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In reply to the discussion: My wife wasn't fond of cops before this past year now she has no respect for them. [View all]Ino
(3,366 posts)117. Bad cops are not a small minority as you keep claiming.
Studies have shown that at least 40% of police officers engage in domestic violence (4 times the general population).
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/police-officers-who-hit-their-wives-or-girlfriends/380329/
As the National Center for Women and Policing noted in a heavily footnoted information sheet, "Two studies have found that at least 40 percent of police officer families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10 percent of families in the general population. A third study of older and more experienced officers found a rate of 24 percent, indicating that domestic violence is two to four times more common among police families than American families in general." Cops "typically handle cases of police family violence informally, often without an official report, investigation, or even check of the victim's safety," the summary continues. "This 'informal' method is often in direct contradiction to legislative mandates and departmental policies regarding the appropriate response to domestic violence crimes." Finally, "even officers who are found guilty of domestic violence are unlikely to be fired, arrested, or referred for prosecution."
So that leaves at most only 60% who may be good people. Of these 60%, there are probably a fair amount with cushy jobs who spend their days writing tickets & eating doughnuts and are never really put to the test.
But how many of those 60% who ARE put to the test see wrongdoing by their fellow officers and say nothing, look the other way, lie to help them cover it up, do not report the wrongdoing to their superiors? Most of them, IMO. Maybe they are good cops who would never engage in brutality themselves, but they are well aware of the repercussions that ratting out their partners would have to themselves. So they would rather watch someone get beaten, tazed, shot, arrested, jailed, humiliated & ruined than stop it. Their cowardice and weak moral center make them complicit, accessories, perjurers.
http://www.civil-rights-law.com/how-to-complain-about-police-m/
Other police officers at the scene typically follow the unwritten "code of silence." These officers will not report witnessing a fellow police officer punching or kicking a civilian. The other officers are usually represented by the same union lawyer. These officers either say their fellow officer used reasonable force, or they claim they did not hear or see the beating. Police officers who stand by while another officer beats a person can be legally responsible for the injury, another reason most officers do not truthfully report witnessing a fellow officer using excessive or unreasonable force.
There are precious few cops who would or do speak up. A statistically insignificant amount. They are the good ones. They are the small minority.
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My wife wasn't fond of cops before this past year now she has no respect for them. [View all]
diabeticman
Dec 2014
OP
I'd rather live in a world without cops, but that's just me. Like you I have had good and
MillennialDem
Dec 2014
#47
I'm not a bro. And I just said the argument is usually phrased in a stupid way - ie
MillennialDem
Dec 2014
#53
So, if all police had Public Cameras we can ALL "see policing from their perspective"
Sunlei
Dec 2014
#74
how about we just record the police at work 24/7 and watch those public recordings.
Sunlei
Dec 2014
#64
We Americans have a Right to observe our Gov. at work. From the Federal level to the local police.
Sunlei
Dec 2014
#71
I think I understand what Oden meant. Not all police are even "decent at reading human disabilities
Sunlei
Dec 2014
#82
I think you're being a tad overly optimistic here. And I'll just leave it at that. n/t
nomorenomore08
Dec 2014
#101
"SC Autistic Man Assaulted and Tasered for Walking Down the Street While Black"
Comrade Grumpy
Dec 2014
#87
With all due respect, you and your wife really need to meet many more police officers.
branford
Dec 2014
#14
The difference is not 'they purportedly alone commit heinous crimes'.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
Dec 2014
#63
Too many shitty cops, agreed..But does she want a society with NO police at all?
whathehell
Dec 2014
#30
I think you missed the part where in recent matters like Michael Brown and Eric Garnder,
branford
Dec 2014
#36
Not even close, and before using false dichotomies to misinterpret my post completely,
whathehell
Dec 2014
#37
Yet they nevertheless are very disproportionately involved in violent, often armed, crime.
branford
Dec 2014
#94
I would argue that the problem is larger than a "tiny minority" of police, but otherwise I see what
nomorenomore08
Jan 2015
#118
In that it allowed me to know a good cop, yes, but far BETTER for the people she served
whathehell
Dec 2014
#110
If you knew what the phrase meant, you'd know it doesn't equate to belligerence.
whathehell
Jan 2015
#120