Do you hate the police?

Question

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Answer 1

D@mn tha Police, yeah I said it!
Minions of the man, protect and serve my furry @$$. Protect property, and serve the powerful few.

Police are a front to civilized society. A revenue generating machine for individual states wealth.

Please, we would all be better off without them, and that is my honest to God opinion.

Thank you for letting me express it.
And as far as good cops go? That's like finding a nice Nazi, I am sure they were out there, but they still supported an ideology that I am diametrically opposed to.

Answer 2

I come from New Orleans and I'm pretty sure we have the most corrupt Police Dept. on record. I know that you can't stereotype people but you could go up to 7 different cops with the same problem and get 7 differen't responses. They should have a precedented way of handling almost any situation but they didn't. It seemed to depend on their mood. I have to say, I knew some really good cops there also but for the most part, I tried to leave them alone. My brother is a cop in another state and so is my brother-in-law. I bet both of them are real jerks when they want to be. I know their job is extremely stressful and it is very difficult for human beings to handle a little bit of power but there needs to be a much better way for society to choose who should or should not become a cop.

Answer 3

No. If you must hate, never hate groups, just individuals. Every group is composed of both good and bad individuals, and to hate the entire group does a disservice to the good ones in that group.

However, I have noticed that there are some problems that seem to come along with the job of policeman.

First, a certain percentage of people are attracted to the job because they are bullies by nature, and believe that the job will give them the chance to push people around. I assume that the PD does its best to weed out these types of recruits, but they aren't always successful.

Second, there's the old saying "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Giving any person power over another person tends to lead to abuse. It affects prison guards, judges, drill sergeants... any time you put someone in a position where they can tell other people what to do (and back it up with lethal force) some of them are going to abuse the power.

Third, the job often tends to create an "us versus them" psychology in police. They see so many creeps in their line of work that pretty soon everyone looks like a potential enemy, and they withdraw into their own little inner circle - feeling that their fellow police are the only ones they can trust. Naturally, this causes friction with the general population. Many policemen begin to see themselves more as an occupying army, riding herd on a hostile population, than as fellow citizens who have been hired by the tax payers to stop crime. They often end up socializing only with other police, even marrying into other police families... All of this isolates them from the general human experience in their society, and makes conflict with the general population more likely.

Finally, there's the matter of "protecting their own". Most organizations tend to do this. This stems from both a desire to avoid bad publicity for the group, and an individual realization that what happens to one of them can happen to another. Throw in the buddy/trust system essential to police work, and police departments tend to be very protective of their own. Which, in practice, often means that they don't get rid of the bad apples soon enough. They sometimes cover up abuses and tend to have a knee-jerk response to criticism of a fellow officer - even when the criticism is warranted. (For an extreme example of this, see the movie "Serpico"; which was based on actual events...)

Another problem is that instead of just nabbing real criminals, the police are made to enforce minor laws (such as issuing traffic tickets) which brings them into contact with the average joe in a very negative way. No one wants to see a black & white with its lights on behind them. This tends to make otherwise law-abiding citizens feel fear when they see the police, instead of feeling safe - as they (ideally) should. Perhaps the job of issuing traffic tickets should be separated from police work and given to a separate traffic agency, so that the police could concentrate on preventing major crimes - it would certainly improve their public image a lot.

Answer 4

No. They were very helpful when someone broke into my house. I felt safe and reassured once they arrived. I know there are bad police in the world...in San Antonio, one was found guilty by a jury today for sexually assaulting someone in his patrol car. However we have wonderful police officers here who are concerned about public safety. I saw a mentally ill homeless elderly woman sitting on a stair by a parking lot. When I returned to my car. I caught a bicycle cop bringing her a bag of food and some coffee. She took the food and coffee and hugged him and he then rode off. I have had incidents where my car was hit in traffic where the people who hit it drove off. In both cases the police officers were very nice to me and made sure I was okay. So no, I do not hate the police. I appreciate them.

Answer 5

I don't hate them, but I do believe that many of the ones in my city could use some sensitivity training and also take more of a serious interest in non-violent crimes such as vandalism, illegal fireworks, noisy neighbors, things like that. It seems to be "common" knowledge that if you haven't been the victim of a serious crime, virtually nothing will be done about it.

Answer 6

No.

We absolutely need them. I have many friends who are police officers.

It's a difficult and underpaid job. Granted there may be a few rogue cops around, but there are probably a few rogue radio newscasters around too, and I don't hate them either.

Answer 7

Well if they pull me over for no reason YES.

But otherwise no because if I'm in a bad situation I would like the police to be there.

I think anyone would.

Answer 8

No I have friends that are police officers there very cool.

Answer 9

I hate many of the stupid laws that they enforce blindly without questioning why it should even be a law. They are like cattle being led to the slaughter.

Answer 10

I have never met a policeman I didn't like - even when they were giving me a ticket for whatever stupid thing I was doing.