Originally Posted by Darrell C View Post
Maybe if we teach our kids a little respect for their elders and authority we would not have to worry about police involvement so much.
Or maybe we should remind the police that they work for the people and carrying a badge isn't license to talk to folks any kind of way and mistreat them?
I just don't look at it that way, but, being a business owner I may have, from experience in dealing with customers, a perspective other do not have.
Basically, the premise is "My tax money goes to paying for their salary, hence...they work for me."
Now that is simply not true. If they worked for you then you could walk up to one and say, "Officer Smith, I want you to go over to my neighbor's and arrest him for playing his music so loud."
Now a parallel to my own business: it is true that my customers pay me to work on or install heating and air conditioning in their house, they are "footing the bill."
Does that mean I work for them?
Nope...I am doing work for them. Big difference. If I worked for them, then I would expect them to provide medical insurance, paid holidays, paid vacations, et cetera.
Another analogy might be a burger shop employee. Do they work for you? You're footing the bill, right?
Police Officers do indeed work for the People, my friend, but not as employees, but in the sense that what they do is for the benefit of the People. And whether you want to admit it or not, you are better off because of their efforts than you would be if they were not around.
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So where exactly is this revenue going to come from?
Got me.
So destroy one system without having Plan B formulated? Is that rational?
It's fine with me if when they bankrupt some of these municipalities, that they just don't come back. Some of them need to be gone.
The people of Stockton might disagree with you.
So you have gone from utter condemnation of the police force based on the actions of a minority (though you may suppose it is the majority, which the facts do not indicate seeing crime is stopped on a daily basis in this country)...
...to condemning the People as well.
Now wait a minute...doesn't that justify the actions of the Police you are railing against? lol
Just think about that.
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I'll tell you...from criminals who would prosper greatly without the fear of Law Enforcement.
Criminals are gonna act like criminals law enforcement or not.
So do we need someone to challenge criminal activity or not? Or should we revise the system and let every man do that on his own? A Wild West scenario?
Your plan is simply not rational. If you think the Police are bad, try having the mafia or drug cartels in charge.
I'm not worried about the mafia and drug cartels. I'm talking about the police.
You're not being worried about them is a direct result of Law Enforcement's efforts, whether you want to admit it or not.
How about if someone doesn't like how you act, and feels you should be bankrupted?
If I violate their civil rights, then they can feel free to sue me. People do civil suits against others all the time. Some go somewhere, some don't.
Oh, so for you a lawsuit is in order, but for the Cops they should be removed altogether, go to jail, and according to our friend Poncho...foot the bill.
No, let's keep it straight. Is it okay for someone to take you to the cleaners and throw you in jail for similar offence? It's not just the lawsuit, but the sentiment that they are altogether corrupt and should be removed you are presenting.
And why would we listen to your defense if you felt you were simply doing your duty? Should that matter? And would we want the opinion of your peers to better gauge whether or not you felt justified in your actions?
The sad thing about the Police Force is it has humans in it. As long as there are humans, at least, more than one, involved in anything...there is going to be corruption.
I know. But there is something severely wrong with the system when again and again this stuff keeps happening.
If you compare the arrests that are made on a daily basis with those that involve questionable action, it is such a vast discrepancy that we could not, rationally, condemn Police efforts and seek to remove them from our society.
That is just ludicrous.
Somebodies somewhere have trained them to act like this.
lol...oh really?
I think I can tell you why certain cops might react aggressively...in remembrance of those Police Officers who have been slain.
I can't blame an Officer for wanting to go home to his family every night.
but the simple math would see that as a whole we are better off with having a police force we can count on to handle Law and Justice. Just because there are a few bad apples in the bunch doesn't mean we throw them all out, we just grind the bad ones up and make applesauce out of them.
Right?
Sure it does if the good apples keep sitting back and letting the bad apples do whatever they want.
If they do that then they are not good apples, right? So again...they are all corrupt in your view. It is the system itself.
And that is simply not carried out by the evidence, which, if you would like to view it...go visit a prison or jail.
Do you believe they are all innocent of the charges they have been convicted of?
if the good cops are gonna keep letting the bad cops break the law, then get rid of all of them and find some folks who will actually enforce the laws even against folks in uniform.
Which brings us full circle back to the original point: you are irrational to think that removing the police would result in a better state for this country.
Your view is not supported by some very simple realities concerning crime in our country, and that you would get rid of Law Enforcement because of a very small ratio of questionable arrests and shootings suggests what you yourself have said, you would remove one system with no clue as to what would fill the vacuum would look like.
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And I'll throw this in for free: personally I see it as a good thing for corrupt police officers to be found out. Anyone that abuses power should be punished, and while you might debate as to whether the punishment is severe or not (I might too in certain cases), it makes little difference what kind of criminal ends up in jail, just as long as they end up there.
I agree.. i just don't think we're seeing it enough.
Maybe try looking at that from a more positive light: we would have to see more corruption to elevate the percentage of something which is subjective in certain events.
Me, I think someone carrying a device that looks like a bomb is just asking for trouble. The argument "Kids make volcanos every year" doesn't fly because those kids were told to do those projects, or at least, that was an option given.
At no time, especially in this day and age, is there any justification for someone doing something like that.
Two days ago someone found a pipe with tape on it with the word written "kaboom" on it, and the school was closed.
Were they violating someone's right to freedom of expression?
And again, if a cop tells someone to do something...they better do it. Why? Because we have to give Police that authority in order for them to effectively deal with crime. Because we have stripped Teachers of authority...we are reaping the result of a lack of respect for people in positions of authority. If I had a kid showing disrespect to those in authority over them...they would be the ones in trouble, not the people in authority.
If the good cops start taking action against these bad cops,
They do, you just won't admit that.
I guarantee that the stuff that we're seeing will get fixed because departments would either do a complete overhaul or have an internal war on their hands.
And that might depend on the neighborhoods which are very different from each other. In high crime neighborhoods I would expect Law Enforcement to be a little more on edge.
How about if you do this: take one of the incidents that have a questionable collar or shooting, and research the history of the Precinct. Do you think you would find that in many of these...Police Officers had been killed in the line of duty?
I live in a more rural county and just a month or so ago a police officer shot a man to death. The guy had a gun, and he ended up dead. That kind of thing happens. Everywhere.
God bless.
