Do police take their power too far?

Question

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ev1VKZNKnBc

CAUTION: ♦SOME CURSING♦

Answer 1

I have been in law enforcement for over 24 years. I work in a major agency that handles an average of 25,000 calls for service every month. Out of all of those calls, no one ever looks at the good we do.

I can tell you that over the years I have been involved in many violent situations. It is not like T.V., its very hard to arrest someone that doesn't want to be arrested. Also, we are not a bunch of martial arts experts that can control someone with one fancy move.

I will admit that I have seen a few real cases of police brutality over the the year. But, 99 % of the accusations are false.

Answer 2

Its easy to stereotype cops but a mistake. There are two sides to everything. All cops are people vulnerable too human shortcomings. Ive met some really wonderful balanced and fair officers in my days and some complete incompetent corrupt and generally brutal ones. Lets put it this way. I teach my children to trust with caution. To keep in mind that an officer may not always be a gentleman. Bad guys can create severe frustrations that can turn good cops bad. The constraints of laws often seem to favor the bad guy from a cops perspective and though they know in thier gut the bad guy really is bad they are forced to treat him like a good guy. However without these constraints the only people attracted to being police would be thugs. We would then be no different than many third world nations where justice is a joke and the gun the rule. The more of your rights that you vote away eventually the rule of power will seep in and you will have no recourse if you are violated by the police. Freedom to demand justice for the good and bad is what makes civilization civilized.

Answer 3

I've seen that video--yes, it is disturbing, and the force used may have been unnecessary--however, we must remember that we don't have all the information. However, very probably in that instance there was some police brutality involved; however, I would say that this was the exception rather than the rule. Most police officers just try to make an honest living and keep the streets clean. But the pressure and fear that comes from having such a job makes some snap and make less than wise decisions, even decisions that involve cruely. But again, from one videoclip, we cannot condemn the entire profession.

Answer 4

Any time people have power over other people abuse is possible Most cops are really trying to help people, but some will always be bad. Any time you are in the presence of police, don't give them a reason to harrass you, and they probably won't.

Answer 5

yes some do but its no that i hate cops i hate the laws they enforce like some of the offences and alot of time they can let things go or bring to jail on how they feal. im in a dam police class at school oh well i learn the system.

Answer 6

All forms of civil authority have been and always will be open to abuse. This is as true for police officers as it is for clergy and politicians. It is important that we never look away from such abuses, but face them honestly as a people. But we must keep things in balance and remember that these are men and women who risk their lives for our welfare every day. They deserve our respect and they deserve to be innocent until proven guilty.

Answer 7

In the case of that video, no. In the shots you can plainly see the guy being tazed, he is in hand cuffs which means he is under arrest. He is plainly resisting and refusing to take direction while the police are trying to get him to leave the building. The police were well within their rights to taze him.

He was purposely looking for confrontation and started crying when he found it. The police deal with mean individuals so being nice is not really in their job description. I rather like how the video camera just so happened to be ready to film, so in my mind he staged it, he provoked it, and he incited it so he deserved it.

Answer 8

I did not watch the video, don't have too.

Yes Yes and YES..... Run into a short cop and you will have even more problems!
Cops feel they are not part of the human race, and treat everyone like it too. They expect special privileges and can drive however they want to in our area....Oregon has had a rash of cop shootings as well....I am not to happy with our "cops" right now...

Answer 9

Yes they can, because some people on the police dept. just can't handle authority, and some are in in just to harass people under the guise of authority.

Answer 10

Yes, sometimes power gets into one's head.