Attitudes toward police

[CatAstro.Fee]

I feel like I've been very fortunate with police here in the UK. My last encounter they could have charged me with assault on a police officer but instead just took me to a psych ward. I'm very grateful they acted the way they did. My only gripe is that the handcuffs were excruciating

You are, however they can still be rough as what I've seen, but I'm almost jealous to see how police treat protestors in different places vs America. Literally here you won't even know if you'll come back home, it's absurd and unjust.

 

[fedup1982]

You are, however they can still be rough as what I've seen, but I'm almost jealous to see how police treat protestors in different places vs America. Literally here you won't even know if you'll come back home, it's absurd and unjust.

Yeah I've seen some videos where you can just look at police in the USA the wrong way and be in a world of hurt. Although laws in the UK seem to be getting ever stricter, the shit you put up with in the USA would just not fly here in the UK. I don't mean to be insensitive but... Fuck that!

 

[sickofwaiting]

i have only really had negative experiences with cops. a wellness check recently, and came to my house a few years ago after an altercation with my dad. actually the nicest cop i've dealt with was one shutting down a party who asked if everyone is okay, and if we have rides home. somehow they managed to send the nicest guy there, but the worst ones for a menalt health response

 

[Mytimeisending]

Being honest. I hate them. They've ruined my life. They're corrupt and seem to not actually care about people's welfare. I got groomed from a child, all the evidence was there yet they didn't prosecute it just felt like they were covering things up. In crisis they neither helped me just ended up covered in bruises where they was brutal. They treat me like I was an inconvenience, wrongly arresting me instead of helping me. However I do know that not all police are like that it just seems I've always had the bad ones.

 

[DarkRange55]

This is more a general broad stroke: I think they are a necessary "evil."
I know they are corrupt in the US especially certain cities but compared to Vietnam or Mexico other places, definitely a lot better.

I think instead of defunding, actually increase funding. But focusing on: de-escalation tactics. Instead of a warrior culture, like to foster an intellectual, kind of philosopher culture. Like a perfect world, require a second language, masters degrees in urban planning or sociology or psychology or something. And yes arm to the police to the teeth.
Controversial, I know. But the days of the average citizen and the government being on the same level technologically are long, long, long gone. But mass shootings are real. Does this solve it? No, but I do think it's one aspect of it that shouldn't be ignored specifically regarding policing.
Sorry very unpopular opinion.

 

[GhostInTheMachine]

My experiences with police have been mostly good, but there have been a few assholes among them. I am generally ACAB because even the nicest individual cop is a slave to the corruption of their institution. I still try to give each one I meet a chance unless they show me they're looking to start problems. Best thing to do is know the laws you live under, and have them ready to recite or relay to the officer in question. Starting a fight will always be a loss on your behalf. I'm not afraid to kill or be killed by one however.

 

[R. A.]

people saying "oh not all cops are bad" are missing the mark. it blows my mind when such uninformed opinions are expressed by a subset of the population (SS users) who almost uniformly vehemently despise the mental health-industrial-complex - not necessarily because every practitioner is the devil (though many are), but because the system is the problem.

it's the same shit for the institution of "law" enforcement. across time and place, police has pretty much exclusively been the tool of the most powerful of society devised for maintain that power through social control and coercion. that doesn't automatically make every officer the worst human ever, but the system certainly invites a certain type and also exerts an influence on those who join.

police literally have the authority to break the law if they "think" it's the "right' thing to do. time and time again in north america they do heinous fucking shit and get a reprimand, or maybe dismissal from the force. the cops who murdered george floyd were convicted how long after they did it?! there was fucking video footage for god's sake! this shows as @leloyon said how complicit the criminal legal system is (not "justice"; the aim is not justice) in maintaining the same power structures.

@DarkRange55 this is why increased funding is a horrible idea. the system is rotten at the core. if not fully abolishing police and replacing them with something that would accomplish these goals better while separately and simultaneously tackling the very real issues they usually deal with (e.g. in america gun control), they can use the disgusting amounts of money they already get to overhauling themselves - but that won't happen. as it stands, someone who walks around with a tool on their belt that can kill a person immediately and is predominantly dealing with violent situations is never who should be called for someone having a personal crisis.

and yes, i do recognize this is only one of many things that need to be abolished for this to work properly, and yes i also think those things should also be abolished.

 

[leloyon]

there was fucking video footage for god's sake!

thx for the mention and i forgot to speak about this in my post, but here in angloistan, all cops have body cameras on em. sounds good, right? isnt it funny how the footage almost always just disappears when theyre accused of misconduct? we get plenty of footage of them arresting drug dealers or whatever, them posting peoples arrests to the police department's official youtube channel (not even a middleman like in other countries), to further humiliate them by turning their arrest into a spectacle for the public to gawk at when getting arrested is a traumatic and humiliating event as it is. they can do that, but whenever they are accused of doing something wrong, the footage is always nowhere to be found. i say "almost always" when there is only a single time that i can even think of where the footage survived, and it was two officers tasing a disabled man, im truly giving the anglo cops too much credit with that phrasing.