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Sadly, I have many friends with similar stories from police departments in different places. I attribute the officer's behavior to constantly being surrounded b

by rburhum 13y ago

Sadly, I have many friends with similar stories from police departments in different places. I attribute the officer's behavior to constantly being surrounded by violence. If everyday, most people around you are violent unreasonable delinquents that want to hurt you, then you start developing personality characteristics to compensate and survive that environment. Add to this the types of personalities that are attracted to this line of work, and things start getting a bit more clear. I am not trying to justify or even imply that it is correct behavior from the police or that "all police officers are [x] or [y]", but from direct and indirect experience this story doesn't fully surprise me ( I don't think it is right though). I don't think the conclusions at the end of the blog post are correct though. Not calling 911 or even using lyft to go to the hospital seems like bad rules that are imposed to avoid interacting with the police. A better rule of thumb is to just minimize your dialogue with the police to the bare minimum and keep any intellectual/ironic/satirical comment to yourself. All my friends that have experienced something like this is because they made a smart ass comment in an situation prior to them knowing how fast these things can go downhill.

rayiner 13y ago
> keep any intellectual/ironic/satirical comment to yourself. This is generally just good life advice.
danielweber 13y ago
> attribute the officer's behavior to constantly being surrounded by violence. If everyday, most people around you are violent unreasonable delinquents that want to hurt you, then you start developing personality characteristics to compensate and survive that environment As I get older I wonder if there are certain jobs that everyone in society should cycle though, because they can be soul-crushing to do them long term.
- foobarian 13y ago
  This is exactly why we have a release engineering rotation at our company.
- derefr 13y ago
  I find it interesting that the Ancient Greeks thought that "decision-maker" was one of these jobs. Their lottery-based election system wasn't intended to be representative of the whims of the people, but rather to protect their decision-makers from the inevitable "moral fatigue" that comes with being made to choose with no clear best option, while being lobbied at by groups that are willing to pay you to say this or that option is best. I wonder about this in the modern day: if everyone who ran a country was made to step down before their idealism was shattered--and if they didn't have to play politics to get there in the first place[1]--what kind of structures and rules would result? Or: what would a software company be like if every "journeyman"-level team member took rotation as the team's manager, and knew that whatever pain they put on the shoulders of others, those others would inevitably get their turn to be in charge? --- [1] I think the "not having to play politics to get there" bit might actually be what the neoreactionaries are talking about when they say monarchies work better that democracies: inheriting the throne by divine right means you don't have to lose your faith in humanity to get there. The Greek lottery system is basically the same thing, but with an artificial "line of succession" controlled by time rather than death.
- jmzbond 13y ago
  I've wondered the same! But often in an organizational context. One thing I love is that at Method, Inc., everyone rotates through the receptionist position. I feel like we're so focused on outsourcing "menial" tasks when doing them can teach us a lot about workplanning and efficiency (which some people could certainly use), and more importantly about ownership (the Millennial generation, myself included, tends to look for handouts. Enter apps to do everything for you).
ajb 13y ago
Problem is, the advice to minimize interaction with the police, while sensible for the individual, exacerbates exactly the problem you are describing: that the police live in a bubble which distorts their perceptions.
dylandrop 13y ago
Also the OP mentioned something about not being told his Miranda rights -- keep in mind the police only have to tell you your rights if you're being interrogated. If they're trying to haul your friend off for something, the best thing you can do is say nothing about it, sadly. Otherwise you'll be brought in for obstruction of justice which will likely be deemed a misdemeanor (as opposed to an infraction, which is sorta bad news for you).

by rburhum 13y ago

rayiner 13y ago

> keep any intellectual/ironic/satirical comment to yourself. This is generally just good life advice.

danielweber 13y ago

> attribute the officer's behavior to constantly being surrounded by violence. If everyday, most people around you are violent unreasonable delinquents that want to hurt you, then you start developing personality characteristics to compensate and survive that environment As I get older I wonder if there are certain jobs that everyone in society should cycle though, because they can be soul-crushing to do them long term.

foobarian 13y ago
This is exactly why we have a release engineering rotation at our company.
derefr 13y ago
I find it interesting that the Ancient Greeks thought that "decision-maker" was one of these jobs. Their lottery-based election system wasn't intended to be representative of the whims of the people, but rather to protect their decision-makers from the inevitable "moral fatigue" that comes with being made to choose with no clear best option, while being lobbied at by groups that are willing to pay you to say this or that option is best. I wonder about this in the modern day: if everyone who ran a country was made to step down before their idealism was shattered--and if they didn't have to play politics to get there in the first place[1]--what kind of structures and rules would result? Or: what would a software company be like if every "journeyman"-level team member took rotation as the team's manager, and knew that whatever pain they put on the shoulders of others, those others would inevitably get their turn to be in charge? --- [1] I think the "not having to play politics to get there" bit might actually be what the neoreactionaries are talking about when they say monarchies work better that democracies: inheriting the throne by divine right means you don't have to lose your faith in humanity to get there. The Greek lottery system is basically the same thing, but with an artificial "line of succession" controlled by time rather than death.
jmzbond 13y ago
I've wondered the same! But often in an organizational context. One thing I love is that at Method, Inc., everyone rotates through the receptionist position. I feel like we're so focused on outsourcing "menial" tasks when doing them can teach us a lot about workplanning and efficiency (which some people could certainly use), and more importantly about ownership (the Millennial generation, myself included, tends to look for handouts. Enter apps to do everything for you).

ajb 13y ago

Problem is, the advice to minimize interaction with the police, while sensible for the individual, exacerbates exactly the problem you are describing: that the police live in a bubble which distorts their perceptions.

dylandrop 13y ago

Also the OP mentioned something about not being told his Miranda rights -- keep in mind the police only have to tell you your rights if you're being interrogated. If they're trying to haul your friend off for something, the best thing you can do is say nothing about it, sadly. Otherwise you'll be brought in for obstruction of justice which will likely be deemed a misdemeanor (as opposed to an infraction, which is sorta bad news for you).