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dreamland

(964 posts)
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 10:35 AM Jun 2020

Why are were so afraid of the cops?

Growing up we were taught to respect authority and the police will always be there to help you. We learn to trust the police.
Over the years, we learn that the police presence is all that is needed to stop any wrongdoing. We learn to fear them. Now, the militarized police have total authority, not to be questioned. We learn to keep our distance from them. They know everything about us. They have access to our homes and businesses. We need an agency that have tabs on them, addresses, names, recorded recognition and discipline. The police force needs an outside, government accountability group who will keep tabs on them. Then the balance order will shift back to where we can once again place our trust in this group.

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The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,267 posts)
2. Because they beat people up and shoot them for no good reason?
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 10:39 AM
Jun 2020

PoC get by far the worst of it, of course, but police departments have become so militarized and authoritarian that nobody is safe if people challenge them.

Aristus

(66,075 posts)
4. Because they think I'm one of the good guys because I'm white and drive a nice car.
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 10:49 AM
Jun 2020

That's a shitty way to go about policing.

I got pulled over for speeding once. And while I was fumbling for my proof of insurance, the cop said: "It's all right. You look like an okay guy, and you're driving a nice car (Yes, he actually said that!), so I'm going to let you off with a warning. Just drive safe, sir, and stick to the limit".

I 'look like an okay guy'; how did he come to that conclusion based on the way I look? There's no other answer than skin color.

And I think my jaw hit the floor when he said that driving a nice car was reason enough to spare me an expensive citation.

I fucking hate cops. He thought he was doing me a favor, and no doubt walked back to his cop car patting himself on the back for being such a sterling human being. I can't even begin to imagine what his first impression of me would have been if I had been black and driving a nice car. Except to say it may have been the reason he would have pulled me over, instead of the reason he let me off with a warning.

cyndensco

(1,697 posts)
8. Interesting....
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:03 AM
Jun 2020

The cop complimented you on your nice vehicle. You know what they ask black men about their nice cars? How'd you afford it? (Several of us were discussing this very phenomenon this weekend).

FTP


JenniferJuniper

(4,495 posts)
5. When my mother was about 70
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 10:58 AM
Jun 2020

she was pulled over my a cop who claimed she didn't come to a complete stop at a four way stop sign. She says she politely disagreed. He made her get out of the car and started to loudly berate her as he looked over her license and registration. He gave her a ticket (which she later successfully fought).

My mother was mortified by the verbal attack. It was loud and abusive and as she was very close to home, she was afraid people she knew would see and hear.

She complained to the police chief but of course, got nowhere. For the rest of her life, she talked about the incident. She was totally mortified and terrified by it.

Both the cop and my mother were white, so it wasn't racially motivated. He was just a bully in a bad mood.

We need to stop attracting the bullies to the profession.

NoMoreRepugs

(9,257 posts)
6. In my opinion it's because they are afraid of us.
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:01 AM
Jun 2020

I'm 70 and cantankerous to say the least. A few years ago I was stopped by a female officer doing 17 in a 15mph school zone. The female officer that came to my car window walked the last 10 feet or so with her hand on her gun. I rolled down the window and said something to the effect of "Are you fucking kidding me with the hand on your gun?" She then asked for my license and registration and when I reached into the glove box for the registration card she actually drew her weapon part way out of the holster. I stopped what I was doing and asked her what she wanted me to do - pull out the registration or do nothing. Eventually she calmed down a bit, wrote my ticket and left. I'm white and was driving a new Mercedes - go figure.

Hangingon

(3,071 posts)
11. Sounds like village I used to live in.
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:40 AM
Jun 2020

People were being ticketed for 2-3 mph over the limit. The trap was in a school zone. Two cars were assigned each school speed limit period. They literally had you going or coming. Two cops can write a lot of tickets in 3 hours with each ticket wort at least $200. Yep, the cops wore body armor and full belt - taser, sets of cuffs, pistol, 4 spare mags, flash light and baton. I was sure they need this to police 10,000 mostly retirees.

Why do cops get to have this righteous anger?

Calculating

(2,954 posts)
13. LAWBREAKERS MUST BE PUNISHED!
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:43 AM
Jun 2020

Somewhere along the line policing went from protecting and serving to punishment and oppression.

empedocles

(15,751 posts)
9. Structure may be significant. 9 years ago I lived where the police force was
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:04 AM
Jun 2020

small, local, decentm helpful and mostly friendly, it seemed.

Moved, and the big force, county police in my new place, come across as military cold, their 'sir' is voiced with an edge.

Voltaire2

(12,610 posts)
10. In our cities our police forces are armed and trained as an occupying para-military force.
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:09 AM
Jun 2020

That needs to be abolished.

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
12. I never particularly "respected" cops or thought they were there mainly to help
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:42 AM
Jun 2020

I came of age during the Vietnam protest era, but even as a young adolescent had seen the police brutality of the civil rights era on the television and in Life magazine photos. I had no rosy picture of the happy Irish cop on the street corner who knew and nurtured the neighborhood kids and only chased the bad guys with their billy clubs.

As a young college student in New York City in the late 1960s I encountered the police on horseback with clubs and tear gas. I recall the training we received before marches to protect ourselves against police aggression. (Don't wear earrings was a particularly sobering one: the thought of getting a hoop earring ripped out of my ear was enough to make me cautious.) A few years later, I was harassed by a group of cops. The police were pretty universally called "pigs" in those days, a moniker I disagreed with but understood its import.

I knew that there were good cops and bad cops, and so I don't care to besmirch them all. But as an institution, I have never seen them as a "helpful, protective" force. Indeed, I can't think of a single incidence in which I, personally, was helped or protected by an officer. The institution of policing in this country needs a serious overhaul. It's been a long, long time since their main duty was to protect and defend. They have morphed from defenders to active aggressors in search of people to apprehend ... and worse.



Solomon

(12,305 posts)
15. Grew up in a black neighborhood. Cops always treated us badly, as the enemy. It shocked me
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:53 AM
Jun 2020

when i went to college and learned how white folk look at cops. It stunned me, but it made sense. They really do live among and protect them. They don't harass white folk like they do black folk.

hunter

(38,263 posts)
16. I've seen police shoot people.
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 01:41 PM
Jun 2020

I've also seen police running around like the keystone cops shooting recklessly, endangering bystanders.

Most police don't have the skills or the temperament to use guns wisely.

I always think long and hard before I call the police about anything.

My parents never taught me to "respect authority" without question. "Because I said so!" was always a placeholder explanation, with a thorough explanation to follow later at a more convenient time.

My mom is always questioning authority. When I was growing up she'd argue with cops, priests, bishops, judges, lawmakers, bosses...

Our family never lasted long in any church except for the Quakers who would listen to my mom respectfully and then move on without any ruffled feathers. Before that we were Jehovah's Witnesses until they told my mom she wasn't welcome in their Kingdom Hall and posted some big men at the door to keep her out.

When I was a kid I ignored the flag salute in school. Didn't stand for it or anything. Usually I'd be reading or drawing pictures of spaceships. I was a weird kid anyways and that did not improve my reputation. In fourth grade I was dreadfully embarrassed when our teacher pointed me out as an example of religious freedom in the U.S.A.. I also had a few teachers who did not look upon me kindly when I wouldn't stand for the flag salute, and a few substitute teachers who did worse.

I've had a couple of bruising encounters with the police in my own life, but it's not likely I'd ever be shot or suffocated by them because I'm white.

There are many police and sheriff departments in the U.S.A. that are corrupt and racist beyond repair. These need to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. I also think smaller jurisdictions should be eliminated. Many smaller cities and counties in the U.S.A. support their local police because they are racist and corrupt, not in spite of it.

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