Should cops be given higher status than civilians?

Question

Are cops given too much power? Example if a cop sees you talking loudly to another person in a bar and grabs you by your shoulder and you jerk away from him, should you get ten years in prison for assault? Do you think that police should be considered more important to be protected from violence than you or me?

Answer 1

OK buddy, you aren't going to do ten years in prison for assault if an off duty cop in civilian clothes grabs your shoulder from behind in a bar! You are blowing stuff out of proportion. If however you are in an altercation at a bar and a person in civilian clothes approaches you and identifies himself as a cop (even if he is off duty) and tells you to cut the crap and walk away and you verbally or physically assault him, than you are wrong. You still won't do 10 years in prison though...you might get probation...at the most. Anyway, the point is, people get longer and harsher sentences for the assault/attempted murder/murder of a cop because they are a symbol of authority in our society and need to be treated with respect. Thats the reason. Its not because they have too much power or abuse it. Ther is a small percentage of cops who are corrupt/abuse power, but thats true of ANY occupation. Humans are humans no matter what job they have. The police try to have their people be above reproach, but some go bad. Thats why they have Internal Affairs. To investigate and weed out the bad apples as best they can.

Answer 2

Police and judges and so forth often miss the fact that they are public servants paid for by the people ............as such the answer becomes yes and no.

If when caught lieing in court or commiting an offense they should be punished 10 times more severely that a civilian and all those in the force that tried to mitigate or hide the wrong doing should also be made examples of.

When the badge comes off they become sort of civilians because yes I do expect them to jump to someones aid if possible and they are not endangering thier own life while doing so but no they don't get special privlages or consideration.

From the Prime Minister on down to the secratary at the land registry office we need to pummel into their heads that the public who they are hired to serve feeds thier children and buys them the cloths on thier back out of hard earned tax money. Thats the deal when you apply for the job if you don't like it go elsewhere.

Answer 3

No cops are not "above" the law. I work for a small department in SE Kansas, none of the guys I work with are perfect. However, we all (Sheriff, Under Sheriff, Detectives, Deputies, Administrative Staff) realize that our lives are constantly under a microscope. Do we make mistakes and blow our tops? You bet, we are human. However, we all realize that if we break the law we are subject to the same punishment as a civilian. Are all departments like this? NO! There are a lot of corrupt cops out there that give the honest ones a bad rap.

Answer 4

Many many cops are power hungry impotent jerks. They think abusing the public proves that they are "men". Plus, they know the system will take their word over the words of a civilian.

Most cases of resisting arrest or assault of a police officer are trumped up charges. Get a good lawyer and delve deeply into the background of the cop that did this to you.

Answer 5

oh wow this one sure is a can of worms. hmm... should cops be treated any different than normal citizens? in the instance you named the cop would have to have reasonable doubt that you were about to cause a reasonable amount of damage or seemed to to yourself or others. my question is what is this cop doing in the bar when he has more important things to do out on the street like catching the drunk drivers who kill people on their way home from the bars.
but to be given a higher status than the everyday average joe? i dunno. in some aspects it would be a better thing i think. because most cops are doing a civic duty to maintain the order in this country. they just dont get enough respect. yes there would be some corruption as there always has been in all the years of humanity. its unavoidable. well i have to go and wonder a question of my own. lemme know what you think ok?

Answer 6

Everyone hates the police until you need one. So, seems like posters expect the police to be submissive whenever they stop someone from breaking the law. It's really annoying when driving in a hurry 20 mph over the speed limit, a inconsiderate state trooper pulls you over and speaks to you in such a dry tone and won't listen to your lame excuse and actually has the nerve to give you a ticket. Boy, cops can be such jerks.

Answer 7

Yes and no. There will never be a solid answer to that question.

Verbal confutation would never get you ten years in jail, nor verabal threats.

The "good" police do deserve the extra status. However, there will always be those "bad guys". Those who take and obid by the laws of that province, country, or state deserve the extra power to make sure there are no questions asked.

Answer 8

Absolutely not. They were intended to be public servants, not public masters. Try bringing that up next time a traffic officer is chewing you out for going 7 over. I'm sick of the sarcasm, the snobbishness, the general air of superiority, and the occasional abuse of power we see in the news. While I fully support the law enforcement in this country, and think we should have stricter laws for those who assault an officer in executing his duties, I don't believe they deserve a special class. They aren't above us, they don't have a right to try to intimidate me, and we aren't paying them to be our bullies. We have enough of those already. Good question.

Answer 9

Police are not given a "higher status than civilians" they should be HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD than civilians.They are allowed to do things that civilians can't like run red lights, arrest people etc etc.But w/ that comes a responsibility to conduct themselves professionally and treat people w/ respect.Some coppers forget that. Some forget that "It's nice to be important but, it's more important to be nice".

Answer 10

I don't believe members of congress are of a higher class than your average working man. Possibly in the same class that drug users are in if you wanna get specific. Now police officers shouldn't be in public bars unless they are on duty, its too volitile for civil disobedience to occure either against them or by them. Really now, they know classified information about many people, if they wanted your girl and were drunk do you think they would refrain from using that information against you?