i respect those who respect me.

with that being said, i can say with my own experience that i have seen on both sides the good and bad.

i know cops from my town, and most of them are alright guys. even in my small town they get shot at and have to deal with raving lunatics. i get that.

i have also seen the bad. when i was a kid (19) i was at some friends house for a little while, and when we left, 6 cops pulled up and blocked us (2 of my other friends) in the apartment complex parking lot. the cops claimed they were researching a breaking and entering and wanted to know what we were doing there. we said hanging out with friends. one of the cops thought it would be a good trick to say i had glass on the back of my legs, like i had even done anything. they put me in handcuffs and labeled me prime suspect for the intrusion. if they were watching the place if they claimed, then they would have known i was there for only 30 minutes and seen where i had come from. but of course, they searched me against my will and put me in the car after finding a little bit of weed (i was young and dumb, but not a buglar).

my friend admitted that he had some alcohol, but blew a 0.0 and then he was in the car with me. they then went in the house and got the guy who got them alcohol. i even heard a cop say that he could smell the alcohol on his breath. if he could, then how come the breathalyzer didnt? more lies.

i know what we were doing was a little wrong, but i have seen first hand that the cops can and will make things up to make a score.

i doubt there was even a robbery there, and its more probable they were watching my friends house. i didnt know the people there very well, but i was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

i have seen other things which make me question the police, but i have also met some very nice people.

its pretty much flip a coin to see what reaction you will get. and thats what scares people.

dont like it, make the cops stop being unprofessional. in their line of work, nothing less should be accepted.

I'll stick up for the police.

A mate of mine who plays football is a policeman, very decent guy. I have come across a number of policemen, all decent and indeed one particular guy couldn't do enough to help you.

Police have bad days, sometimes make the wrong calls but they are human - and I generally support the idea that they are decent guys who do a very hard job.

I think there is another point here replace polices with teenagers, Moslems or any other group that people comment on without actually knowing them - suddenly the opinions become completely out of context based on the small number of TV incidence that they see (Which by the way focusses on the baddies in any such group - compare the air play to a copper doing something heroic to a bent copper!! ).

We have to talk to each other to see that we are all the same

Originally posted by Maxmars
I genuinely respect your words.

And if I ever contributed to the ignorance inherent in generalizing about law enforcement I sincerely apologize.

If there is one thing that is certain in this world it's that we are all individuals and we are free to conduct ourselves as we determine is appropriate.

I concur that many here are unusually zealous about disparaging those who wear a badge of authority. Some of it I attribute to simple immaturity and misplaced angst. Some, perhaps, is ideological; which is another story entirely.

Me, I just miss the good old days when peace officers could spend their entire careers without ever engaging in, or having to confront personal violence for its own sake; and certainly never being so stoked and 'strack' that pulling a weapon makes their day.

Of course some of this could be a result of media allure (they love scary/sad/horrific news in the editors' room) or skewed training perspectives. But in the end, we all share the burden of creating our reality, and maligning people for the sake of 'group think' is a distraction we can hardly afford.

Right on and well said.

Well I think you mean well, and made a valiant effort, you need to realize that you're not going to find any sympathy here.

Most people that visit ATS want to discuss the fallacies of the current system; one of those fallacies being law enforcement. To be blunt, most cops are not good cops. They all feel a sense of entitlement. They all have an ego, and they all have hang ups. Of course, we all do, but those of us who don't become cops, can deal with our own emotional issues, past and present. I have no respect for those who won't respect me. And so far, all the cops have met, have shown me little to no respect.

Its unbelievable how anyone can even stand there with a straight face and stand up for people that knowingly murder anyone they want and run vendettas for there friends and organise things like gang stalking.

Nice little cop, how about getting one of your drug dealer friends to give a persons child you do not like drugs in the school playground.

Police in london do this, to target individuals they go after.

What lovely people, pure scum to a man.

Police are documented well in the program gbh, go and watch, how police and criminals target victims and join together to destroy there lifes.

So cop, did you know your mates get drug dealers to give kids in primary school drugs of people they do not like.

Oh no i gave away a secret of the police, oh no.

Police = murderers, period.

Originally posted by hotpinkurinalmint
Police work, like any other profession, only attracts certain types of people. One type of person that is attracted to police work are people who have a strong and sincere desire to serve the community. These people are the good cops.

The other type of person that is attracted to police work are people that love power and love to use it. These are the bad cops.

I think it is fair to criticize police forces for not weeding out the potential bad cops and rewarding the behavior of good cops. A bad cop that throws a bunch of people in jail and rules the streets with an iron fist is more likely to get ahead in many police departments than a good cops who resolves street-level issues through tact and reason.

I love the sanity and logic of your position. Couldn'ta said it better myself!!

Originally posted by Everwatcher33
when did it become necessary to place 50,000 laws (made it up, but you get the picture) to govern the people of this country?

as soon as it was decided that govern meant "control every aspect of human behavior"!! the police are not there to govern, ensure government or enforce the will of government, they are there to protect the safety of the people.

you just don't seem to get it!!