My little brother is a cop. Before he joined the force, I’d considered doing it myself more than once, but let the idea go once I was married.
It depends on the cop. Some cops are out to protect people from danger, others are out to be complete assholes.
I’ve had friends at peace/pride/etc. demonstrations who wern’t doing anything wrong, get beat up and/or arrested.
I’ve had cops try to intimidate me, seeing my pride buttons, calling me a fag and stuff.
However, when I’ve been beat up or intimidated by other people, they’ve actually helped out a whole lot.
There’s good and bad cops. Just like everyone else.
I can’t say I love them or hate them. I’ve had some bad experiences with them, but at the same time, there are so many out there that I havn’t even talked to that its quite possible are great guys.
The thing is you will probably only meet the crappy cops unless you are doing something really bad, so you won’t know how many good cops there are out there.
Still I feel safer knowing they are out there protecting me, so I like them.
Cops are the only reason us unicyclist’s dont get or ass’s handed to us, everytime we go to the skatepark.
I for one, love cops.
Especially if they are hot women dressed up in state trooper uniforms. hehe
Of course I can’t say I hate all cops, but I know for sure that those officers that are in the line of duty to satisfy their hunger for power DO NOT make good cops. I think this is a somewhat (stress somewhat) common trait among them.
About 2 months ago I was walking through the park in my residential, family neighborhood when I saw what looked like a 10 foot or so triabgle taped off in the middle of the path. Not wanting to soak my shoes in the snow bank when walking around, I casually ducked under the tape walked the 3 steps the the other side and ducked under it. Inside the taped off portion there was nothing.
Around the next corner I was greeted by an officer (26 yrs old or so). He stood so that his nose was less than two inches from mine and screamed at me using every onbscentiy I have heard. He called me all the names (including white boy) took all my things from me and called my lisence into the presinct while leaving me in the cold for 10 minutes. This whole time I was trying to tell him that it was an honest mistake. Finally he let me go after a lot of yelling and searching through my suitcases (which contained audio recorders from my school).
Before I left I told him how uncomfortable I felt knowing that a police officer would treat an innocent passer by with such force and that I would like his badge number. He refused and told me I was only authorized to take his lisence plate number (which I knew was not true but I did anyway to avoid any more confrontation).
I went to up to my apt (this all happened at the base of my building) and called his presinct. His chief said that the officer should have given me the badge number and that I have the option to report him. So, I went back down to his car, tapped on the window, and told him that he had to give me his badge number as I was on my way to his presinct to report him. He spnapped, “Give my your fucking lisence again”. I did so and he proceeded to write me a $110 ticket for having my parents home address on my lisence instead of my temporary university address.
I was so mad because I knew this was just to spite me but I let him write the ticket. Once he was done I walked over to the presinct and told his Chief everything I wrote here.
The Chief was sympathetic and said he would call me later that night after he had spoken to the officer.
The call came about an hour later. He said that he had spoken with the officer and that the ticket would be coming out of his pay.
@ Ipounds
Way to go! That’s the way to do it. Fight him intellectually and through the proper channels.
That being said, I probably would have refused to give him my ID the second time, since he had already seen it. Also in many states I would not be required by law to do so (even the first time).
Seriously though, thats an awesome story.
Interesting. I was going to say that some laws are DANGEROUS if not enforced. Say that one person on the road obeys the traffic laws while everyone else does whatever they damn please (yeah, you’ve heard it all before from me – speeding, tailgating, passing on the right). The person obeying the law (i.e. - driving the speed limit) is in grave danger – specifically BECAUSE he is obeying the law. He or she is driving significantly under the prevailing speed of the highway and thus at a MUCH greater risk of collision.
The law-abiding citizen is singled out and rewarded with having his life put in danger on a daily basis. Why? Because the cops don’t enforce the law. If they just did their damn job I wouldn’t have a problem with them.
Moral of the story: don’t create a law unless you are going to enforce it. If you are not going to bother enforcing it, then get rid of the law.
Amen. I’ve always felt that way also. At the same time, I am truly and profoundly pissed off at them for not doing their job keeping the roads safe. They have a lot of blood on their hands. (I also recognize that they are part of a larger system – so if someone could explain to me what’s really going on, I would appreciate it.)
When I was pulled over and asked for ID, I gave them my Health Card. I figured that he could do more with my license if he was going to do anything. But thankfully he didn’t do anything.
Ipounds, well done!
I was downtown riding trials listening to my ipod doing my thing, when suddenly the whole block was surrounded by police. There were cop cars everywhere! SUVS, undercover, and the usual. A few cops jump out and run towards me. I thought I was going to be tackled. They come up and ask if I had seen a man wearing a dark green hoodie run by. Turns out there was a stabbing a few minutes ago down the block.
I have never had problems with the police. They have always helped me and my family well.
when I was a student I had constantly brushes with the law because we played in the street with my brassband … and the noise was uninvited.
So we met with very different hues of cops from brute to gentleman.
Just I want to tell two funny incidents:
- we were brought to the police station of the “quartier latin” in Paris because we played while bathing in “fontaine St Michel”. We had with us Philippe Petit (who is now remembered for rope-walking between the twin towers) So when the police officer asked about his occupation he answered “pick-pocket” , “prove it!” , “well officer here is your watch and your wallet!” (true: he managed to snatch both!).
The whole police station erupted into laughter and that was it: we were released! - though it was noon somebody complained that we were making too much noise (though the whole plaza was swarming with people listening to us). So came the big police car we call in french “panier à salade” and they started to hoard us in the car. The throng started to yell hostile slogans and the police officer decided on a strategical about-turn … and told us to get out of the car: alas one of us declined and declared he wanted to go to jail! the poor officer started begging “please get out! or the people outside are going to make mince-meat out of us!” (note: that was in July 1968!) So we decided not to torture the poor chap any more … and the police patrol escaped unscathed…
I’ll finish with a great thank to the policeman who once offered me “croissants” for breakfeast.
I like the cops in Sammamish. I do sometimes feel nervous around cops (though I usually don’t need to be). But the Sammamish cops sometimes come to Quiznos (were I work) and they are always really cool and nice. I guess you could say it depends on the cop.
Ok, so, this is going to be a tricky one.
I’m an anarchist. I’m anti-authoritarian. This doesn’t mean that I go around stealing from shops and breaking windows. It does mean that I like to have control over my life, and I don’t like people telling me what to do. It also means that I take personal responsibility for all my actions, and I want to be self reliable.
Almost every interaction I’ve ever had with cops has been negative. Of course anecdotal evidence isn’t worth all that much, but sufficed to say, I’ve been in the back of a police car, and I’m fairly familiar with the court system. Largely the result of protesting and trespassing in abandoned buildings. Things almost everyone will agree, don’t hurt anyone, and in the case of protesting, is my constitutional right. (I’d also like to point out that no one can give you rights to self consequential actions, only take them away from you).
I think the vast majority of cops are hypocritical. Obviously there are good cops and bad cops. Being a cop puts you in a position of power, and that attracts a lot of people that shouldn’t be in that position. It’s easy for cops to abuse their power, because most people automatic side with them. Also, they have guns. This doesn’t mean that everything they do is bad, just that some of it is.
Of course there are times when, in this society, cops are necessary. And I won’t hesitate to call them. You’d be dumb not to.
I’m not sure if that makes a lot of sense, and this is a difficult discussion to have on a forum I think. but please ask me questions, or call me on things you think are wrong.
I don’t like cops. I don’t like anyone who thinks they have any kind of power over me. I think society needs to come up with a better solution to the kind of problems cops actually need to deal with. As for now, cops are a necessary evil, but that doesn’t mean I want them around me.
I didn’t hate the police who turned up on Saturday night when a dozen of us were locked in a pub for our own safety, besieged by a bunch of a dozen chavs who had been thrown out after one had threatened to beat me up.
I wasn’t too impressed with the cops who recently gave me a 3 point penalty and £60 fine for doing 78mph on an empty straight road.
Don’t even go there about the one who stopped me in the rain because my number plate was too small on my motorbike, gave me an on the spot fine, then asked where my tax disc was (it had been stolen, for the fifth time).
Aren’t you part of “anyone”? You may be hurt! Many “abandoned buildings” are condemned for various reasons; they’re declared unfit for habitation.
My half-cocked cost-benefit analysis here says the police do the right thing to roust people from said buildings.
Either you suffer a small inconvenience now, or everyone suffers a greater inconvenience later when the floor collapses from underneath you, or you start the place on fire, etc. and a rescue is required.
No they didn’t. Was he charged with “Allowing dogs to bark” or something? You can’t be jailed for that, so obviously it was either something else, or you’re making the whole thing up. What were the real charges? If more than one, please list all.
What’s a fage, anyway?
I never got a speeding ticket I didn’t earn. And if you think in terms of all the other times you speed, everyone here except Uni57 is probably making out like bandits! 
I have gotten a couple of questionable tickets though:
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Once I was ticketed for parking in a handicapped spot. This was on a rainy night, in a row of six spots in front of a small strip mall. The paint on the ground was so faded as to be invisible in those conditions, and the spots were otherwise only marked by a sign on the porch-roof supports at each end of this row of six handicapped spots, with little arrows pointing toward the middle. But I was, indeed, in a handicapped spot, along with the five other cars, which all had tickets on them also.
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More recently I was ticketed for “crossing the double yellow line” on a residential street near my house. They have these wacky speed bumps with a notch in the middle of each lane, spaced at car-tire width, that just beg you to drive through them by momentarily going in the center of the road. This would be a hazard if there was any traffic coming the other way, but the view is really clear. This neighborhood, of what are probably million-dollar homes, is unfortunately along a shortcut around one of our local traffic bottlenecks. The speed bumps were installed to slow people down, but I wasn’t speeding and don’t speed on neighborhood streets. The cop who gave me the ticket wasn’t being a dick, but whoever ordered him to station himself in that neighborhood and do it was. A fine and points! Should have just been a warning. I would have complied just the same. I blame the residents of that neighborhood and their “influence.”
When my kids were little and we went to the convenience store in the neighborhood occasionally there would be a police officer in the store buying coffee, donuts, the National Enquirer, what not. Policemen have name tags on their uniforms so I could introduce “Officer Raphael” or whoever to my kids without really having met him before. Any time there was one in the store I would say something like, “Sarah, this is Officer Raphael. He’s your friend. If you are in trouble you can ask him for help.” The policemen would invariably respond in a jovial, friendly, non-threatening manner and the initial intimidation would go away for my kids.
Policemen are people. Treated as such they respond as such. I’ve never had any reason to dislike them.
I think he means fag… which isn’t really nice at all.
But it’s his reputation and he can do whatever he wants with it.
Discourse
Police represent the “monopoly of force” in society, an expression of ruling class interests and dominant ideologies that guide the state apparatus. They provide legitimacy to the state, which, otherwise, has no real power to control its’ population. The legitimacies of a police force then are connected to the structure of the state-society it represents, the degree to which equity and inclusion is found should provide a basis for objectivity here. Or not. But obviously if your interests aren’t being served by the state, they aren’t being served by the police.
Your example is an oxymoron.
Your tale is fraught with opportunities for deconstruction. But I leave that to Mr BluntRM.