Kelly Thomas

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  • rgambs
    rgambs Posts: 13,576
    i have a very difficult time mustering respect for police. the half dozen or so officers i have known personally were all perfectly separated into two classes. the first is guys who were bullies and/or bigshots in school and now need to relive glory and authority however they can. the second is guys/girls who were bullied and/or invisible in school and now need that same glory and authority because they lacked it when young.
    in no way do i think this is a representative sample of the whole, but with all the abuse of power that goes on daily i just can't put it out of mind. for every homeless man murdered by the police there are a thousand black men beaten, and a thousand women molested.
    I just wish they would spend more energy to "protect" than to "serve".
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,674
    rgambs said:

    i have a very difficult time mustering respect for police. the half dozen or so officers i have known personally were all perfectly separated into two classes. the first is guys who were bullies and/or bigshots in school and now need to relive glory and authority however they can. the second is guys/girls who were bullied and/or invisible in school and now need that same glory and authority because they lacked it when young.
    in no way do i think this is a representative sample of the whole, but with all the abuse of power that goes on daily i just can't put it out of mind. for every homeless man murdered by the police there are a thousand black men beaten, and a thousand women molested.
    I just wish they would spend more energy to "protect" than to "serve".

    Your experiences with cops seems very similar to a few others here and I'm sorry to hear that and I have no reason to doubt yours (and their) feelings. I have a more mixed experience. I always get a little paranoid when I see a cop in my rearviewmirror. I've been harassed by cops four times that I can think of right off hand including being roughed up pretty good twice so some of those are rather unpleasant memories but I've also had some great experiences with good cops who were both very professional and helpful. I think a lot depends on where you live. My bad experiences occurred in larger cities and the good ones in small towns. I think big city cops tend to be more jaded.

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    Twenty or so years ago, I got pulled over by a female Beverly Hills officer on motorcycle. My only experience in this big city with a dickish attitude. But aside from her, I haven't met, needed, been served or protected by one who was less than professional, compassionate, and capable.

    Last month, my auto registration was one week overdue and I got pulled over by a West Hollywood sheriff. Such a nice polite young man. He ran my license, saw I lived in the area and sent me on my way.

    I / we count on these people, and despite the few bad apples that are to be found in any walk of life or profession, I think most do what they do with sincerity and skill.

    I guess like with anything, our experience may cloud our perception...perhaps location too?
  • Cosmo
    Cosmo Posts: 12,225
    Look... we ALL will have interactions with cops. I would guess that the vast majority of those encounters will involve motor vehicles of some sort. Us average citizens will have to interact with those officers, who pretty much deal with pissed off drivers for the better part of their careers. I'm pretty sure the average cop has a pretty low opinion of the public at large, based upon the majority of their interactions with us. We are typically, pissed off because we are getting pulled over... no one likes getting pulled over, right?
    i would make a terrible cop because i would probably end up hating people, because the people I would have to deal with are not you and me... And when cops do come into contact with us... we are probably not happy to see them. We understand there are a lot of assholes out there and I'm going to go out on a limb and say, if the cops are constantly coming into contact with you, you might want to self-check yourself because you are probably a problem.
    That said, no one in the general civilian community supports police abuse of power. To even make the assumption that people, in general, support police brutality is as assinnine as the actual support of police abuse of power. and for the most part, we understand that the police are a needed resource in our communities because there are asshole out there that we need to be protected from.
    And we learn from these encounters. The last thing you probably want to do is provoke a confrontation. The same instinct that tellls you it is not a good idea to hug an aligator should probably kick in when dealing with cops. Chances are... you did something wrong, like speeding. Yeah, there are those times when you get pulled over for no reason... your 'Do Not hug aligators' instinct should automatically kick in, even on those occassions.
    ...
    But, i will tell you this... if given the choice to have an encounter with a uniformed police officer... or some bullshit citizen who has taken it upon himself to police the rest of us... I'm going with the cop. Because, i am definately going to give you shit if you try to stop me to ask me what i am doing... because I 'look suspecious' to you. Stop me if I'm breaking into garages, but don't play cop and act like a tough guy because you are carrying a gun.
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • polaris_x
    polaris_x Posts: 13,559
    hedonist said:

    Twenty or so years ago, I got pulled over by a female Beverly Hills officer on motorcycle. My only experience in this big city with a dickish attitude. But aside from her, I haven't met, needed, been served or protected by one who was less than professional, compassionate, and capable.

    Last month, my auto registration was one week overdue and I got pulled over by a West Hollywood sheriff. Such a nice polite young man. He ran my license, saw I lived in the area and sent me on my way.

    I / we count on these people, and despite the few bad apples that are to be found in any walk of life or profession, I think most do what they do with sincerity and skill.

    I guess like with anything, our experience may cloud our perception...perhaps location too?

    are you white and middle/upper class?

    question you ask yourself is if you were say black and of lower income - would you have received the same treatment?
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    polaris,

    Yes to your first two questions, though I'm not sure if you're implying that our (or most?) police are typically racist (and if not, my apologies). I'm not sure how they'd ascertain my income anyway, since I drive a 17-year-old car.

    I've also seen our local officers interact pretty well with all types of people.

    Maybe I've been treated as I have because I act respectfully with them?
  • polaris_x
    polaris_x Posts: 13,559
    hedonist said:

    polaris,

    Yes to your first two questions, though I'm not sure if you're implying that our (or most?) police are typically racist (and if not, my apologies). I'm not sure how they'd ascertain my income anyway, since I drive a 17-year-old car.

    I've also seen our local officers interact pretty well with all types of people.

    Maybe I've been treated as I have because I act respectfully with them?

    all i'm saying is that sometimes your experience is dictated by factors that aren't readily understood ... if you truly believe a poor black person gets treated the same way - that's great ... maybe so ... maybe not ... i do feel our inability to look at the ugliness in our society allows it to fester and grow ...
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    But, I do understand the factors of my experiences. I understand that others have had vastly different ones.

    (and for what it's worth, I'm aware of the nastiness that goes on - I just choose not to see only that...if I did, I'd go fucking nuts!)
  • polaris_x
    polaris_x Posts: 13,559
    and just so everyone doesn't think i'm a cop hater ... this is my view on cops ...

    i believe cops to be hard working people who are trying to serve the community under sometimes difficult situations ... however, there are bad apples in a lot of police forces ... and those bad apples are allowed to be bad apples because of this unwritten code amongst police officers ... it's sickening ... this is the case here ... how many cops stood by while this guy was getting beaten to death!? ... saying and doing nothing is just as bad ... cops will gladly ask the community to give information about other people but cops always stay silent when it comes to other cops ... if they speak out ... they are blackballed ...
  • unsung
    unsung I stopped by on March 7 2024. First time in many years, had to update payment info. Hope all is well. Politicians suck. Bye. Posts: 9,487
    brianlux said:

    I agree with your outrage over this issue, unsung, what happened really sucks but to answer your question, "Why no outrage," for me it's because I don't get outraged over something before I've heard about it. Your approach at the onset of this thread seems to be meant to be an attach here instead of an observation or an attempt to give out information-that in of itself could motivate some mild outrage. Some of us might not all always agree with you on everything but you're not the enemy and neither are we. I'm guessing most of us are sympathetic with the plight of the homeless and most of us not support police brutality. So why always on the attack?

    Admittedly I've had some life issues that have been very difficult to deal with, and then I see a story like this and I get fired up.

    My apologies all around. I'm learning not to let things get to me.

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