Why is it that law enforcement people are automatically assumed to be in the wrong?

Question

It seems that every time I see a question about police both the person asking the question and the people answering are anti police? Who passed the laws they are enforcing? Do you ever stop and think they are trying to protect you?

NO I am not in law enforcement, I have been a firefighter and EMT. I admit I have seen a different side of them, (have had two DUIs in the past too, so...) dont give me any BS about my feelings justify yours.

Answer 1

i think people who are against cops are the ones who cause trouble but cant own up to it. i'm very grateful for cops and if i do something wrong and get in trouble, its my fault not the officers

Answer 2

It's funny how that works. Here is my opinion on the matter. It's kind of hard to take (some) police officers seriously when a lot of them break the law either just as bad if not worse than the average citizen. Just the other day, I had a cop riding the tail end of my car as I was going down the interstate at 65. He rode my rear end until I got out of the lane, even though there were three empty lanes next to us. I do appreciate all that law enforcement officers do. I acknowledge that they are the first people I call when I'm in need of emergency services. I also acknowledge that they have a lot of crazy people they have to deal with.

Answer 3

Just like with everything, it only takes a few bad ones to make an entire group look bad. For some reason, instead of judging on an individual basis, people like to make ignorant mass statements and judgments, hence racism. In law enforcement, the good outnumbers the bad. People like "Alicia N" who says that she was tailgated on the highway @ 65mph...hmmm, sounds like she was riding the left lane and was in the way, perhaps next time the officer should pull her over for obstructing traffic. See, there is a lot of ignorance out there too, some of these people just don't get it, so they get mad at the police when they are corrected or caught. I had a local taligate me one day, this was on a 2 lane road. You know what? I don't care, they were, for some reason in a hurry to get to the convenience mart they pulled into. Whether it was for a call or they just were hungry, I don't care, because the first people I'm calling if some piece of *** breaks into my house, etc, etc, is the police. This isn't to say we should let police become corrupt or abuse their power, but because of s***ty lawyers, idiots can cry foul even when they've done wrong. Officers put their life on the line EVERY MINUTE they are on duty and even when off. I think there should be a ton of respect paid to someone who'd die saving you, even though they don't know your silly little ***. Finally, as you said about who passed the laws, I don't think half of them are strict enough anyway. I don't know who some of these criminals think they are, and it angers me greatly when they think they should have rights. In other countries they'd be killed, lose limbs, or be embarrased, as they should be. I'd bet some of the stress officers feel is arresting some dirtbag for the 3rd time for the exact same crime. I really wouldn't worry about what the opinions of lowlife criminals and ignorant people who can't see below the surface is though, they are absolutely meaningless in this world, they're just mad because they know this.

Answer 4

My own opinions on police are based on experience including violations of Constitutional protection, and local law enforcement being apathetic to actual crimes (they refer you to the courthouse to file charges, because they didn't see the crime committed so they can't do anything even if there is a preponderance of physical evidence and/or witnesses that did see it) while apparently more than willing to go all out in cases where revenue can be raised, mostly for 'crimes' that have no real victim.
I am a, generally, law abiding citizen with no criminal history or propensity. Though I disagree with many laws (no victim, no crime) and it's almost a practical impossibility to avoid breaking every law there is. The average American probably breaks at least one law, if not several, every single day.

I understand that many of the issues with law enforcement personnel is based more on political pressure coming down than a reflection on individual officers. I believe that in most cases, they do what they're bosses tell them to. Whether or not they think it's 'right', or in the public best interest, or whatever. I'm sure the pressure to make numbers look good and to show that the officer is doing his/her job (e.g. writing traffic citations) and deserves to keep it overrides the underlying philosophy of "serving and protecting."

The 'war on drugs' is probably the largest contributing factor to the ineffectiveness of law enforcement in so many aspects. But federal funding, which most departments refuse to give up, is involved in pursuing this 'war.'
See also: http://leap.cc

The laws are passed by people that supposedly represent us. However, that is not often the case and frequently lots of money (aka: lobbying) buys all kinds of ridiculous laws that shouldn't be.

EDIT: Courts have repeatedly ruled that citizens have no guarantee of law enforcement or police protection. Which makes one wonder why they are so adamantly against people taking whatever measures necessary to protect themselves, others, and their own property, what they tend to call "taking the law into your own hands."

Answer 5

I would venture a guess that it because police, according to my personal experience, enforce the law according to their own bias and other personal agenda.
Beyond that I have noticed only 4 types of policemen, and the percentage that I perceive populate the ranks of the police, at large:
1. Bullies who now have a shield that makes their bulling power "legal" (40-45%)
2. Wimps who got picked on in their youth and now they have a shield and authority to hide behind as they make every pay for what they suffered. (30-40%)
3 Those that want to use the position as a political stepping stone (10-15%)
4 Honest people who actually want to protect and serve (5-10%)

YES I realize that if you take the top number of each, it adds up to MORE than 100%, duh. I mean that these ranges seem to be the norm in my experience living in Michigan, Washington (ST, not DC), California, and Arizona. The numbers, of course, need to be adjusted within the ranges given to come out to 100%.
Maybe that has LOT to do with the perception that cops are in the wrong, most of the time.
I also think it is a reaction of cops wrongfully giving out false citations for traffic offenses to make their quotas (another way the gov't. rapes our wallets) and lies, under oath, in court. The cop is always seen are right and the offender as wrong, from the outset. If they lies about small things, it shows a lack of integrity and that follows the whole group.
My own view is that, on big cases, where investigation is involved, they probably get the criminal, most of the time. In small stuff, not even close to 50% of the time are they getting the criminal, and they don't care if they do or not!

Answer 6

When the police make a mistake performing their job it can cost a life and is a well publicized event. It can also be an embarassment, as the case of the two officers caught in a brothel in Las Vegas. They are no better than all of us average citizens and those that I know act accordingly. They learned from experience to leave the job back at the office. This whole shoot to kill practice isn't protecting me personally . i.e. when undercover NYPD shot an unharmed man in his own door way when he went for his keys to get in his apt. In San Jose a SJPD investigating a child endangerment complaint shot a young Vietnamese mother in her own kitchen while brandishing a "dangerous weapon". ( a 6" potatoe peeler) If anything, they make a good argument why average citizens should not carry side arms. Law enforcement officers have all the training, yet, still make mistakes in the heat of conflict. Protect me and my family, yes, but, you know that they can't be everywhere and they take the heat for their high profile screw ups. Nobody said it's an easy job.

Answer 7

I never ever had any idea, whatsoever, that there were so many anti-police folks out there until I started hanging out here in Yahoo Answers. I was so taken aback by all the negativity, I started coming here more often to speak up in favor of the police... I don't know, I guess I thought it must be kind of discouraging to see so many people hating the police.

But I've observed that the police officers here have nice thick skins (kind of like what you get when you teach disrespectful teenagers) and they don't seem to be as shocked as I was by all the negativity towards them.

Still, I believe, from what I've read here and observed in life, that the people who like to break the law are the ones who complain the most about how awful the police are.

Answer 8

i have never assumed that the law enforcement officials were in the wrong. their job is to serve and protect. they do their job well, but like any career -there are some bad eggs.

Answer 9

Because people don't want to accept responsibility for their actions. Too many with the victim mentality.

I'm not in law enforcement - wanted to be however probably never gonna happen unfortunately.

Answer 10

Yeah, right. Let me guess. You are either a law enforcement officer or are related to one. I used to be all naive about thinking that police are here to help us but then I woke up. The police in my town, only help those that they know. I have personally witnessed this. And I do not have a criminal record, not even a juvie record. I do not associate with criminals. I do not have the space to write out all the times that I have witnessed police abusing their power. Protect us, yeah, right. That's a good one.

Answer 11

I've never known of a cop protecting anyone, they are well-known to break all kinds of laws (this is edmonton, alberta, the police crime capital of north america), they do nothing but harrass people and waste tax money - government thugs and bullies - the only useful thing they do is traffic control (ie - speeding, drunk driving, etc)
There is no person I would hate/fear to see at my door more than a cop. And that's from a good community oriented stay-at-home-mom. I've heard and seen things done by the cops here that would curl your hair!