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Well, for instance we heard about Charles Ramsey finding those three missing women. Also, today on the local news I saw a report about truckers saving a woman a

by glenda 12y ago

Well, for instance we heard about Charles Ramsey finding those three missing women. Also, today on the local news I saw a report about truckers saving a woman and child from a burning car on the freeway. The things that police are used for are things like 'the war on drugs' etc... not necessarily positive, helpful, community level things.

dandelany 12y ago
But aren't you overlooking all the thousands of everyday things that policemen do, things that aren't newsworthy? Little things like giving people directions, explaining why your Metro card isn't working, or simply being someone to call and talk to and file a report with when someone steals your stuff; along with bigger things like stopping an abusive spouse or arresting assaulters, rapists and murderers; all of these are things that policemen do every day, which of course makes them non-newsworthy. IMHO the silent majority of cops are good people doing good things most of the time, but there's nothing to report there, so instead our perceptions of the police force are completely skewed by the reporting of rare, horrific actions.
- glenda 12y ago
  Don't get me wrong, there are definitely good cops, but at the same time - they protect the bad ones, so it's hard to say. The same officer that helps someone with their Metro card can be the officer that 5 minutes later is "stopping and frisking" someone.
- tedks 12y ago
  I would never ask a cop for directions or ask why my metro card isn't working. For all I know I could look at some roided-up armored highschool graduate funny and end up with a hole in my face. Police are horrible to rape and domestic assault survivors. They resent doing the paperwork for cases and often are totally unsympathetic. Police aren't trained well at all in how to relate to trauma survivors, so they end up causing vastly worse outcomes. This is why things like rape crisis centers exist, precisely because the police were not helping. In domestic violence cases, police will frequently side with the abuser and in states without mandatory arrest laws, often leave the survivor with the abuser, which obviously isn't a good thing to do. I think the majority of cops are people doing a job. They see themselves as good people, but they're part of a system that hurts and kills people. Regardless of the above, the primary job of police in the united states is to fight the drug war, which is really just a modern variant of jim crow.
  - dandelany 12y ago
    As an NYC resident, I see cops helping people with directions and MTA cards all the time, often unasked. RE: being "horrible" to abuse survivors, again, I think your perceptions have been skewed by all the stories you've heard about this happening, and all the stories you haven't heard about it not happening, because it's not newsworthy when it doesn't happen. Do you have any evidence this is occurring in a majority, or even a large minority of cases?
    - tedks 12y ago
      My opinion about cops being horrible to rape and DV survivors comes from my work in the communities. I live in Washington DC and would never in a million years ask a metro cop for help. Nor do I typically see people doing so. The only thing I see metro cops doing are "randomly" searching black people or punk-looking kids' bags.

by glenda 12y ago

dandelany 12y ago

But aren't you overlooking all the thousands of everyday things that policemen do, things that aren't newsworthy? Little things like giving people directions, explaining why your Metro card isn't working, or simply being someone to call and talk to and file a report with when someone steals your stuff; along with bigger things like stopping an abusive spouse or arresting assaulters, rapists and murderers; all of these are things that policemen do every day, which of course makes them non-newsworthy. IMHO the silent majority of cops are good people doing good things most of the time, but there's nothing to report there, so instead our perceptions of the police force are completely skewed by the reporting of rare, horrific actions.

glenda 12y ago
Don't get me wrong, there are definitely good cops, but at the same time - they protect the bad ones, so it's hard to say. The same officer that helps someone with their Metro card can be the officer that 5 minutes later is "stopping and frisking" someone.
tedks 12y ago
I would never ask a cop for directions or ask why my metro card isn't working. For all I know I could look at some roided-up armored highschool graduate funny and end up with a hole in my face. Police are horrible to rape and domestic assault survivors. They resent doing the paperwork for cases and often are totally unsympathetic. Police aren't trained well at all in how to relate to trauma survivors, so they end up causing vastly worse outcomes. This is why things like rape crisis centers exist, precisely because the police were not helping. In domestic violence cases, police will frequently side with the abuser and in states without mandatory arrest laws, often leave the survivor with the abuser, which obviously isn't a good thing to do. I think the majority of cops are people doing a job. They see themselves as good people, but they're part of a system that hurts and kills people. Regardless of the above, the primary job of police in the united states is to fight the drug war, which is really just a modern variant of jim crow.
- dandelany 12y ago
  As an NYC resident, I see cops helping people with directions and MTA cards all the time, often unasked. RE: being "horrible" to abuse survivors, again, I think your perceptions have been skewed by all the stories you've heard about this happening, and all the stories you haven't heard about it not happening, because it's not newsworthy when it doesn't happen. Do you have any evidence this is occurring in a majority, or even a large minority of cases?
  - tedks 12y ago
    My opinion about cops being horrible to rape and DV survivors comes from my work in the communities. I live in Washington DC and would never in a million years ask a metro cop for help. Nor do I typically see people doing so. The only thing I see metro cops doing are "randomly" searching black people or punk-looking kids' bags.