staffed by bullies, but plenty aren't. Many are staffed by people who actually believe that their role is to protect and serve, and those of us who live in communities like that are genuinely baffled by these conversations.
- KittenInABox 2y ago
  My understanding is that every police officer has either personally done something unethical or has watched another cop do unethical shit and look the other way. I have personally literally never heard of a cop holding their fellow cops accountable and not been punished for it by other cops. If you know of something, please tell me. I could use some more positivity in my life.
  - lolinder 2y ago
    I'm not sure why it's on me to provide evidence against such a broad and sweeping claim about more than 900,000 individuals in 18,000 departments. Your claim is statistically extremely improbable on its face (except insofar as no one on the planet has never done something unethical), which is precisely my point: when you're dealing with nearly a million people in 18000 organizations spread across a country the size of the US you get a lot of variety. As for producing evidence: of course I can't, because "police officer reports misbehavior through appropriate channels and the infringing officer is disciplined early in their career before they caused a major scandal" never becomes a headline for obvious reasons. My personal interactions with police officers who truly believed in their mission to protect and serve and believed that the majority of their colleagues felt the same way are all I have, but I imagine that that's inadmissible.
    - Supermancho 2y ago
      > My understanding is that every police officer has either personally done something unethical or has watched another cop do unethical shit and look the other way. Given it's statistically impossible that any individual has ever been able to follow every law in effect, at any given time (or place) in their life, the simple assertion that every cop has broken a law or witnessed another do so, is more likely than not.
      - lolinder 2y ago
        Well, right, but I already called that out: > except insofar as no one on the planet has never done something unethical It's accurate to say that if that's what OP meant, but it's also entirely uninteresting, so I'm kind of operating on the assumption that they didn't mean it that way.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
- trueismywork 2y ago
  The constitution is the they. Supreme Court has confirmed that the duty of police is to enforce law, not keep communities safe
  - ruthmarx 2y ago
    Worse, they ruled cops have no responsibility to endanger themselves and try to rescue people.

>If cops wanted to win the trust of the public and work alongside their fellow citizens to keep their communities safe There's no reason to think this is what they want.

voidfunc 2y ago

Bingo. Cops are people too. They want power over _something_ and money to support their families. All that other nonsense about protecting people, laws, safety... it's in pursuit of more power and more money.

cmcaleer 2y ago

Police forces that follow Peelian principles tend to want this, as it makes their job much easier.

lolinder 2y ago

Who are "they"? I know plenty of cops who definitely do want this. The internet is fond of talking about police as though they're a uniform entity that exists in more or less the same shape across the country (or the world). They're not. The US alone has about 18000 law enforcement agencies spread across 3.7 million square miles and at least 10 distinctive regions and 50 states. Each reports to a different government body with different rules and different amounts of public participation, each has a unique culture. Plenty of our police departments are staffed by bullies, but plenty aren't. Many are staffed by people who actually believe that their role is to protect and serve, and those of us who live in communities like that are genuinely baffled by these conversations.

KittenInABox 2y ago
My understanding is that every police officer has either personally done something unethical or has watched another cop do unethical shit and look the other way. I have personally literally never heard of a cop holding their fellow cops accountable and not been punished for it by other cops. If you know of something, please tell me. I could use some more positivity in my life.
- lolinder 2y ago
  I'm not sure why it's on me to provide evidence against such a broad and sweeping claim about more than 900,000 individuals in 18,000 departments. Your claim is statistically extremely improbable on its face (except insofar as no one on the planet has never done something unethical), which is precisely my point: when you're dealing with nearly a million people in 18000 organizations spread across a country the size of the US you get a lot of variety. As for producing evidence: of course I can't, because "police officer reports misbehavior through appropriate channels and the infringing officer is disciplined early in their career before they caused a major scandal" never becomes a headline for obvious reasons. My personal interactions with police officers who truly believed in their mission to protect and serve and believed that the majority of their colleagues felt the same way are all I have, but I imagine that that's inadmissible.
  - Supermancho 2y ago
    > My understanding is that every police officer has either personally done something unethical or has watched another cop do unethical shit and look the other way. Given it's statistically impossible that any individual has ever been able to follow every law in effect, at any given time (or place) in their life, the simple assertion that every cop has broken a law or witnessed another do so, is more likely than not.
    - lolinder 2y ago
      Well, right, but I already called that out: > except insofar as no one on the planet has never done something unethical It's accurate to say that if that's what OP meant, but it's also entirely uninteresting, so I'm kind of operating on the assumption that they didn't mean it that way.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
trueismywork 2y ago
The constitution is the they. Supreme Court has confirmed that the duty of police is to enforce law, not keep communities safe
- ruthmarx 2y ago
  Worse, they ruled cops have no responsibility to endanger themselves and try to rescue people.