Why does everyone hate and fear the police so much?

Question

If you aren't breaking the law, why are you afraid? Most of these innocent people who have been arrested and abuse weren't completely innocent, they had previous records or were doing something illegal. I know that none of my family or I have every gotten into any trouble with the police. I wish they would put a police station in the parking lot of my apartments, I sure would feel alot safer, but then again all the gang members and robbers might get arrested and we wouldn't want those nice innocent people bothered would we? I judge everyone by their attitude towards law enforcement because it seems the decent respectable people never have any problem with them, just those people who engage in illegal activity complain.

Answer 1

I think I am blown away by the answers for this question which I just read. I am 6 months from graduating the Criminal Justice Program. I will be working as a police officer in less than a year and I am just shocked by how horrible an image police officers have.

Media is a HUGE factor when it comes to stereotyping police officers. If even a fraction of you people had an idea the turmoil and responsibility placed on the shoulders of officers maybe you would have a new found respect!

FIRST off, by Classifying all officers as being one in the same you are blind and immature! It is illegal for police officers to do racial profiling. What is the difference by what society does to police officers?

SECONDLY, what other profession is out in harms way day in and day out not knowing if some moron is going to take their life? (besides our brave soliders).... Why are police officers out there busting the "criminals"? OHHH yes, to keep the streets safe.

THIRDLY, you are right some officers do disobey the law, some officers are rough, some officers are not law abiding citizens, but that ONE bad seed SHOULD not be the profile all officers are held to.

FOURTH, if you are not committing a crime, then you should be helping the law enforcement agency with community relations.

DO you lock your door at night? Do you lock your vehicle? Think about this stuff... why do you do it? BECAUSE YOU ARE untrusting, afraid to be robbed, murdered, etc.... Police officers are underpaid servants to a community, which holds a low self image of these brave men and women.

Take a little time to realize NOT all officers are bad, most of them understand and live by the oath and that is to protect and serve.

Answer 2

I read something that saddened me and helped me understand the fear of police. The following is a passage from "Smokin' Joe, the Autobiography of Joe Frazier" where he wrote about giving advice to his 16 year old son, Marvis Frazier:

"'Son,' I said, 'if the speed limit is thirty, you drive twenty-five.' I'd grown up in the South, where a black man driving an expensive car is an invitation for a police officer to pull him over. And some law-men, I knew, got nervous around young blacks. I didn't want no trigger happy accidents where my kid was concerned. I told Marvis, 'if you're ever stopped, step out of the car with your hands up....'"

You see, police do not always have perfect judgment. When wealthy parents, who have raised good children, are forced to teach their children to act guilty around a police car even if they're innocent, that tells me that policemen still aren't uniformly trained, especially in the south where there are still significant pockets of racism.

If you're a girl in the car, more often than not, a police officer will not draw his gun as he approaches your car.

Even here in San Francisco, the cops have a bad reputation. A friend and his wife were driving, minding there own business when they were pulled over for no reason and giving a ticket by an officer who spoke unpolitely and was trying to provoke my friend to give him a reason to "create a matter."

Although I do feel that there are many wonderful cops. The police force in New York City is such an example. I think they are better police because they interact with the public more. Most cops are anti-social and hide behind their police vehicles and as a result, do not have a proper understanding of how social structures work or how human behavior. I think real cops should be on the street talking to people and socializing with the public more. New York City should be a model for all police organizations.

Answer 3

While in general it's true that if you haven't done anything wrong the police won't bother you, it's not always true. There's a book out now about a guy in Oklahoma who was convicted of murder and then later found to be innocent on the basis of DNA tests, and the same tests were used later to convict the dead woman's boyfriend. The point of the book was that the police and prosecutor picked on the first guy just because he had a bad reputation and ignored from the start evidence that showed he was very unlikely to have committed the crime.

So yes, I respect the police and wish I saw more of them on the streets, They do a necessary job, but they make mistakes like everyone else and their mistakes can kill you.

Answer 4

First and fore most you have the criminals, they hate the police for obvious reasons.

Then there are the "anarchists", I put everyone in this category that just dislikes authority.

You also have the never-gonna-be's, they are wanna be's that will never be. Jealousy.

There is the "I dated a cop" haters, they have been screwed over by someone that just happens to be a cop.

Lastly, there are a very very small fraction that is justified because they had a bad experience with an officer. Out of all the "my rights were violated" morons, maybe a percentage of these people were. And most of those weren't intentional.

Thats just off the top of my head.

Answer 5

I think is has to do with the way they are portrayed as of lately in movies , media and other stuff, I believe they are here to protect us ,period and I a Puertorican have never had a complaint about them, as a matter of fact when I first step in New york as a 9 yr old girl ,my very first amigo was the police officer who croos me to school , not a crossing guard , areal policia! He had a scar on his cheek , and he was tall , and friendly and talk to me , and I will always remember him! Polise officers must go back to the strrets and talk to children ,just for the sake of talking! I love them all!

Answer 6

prosperous land middle Wi. i replaced right into a pair of mile from my residing house in the time of a snowfall on the backside of a hill with a newborn newborn interior the backseat and no warmth. A cop pulled over and instructed us we could no longer provide up there...I instructed him we necessary help and he suggested it replaced into against coverage to furnish rides in the time of a snowfall. I suggested, in spite of a newborn toddler interior the motor vehicle? He instructed me he could provide me a cost ticket. (No telephone, no journey no interior of sight business enterprise.) i admire the know-how black, it is descriptive and not insulting interior the least. I attempt to no longer hate everybody, yet particularly those that have not harmed me. i admire Yahoo solutions because of the fact I even have various journey, yet i do no longer understand each and every little thing so I even have various inquiries to ask. I enjoyed something of your questions...yet they have been quite stereotypical. i do no longer care approximately ...who's Nick Jonas? Oh yeah and Marijuana is unlawful on account it is quite grown and the government needs to make a earnings. Jesus suggested," many will are available my call that are actually not from me." this is confusing to show the different cheek. Jesus suggested,"they understand no longer what they do." because of the fact the government crucified Jesus. in case you decide on a huge mac deal, basically share it. the government has too lots administration already anyhow. shelter and Serve. 5 Billion on an popular basis.

Answer 7

"Everyone" doesn't hate and fear the police, so you're going to get a subjective answer to a subjective question.

In my experience, local and state police tend to break out into equal parts (1) people who want to serve their community through civil service, (2) people who believe that society functions only through rules, and want to be a part of the enforcement process to make themselves feel better, and (3) aggressive, hostile and borderline psychopathic people who just want any excuse to carry (and use) a gun.

I grew up in a nice well-to-do community (Northwest DC) where the police were respected, and where the police respected the community. There were very few incidences of police abuse, but when they occured, they were investigated and respolved quickly. But nationally that seems to be a bit unusual.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I was absolutely shocked to see the difference in attitude from the police. Within my first year (as a student), I witnessed several gross abuses of power by the police. I was in a car in San Diego where an officer pulled over a college student for no probable cause, kicked in a taillight, then wrote a citation for it. In LA I watched as a drunk-in-public gentleman (who was not resisting arrest) was put into the back of a patrol car, and then his girlfriend was hit in the side of the head with a metal flashlight and screamed at by an officer simply because she asked where he was going to be held. As a white kid in Glendale, I was routinely passed by while the police harassed Hispanic and Black kids my same age in situations where no law appeared to have been broken, and where there was no probable cause for body searches. All the same, in LA and San Diego I was routinely told "Shut up" and "F*** you" by police officers -- even when just asking directions -- in a manner I've never experienced prior (when I lived in DC, NY, and BOS) or since (several west coast cities).

Roughly around 1990, I was there when a woman in my friend's LA neighborhood came out to the street after her husband beat her in a drunken rage. When my friend asked why she didn't call the police, she basically called my friend a stupid white kid. To paraphrase: "Don't you know if I call the police they're gonna shoot somebody? I want him [her husband] to stop hitting me. I don't want him dead."

You might think that's a joke, but it's not. In 1992 I WATCHED as an LAPD police cruiser chased down, HIT, AND RAN OVER a 16 year old on a bicycle after the kid stole a 6-pack of beer from a 7-11. The officer willfully caused a broken leg, lost teeth, skin abrasions, permanent scarring -- because a minor stole merchandise amounting to $5-10. Now what kind of message do you think that sends to the community? (And BTW, the officer handcuffed the kid face-down in the street, and it was the neighbors who had to call an ambulance.) My kids don't steal beer, but even stereotypical upstanding moral WASP kids will misbehave occasionally. If my kid stole a coke and skateboarded away in a mall parking lot, would the police try to kill him with the front bumper of a cruiser?

In that situation in LA, I believe the moral thing to do would have been to shoot the driver of the car to keep him from hitting the kid. Yes, you read that right -- in that situation, maiming or killing a police officer would have been the right thing to do -- because the police officer was armed, irrational, and completely out of control. Sometimes the people you put into power to keep the peace either don't know how to handle it, or just turn out to be bad apples. Unfortunately it seems that the percentage of bad apples seems never smaller than one out of three. Just my opinion.

Many "decent and respectable" people understand that this sort of thing happens. Many times it's the result of long-standing patterns of behavior related to the city, or perhaps the demographics and economics of an area. IN DC, there are several overlapping jurisdictions, and they tend to check up on each others' behavior. Despite its other problems, you can generally trust the police in DC. In LA, it's notable that all LA County Sheriffs are assigned to prison guard duty for their first two years, which seems to breed an institutionally-reinforced racism and classism. (I.e. if you spend two years where all the black & brown people you meet are convicts from poor families, what will you think when you're assigned to patrol the streets of east LA?)

Now I've moved to a more stable and reasonable city, but I still remember that there's only a very fine line between the behavior of many police officers and the criminals they pursue.

Answer 8

Disrespect for authority figures...

Plus in recent years there has been a lot of attention focusing on police corruption and cases of brutality against minorities.

So they are not the trusted well respected figures they use to be. Unfortunately the corrupt acts of a few has given them all a bad name.

I'm thankful for our local law enforcement officers and fortunate enough to have a few for neighbors as well.

without our peace officers we would all be in danger....

Answer 9

Sadly, just like every organization, where there is power, there is misuse of power. In the case of the police, that misuse of power can have a significant impact on our individual lives. Of course not all police officers abuse their power, but the simple fact that some do and get away with it at the expense of whoever they target is a bit scary.

But thanks to all you officers who uphold the law and keep my world safer.

Answer 10

Ive had a few run ins with the police but I dont hate them, nor am I scared of them. I was breaking the law and they were doing their jobs. They are in trusted with keeping peace and making the streets safe, its what they do. If you are violating those then you know you are and you know they are going to find you. Dont break the law and no worries.