posted
The police are SUPPOSED to do good things, rescue people, protect and serve, make life safer for good people, catch the bad guys, and all that. It's great when that happens, but it's their job.
Unfortunately, there are lots of instances when they are not at all the good, wholesome, saviors we expect them to be, and these examples stand out.
Police are supposed to be heroes. If Superman did all those heroic things, but every once in a while he beat the hell out of somebody for no good reason or put someone in jail for something they didn't do, we wouldn't think he was so great.
Cops have a lot to live up to, and rightly so. We invest them with the authority to act as our protectors, with the power over life and death, over freedom, that none of the rest of us have.
In this society, we give most of our powers of personal protection over to strangers, and we need to feel that we can trust them to use that power in our best interests. I don't get to carry a gun to defend myself. I don't get to arrest someone who commits a crime against me. I don't get to keep the streets safe.
I gave the power to do those things to the police, and I expect them to use that power to protect and serve me. Never to harass me. Never to violate my civil rights. Never to use that power for their own, personal agendas. Any time they use that power incorrectly, I have a reason to be upset, because it's my power, as a citizen. I'm just placing it in their hands, with the trust that they'll use it correctly.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:If Superman did all those heroic things, but every once in a while he beat the hell out of somebody for no good reason or put someone in jail for something they didn't do, we wouldn't think he was so great.
Yeah, but if Superman did all those heroic things, and some other guy in tights who also did heroic things every once in a while beat the hell out of somebody for no good reason or put someone in jail for something they didn't do, we wouldn't stop thinking Supes was great.
Unless we were J. Jonah Jameson.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:it only take one incident in which a police officer misuses his authority to sour a person against the police.
When someone makes such a conclusion after only one negative incident with a person of another race, we have an ugly name for it.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Police are supposed to be heroes. If Superman did all those heroic things, but every once in a while he beat the hell out of somebody for no good reason or put someone in jail for something they didn't do, we wouldn't think he was so great.
Then you'd have batman, and everyone loves batman!
MightCow: Unfortunately we can only select our cops and authority figures from the pool of humanity. If only we could somehow reserve those devoid of imperfection for political office and law enforcement we'd be OK!
I accept that people in positions of authority WILL eventually misuse it, and there are mediums in place to protect the people from it. But better to have flawed law enforcement then none at all if you ask me. And since perfect law enforcement is impossible, Ill take what we have now, and keep an eye on it to make sure it does not go out of control.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
The problem that you have with cops that you don't have with superheroes is that one of those groups self-selects for some undesirable traits.
Not saying that they all do, but I don't think there's any denying that the police (like the military) tend to attract a certain breed of power-abusing bully. And those cops (while a minority) give the majority a bad rep.
Couple that with the fact that a certain amount of bullying and abuse of power is tacitly accepted, if not encouraged, and it's not hard to see why some people have the opinions of the police as a whole that they do. I don't know whether they're warranted or not.
And the difference between cops and every other profession given here as an example is that the police are in a position of power over every single one of us. They're the enforcers, and they don't always handle that responsibility as they should, IME.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:it only take one incident in which a police officer misuses his authority to sour a person against the police.
When someone makes such a conclusion after only one negative incident with a person of another race, we have an ugly name for it.
There is a very important difference here Dag. The incidents I've described are examples of police officers obusing their special authority. Racial groups don't have any special powers or authority by virtue of race. If I was mistreated by a person with blue eyes (for example), there is no simple way they could use their blues to hurt me so there is no logical reason to conclude that their was any relationship between their blue eyes and the their behavior.
On the other hand if a police officer uses his uniform, his badge, or his authority to ticket or arrest me to treat me unjustly, the situation is very different. He is using the special powers and authority he hold only because he is a police officer to hurt me. So it is not irrational for me to resent not just the person who hurt me but the position he used to do it.
Misuse of authority is a pretty well studied field and it has been demonstrated that most people become less respectful of others and more prone to obusive behavior when they are given authority.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:I stand by what I said. When people act "in line" out of fear of negative martial consequences, that's a form of terrorism and not something we should be proud of. It's a hallmark of a criminal justice system that trafficks in fear, and yes, I think that there is something politically and morally lazy about this approach.
When people act "in line" out of fear of negative consequences, the more applicable (and less rhetorical) word to use is 'coercion.'
Also not too crazy about the notion of the criminal justice system trafficking in 'fear,' but given the state of the modern day prison-industrial complex, I'm sure they're trading in something!Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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One, they're all individuals; the actions of some do not reflect on the others.
Two, when they're serving and protecting, they're among the best people in society.
Three, when they're acting simply as agents of the status quo, they might as well be an occupying military force.
Posts: 1515 | Registered: Feb 2002
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