Maybe they haven't changed, maybe peoples opinions is all that has changed?

I'm asking this due to the many many threads and videos we see about police brutality, both in the US and here in the UK.

Do you see a specific reason for the way "some" of the police treat suspects?

I wonder if it has something to do with the younger officers growing up in very different times than their older colleagues. I've been stopped a few times by the civvy police, and i always found the older ones more repsectfull towards you...if you were respectfull back.

Thats the way it always used to be though, you were taught respect. Something you rarely see nowadays.

Today there is so much violence and disrespect to authority in the community, maybe that sets a new police officer the standard with how he should treat someone?

Or could it be that everything in this day and age is so military like, thats how they feel they should act.....with lots of force like the military?

Indeed if you go to any police equiptment/uniform site, you may as well be looking at a special ops gear suppliers. Very hard to tell the difference these days. I think that new cops maybe take this a bit too literaly and act accordingly.

I'm only 36, young for some i know, but ancient to others here lol. I was brought up with a village bobby (cop) who would walk around all day and night and quite happily engage in pleasant chit chat when you were bahaving yourself. You wouldn't have dreamed of gobbing off to him/her.

We haven't had a village cop for ages though, so the most we get is a traffic car floating through now and again. They don't stop to speak, all you see is this imposing vehicle cruising past, often without a smile or anything.

I know not everywhere can be as rosey as my village here, but i think if the police made more of an effort to keep in touch with the local community, they would get a lot more respect, and maybe it would "demilitarize" thier image a little.

I know at least here in the UK, you do hear of police setting targets to interact more with the community, but i'm not sure how much this is undermined by the odd OTT arrest case now and again. Maybe we only hear of the bad ones.

I can't remember the police being as forcefull as they are nowadays, when iwas growing up. Then again, theres alot more risk of a teenager using violence than there used to be.

Any ideas?

CX.



[edit on 16/6/09 by CX]

I think it's mainly becasue all the laws keep changing. New laws brought in year after year, make more and more of the public "criminals" in the eyes of the law. Which puts more and more people in the line of fire.


I also believe that a healthy dose of ACAB applies aswell. But then, I just hate coppers anyway. All of them. And before anyone says ...."until you need them" When I did need them (burgalary victim) they were next to useless and treated me as a criminal, even though I'd called them. Every experience i have had with the police, has been a negative one. I hate hate hate them with every fibre of my being.

And it felt good to see that written down

If you treat them with respect it always doesn't work out. I'm talking about the younger cops....

I agree they've grown up in different times and situations but that does not excuse them from being overly aggressive or disrespectful to anyone. They are public servants, supposed to uphold the law. Not their own personal agenda/vendetta. I have always had an easier time dealing with an older cop vs. a younger cop. I believe you might be onto something here.

Cops have always been brutal and criminal and corrupt. We just hear more about it now thanks to the internet. In fact that's true of all govt malfeasance. It used to be filtered out by the M$M.

The police have not changed much, if at all. what has changed are the numbers of cameras and video equipment everywhere which can capture the actions of police, and once they are public expose the police in ways that seem new to people.

There are still levels of corruption in law enforcement and government agencies that have not been exposed, but it is just a matter of time before that happens as well.

It is increasingly harder for them to hide abuses of power and corruption these days.

It is a good thing.

I wonder if it has something to do with the younger officers growing up in very different times than their older colleagues. I've been stopped a few times by the civvy police, and i always found the older ones more repsectfull towards you...if you were respectfull back.

Thats exactly what I think it is.
Ive thought about this a few times, wondering the same thing.
My Dad was a Dallas cop for 25 years and I hung out with he and his friends at several events, fishing, hunting, drinking etc.. and they were all very cool.
This was back when a cop would use social skills to defuse a situation, rather than a taser.
Even then they started complaining about the "new generation" of cops coming in, arrogant, hot headed and disrespectful to superiors.

They should really raise the age limit required to be a police officer in this country.

I am a 42 year old man. As a child a police officer was a man in a blue suit, who was well known - by name - in the neighborhood, who seemed to be an ingrained and helpful part of a community. I can remember an occassion, in the early seventies, when our local cop brought my father home because my father had been too drunk to drive. No arrest. He just made sure my father was off the street and safe at home.

Today I see cops all the time and know none of them by name. They no longer are guys in blue suits. They wear black paramilitary gear. Most have shaved heads and never take off their sunglasses. They don't drive slowly through neighborhoods, waving at the kids, and policing as they used to. They stick to main roads, usually hiding on the side streets off of larger roads. Even their cars don't ring true to my memories. No longer are they black and white vehicles. Around here police drive all black muscle cars (Dodge products in this area) with blacked out windows. When I was a kid we used to walk up to the police cars and talk to the cops. Nowadays you rarely see anyone approach these vehicles when they are parked.

Yes, in my lifetime I have seen a dramatic change. The police stopped being part of the community that I live in and have become something entirely different. Think about it. When I was a kid we were taught, by our parents, and in school, to find a cop if we were in trouble. Now we teach our kids not to look for police, but to scream for help from anyone. That says a lot.

Wow. I got so caught up in thinking about *what* has changed I didn't even address the *why*.

I think the other posters have nailed it for the most part. Culture. The war on drugs, the war on terror, what I refer to as the "MTV factor" - the fact that younger people tend to have a viewpoint of the world that is all about money and power and justifies violence as a means of getting and keeping it all. I read somewhere that the UN, many years ago, conducted a study that said world peace could only be achieved if things like family, religion, nationalism, and financial comfort were all removed. This cultural outlook seems to be becoming a reality and the modern police are quite obviously a product of it all.

[edit on 6/16/09 by Hefficide]

The police in uk and usa have gained more technology and in many ways they think they are gods over peoples lifes.

Of course serial killer types have always joined the police, but today they really are going to town on the way they act.

Originally posted by andy1033
The police in uk and usa have gained more technology and in many ways they think they are gods over peoples lifes.

Of course serial killer types have always joined the police, but today they really are going to town on the way they act.

At the G 20 protests, when the police officers changed shifts, the shift that took over were a LOT more menacing, they really looked like nasty thugs, the kind youd cross the street if you saw them coming. They were staring at us and almost growling at us. It was disturbing because you knew you didnt stand much chance against a real hardcore of these police. I imagine they have always been like this, but this was my first experience of it, really woke me up.Never used to hate the police, now what i see scares me and i cant see it getting any better, these trends get worse.

police havent changed a bit. however, coverage and fear mongering have changed a fair bit. if you listen to any of the origional old school hip hop it basically all concerns the police and their abuse of power. this may just be the perspective of minorities but im sure the same issues apply to all people and all police

Originally posted by Kr0n0s

They should really raise the age limit required to be a police officer in this country.

Totaly agree, and whilst the fitness levels maybe somewhat different to a younger cop, the intelligence and life experience advantage would be a great thing.

I said the same about the military police. I joined straight from school, and at the age of 18 was patrolling the streets of Germany dealing with soldiers old enough to be my dad...or grandad!

I believe that military police should have done the same infantry training as an infantryman, plus have done an operational tour of some kind...and then they specialise in the police side.

It wasn't until after working in S. Armagh that i realised why soldiers return from a tour of duty and let their hair down with a few pints and maybe a little rowdy behaviour. I would have certainly dealt with things differently.

CX.

Originally posted by Kevin_X1
police havent changed a bit. however, coverage and fear mongering have changed a fair bit. if you listen to any of the origional old school hip hop it basically all concerns the police and their abuse of power. this may just be the perspective of minorities but im sure the same issues apply to all people and all police

you raise a good point about rappers and their views on the police. (edit to clarify that the majority of hip hop artists were black in the old school days you refered, I'm not stating ofcourse, that all hiphop/rappers are black)But those views are entirely valid, there's been alot of racism toward black people over the years, from the police. I think it's just shifted to a more equality based system. "you're all getting a kickin, black,white or green"

*edit to add bit in brackets*

[edit on 16/6/2009 by Acidtastic]

Very simply the war on drugs caused the shift from police as protectors to police as punishers. It created an us verses them mentality in the police because they were in constant conflict with the public.

It has become more of a war on the public. The public servant became the authority. Now of course with the excuse of 9-11 the police are even more militant because now they are taught that a terrorist is everyone who protests against the war, or against increased police state measures.

We the people are the enemy in their eyes. We are to be kept in line with a boot kick to our head or tasered to comply with their orders like they are Gods or something which must be instantly obeyed or we are punished on the spot.

Cops are people too.

I think in certain areas they have been given the go ahead to use whatever force it takes- its the times, they are-a-changing. This world is on pins and needles and i suppose if you happen to be stopped by one who is frustrated or needs to make up brownie points, they will act out, knowing full well there will not be punishment for them.
I hear a lotof rookies are vets, vets willing to continue with the killing mode they returned with, so you get one of those and look out.

Secretly, i hear, they have carte blanche to do whatever they want.

I can only hope that for one brutal one, there are 5 nice professional ones, just doing their job, protecting us and serving the community. When the S really HTF, they have to realize their own families are mere civilians like most of us and they TOO will suffer at the hands of brutality.

The governments in the Uk, and the USA, have let teenagers and harder criminals grow in confidence because of their lack of action and their meddling with laws and rights which had worked well for decades. Kids, for instance, were taught right and wrong by their parents but now they have had that right taken off them. Governments have also taken the right to protect yourself from the average person leaving them sitting ducks when it comes to violent confrontations between the general public and these yobs. As a consequence, ordinary people are losing their tempers and fighting back against anyone who remotely threatens them, while the criminal fraternity believe that the law cannot touch them. Therefore the law now finds itself hated and dispised by nearly everyone because of their lack of power. The general public hate them because they aren't protecting them anymore and the crims hate them because; well because criminals hate cops!
Now , it seems, the police have been told to get tough (they wouldn't do it without permission) with those they deem to be breaking the law and as a consequence they are literally lashing out at everyone whether they are guilty of a crime or not. In effect they have become the governments private army, sent out onto the streets to intimidate and bully the general public.