Being a cop showed me just how racist and violent the police are

[weldingmachine]

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
If cops didn't treat everyone like a second class citizen people wouldn't jump on the "Cop hate" bandwagon so quickly.
I know 4 cops, & all 4 were total A-holes even before they were cops, I think it's a requirement.
One of which has actually told me "If I wasn't a cop, I'd be in jail 10 times by now.."
He was a whole 3 years into the force...

 

[hillman]

My first day on the job, my chief told me "you pull over a black guy, you call for backup". Is that racist? He didn't say "you pull over a guy with warrants, you call for backup"...

I don't know if it's racism or just circumstances based on who is being incarcerated more than anyone else but I think it's blinding some cops to reality. Take for instance last night. I was standing in line at a restaurant behind four of Worcester's finest. Three white officers and one black. They were all eyeing the one black man in the restaurant the whole time while me, the ARMED white guy stood three feet away from them. The black guy got in a very nice Volvo crossover and drove away.

People, even cops, are entitled to their own personal hate I guess, but I do think it is institutionalized and affecting how they do their jobs.

 

[*chris*]

I know 4 cops, & all 4 were total A-holes even before they were cops, I think it's a requirement.
.

They are just probably m*******s, no harm, no foul.

My cousin is a state cop in the Northeast and he is sweet as pie in social situations and not an indignant ******* even among his friends. That being said, when he puts on the uniform his whole demeanor changes and is imposing, I think they are trained to act this way. I am not sure, there are a few cops at my gym and they seem to be decent people as well. Even the state cops I run into at Harvard Sportsmen's club seem to be alright and I am holding a loaded handgun next to them.

I don't disagree that they could be racist, it must be hard to not fall into that trap. I know when my bike was stolen in Boston, they caught the guy and they gave me a ride to the court house to testify and their commentary while driving was quite comical, probably part of the holier than thou attitude.

Chris

 

[Pelikan]

Police are often given a pass on bad behavior. Current LEO's on this very form will (in extreme cases) even acknowledge that.

They are in effect held to a lower standard of behavior than an average citizen.

If you're going to enforce the law, you should be the most scrupulous observers of the law. Tolerating your fellow officer's bad acts violates that principle.

I have been reading a bit about "asset forfeiture" by police on the highways, and it is very disturbing. Encouraged to act criminally is the only way I can think to describe it.

Rewarded for doing so, by the money they take, often from innocents, and behavior which shows they do not think the victims are criminals at all, merely sheep to be fleeced.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2014/09/29/highway-cash-seizures-civil-forfeiture/

 

[Chet0729]

The bulk of the population is racist whether they admit it or not. Why would cops be any different.

 

[mtnbiker26]

I was assaulted by two different cops when I was about 12 and 13 years old. The first time was defending my mother from her psycho cop ex-boyfriend who had a RO against him for threatening her, stalking her, pulling her over with the cruiser while he was on duty, etc. I lived with my father one summer because my mother was afraid the guy was going to kill us. The police did nothing and my father finally handled it. It's a good story but I can't talk about it here.

The second time was about a year later when a cop showed up to kick us out of a parking lot where we were skateboarding. I was sitting down on the curb and he came over, grabbed my by the hair, bent my head back and screamed in my face. It hurt so much that I nearly tried to reach for his gun that was about eye level and a little more than an arms reach away. I wanted to kill that mother****er. You think that might have created a little hatred towards cops? I'm 38 now so that was about 25 years ago and I'm literally shaking with anger from just thinking about that incident.