Do you think most people in general dislike the police?

[mahon83050]

I always wondered this. Do most people hate the police or other law enforcement agencies? I am not talking about hard core criminals here but your average law-abiding citizens.

I would have to say yes, because deep down, most people dislike authority. Naturally, a cop has the authority to write you a fine or take your freedom away. I also think most people take the police for granted and only see them as those a-holes who write tickets or will pull you over for speeding.

For me, I think that is one of the reasons I never wanted to become a cop because I think people will generally dislike you. I guess I don't want people disliking me based on my profession. (Add the fact that you are dealing with a-holes all day)

Maybe I am just seeing it from a fukked up point of view or in a negative way, but I want to hear what others think.

 

[Le Parisien]

As long as the police is not (too) corrupt, as long as the fines and parking/speeding tickets are justified, I don't have any problem with law enforcement people.

I never wanted to become a cop either, but I respect honest people who protect us from violent criminals, low life punks and general disorder and insecurity.

If you spend sometime in some comparatively ruthless (little rule of law) third world country, you will understand the value of law enforcement in developed countries, you will cherish it, you stop take your peaceful life for granted. I prefer my things to be settled and decided by written laws instead of the local mafia or patriarch...

The only people I know (mostly indirectly) who dislike/hate the cops are the petty thugs and wannabe "rebels"...

 

[oakraiderz2]

If i lived in a city where they had better sh*t to do than write drinkin tickets and pull me over cause my tint is too dark cause thats how the fvckers sold it to me, i wouldnt have as much as a problem with them as i do.

 

[donjuanjovi]

If i lived in a city where they had better sh*t to do than write drinkin tickets and pull me over cause my tint is too dark cause thats how the fvckers sold it to me, i wouldnt have as much as a problem with them as i do.

It's illegal to be drunk in public and have very dark window tints. You know this. So you take the risk of a ticket when you do these things, and for some bone head reason you blame the police officer for enforcing these laws. I have a huge amount of respect for police officers. I've seen some of the stuff they have to put up with. Show them some respect and they'll show it right back! I agree with mahon. The general public sees police officers as being out to get them. You're the one breaking the law. Don't break any laws and they can't touch you.

 

[charlie brown]

some cops are cool guys if ya get to know em. i met this really friendly one at the gym i go to. he said i looked familiar and i said the same to him and jokingly asked if he was a cop. when he said yea i thought he was joking.... he did have a really stern tough guy look to him though. turns out he was really cool, he pointed out a nearby hb and we joked about how potheads are easy targets for the police.

 

[Deep Dish]

I always wondered this. Do most people hate the police or other law enforcement agencies? I am not talking about hard core criminals here but your average law-abiding citizens.

I have never seen polling statistics on this question but from my own experiences and observations, I would venture to guess that it mainly breaks down to age:

The young, pretty much yes.
The middle aged, not so much.
The old, not really.

Obviously people who break the law will hate the police and obviously potheads, whom comprise the majority of the population at some time or another, will hate the police for being treated like a criminal for something they view as non-criminal.

I would venture to guess that feelings of hating the police are directly proportional to having an external locus of control. In other words, people with an external locus of control feel they don't have control of their life, that life happens to them rather than proactively commanding where life takes them (This is true of conspiracy theorists). Correspondingly and obviously, people who are in charge of their lives have an internal locus of control. I surmise that the further the locus of control ventures externally, the more someone will be prone to considering the police as pigs and what not. To illustrate, if we apply this hypothesis to my statement earlier that the young are the most prone to hating the police and the old the least, we see this regression would hold true. The young have the least control of their life—financially, educationally, socially—but successful people steadily gain control of their life as life progresses.

Viola!

 

[charlie brown]

damn... that was a good answer deep

 

[mpimpin]

I never wanted to become a cop because I think people will generally dislike you. I guess I don't want people disliking me based on my profession. (Add the fact that you are dealing with a-holes all day)

QUOTE]



Wow..... This is one of the reasons I want to be a cop

 

[Bible_Belt]

The cops are a lot worse in urban areas. I read about a couple of kids who got arrested because they asked a cop for directions.

http://www.examiner.com/a-242016~Chantilly_tourist_cleared_in_traffic_case.html

Also, one of my textbooks mentioned some research which concluded that when police officers testify in court, they are lying between 20 and 50% of the time.

Cops are underpaid, undereducated, and overworked. It's not surprising to see many of them abuse their power.

 

[penkitten]

the police protect you.

 

[mahon83050]

The cops are a lot worse in urban areas. I read about a couple of kids who got arrested because they asked a cop for directions.

http://www.examiner.com/a-242016~Chantilly_tourist_cleared_in_traffic_case.html

Also, one of my textbooks mentioned some research which concluded that when police officers testify in court, they are lying between 20 and 50% of the time.

Cops are underpaid, undereducated, and overworked. It's not surprising to see many of them abuse their power.

Underpaid? That maybe true for New York City, but cops in New Jersey and the State Police do very, very well.

I have one friend, that maybe only started off at $35,000 K a year (In a small, safe shore NJ town), but after 5 years you jump to $75,000!!

New Jersey State Police start off at almost $53,000 and jump to $59,000 after one year (NYSP is even higher!) and this is not including overtime.

Except for NYC and other large cities...cops get paid VERY WELL.

 

[penkitten]

i think their pay is different in every town. some places can afford to pay their officers better than other places. same with fire fighters and ems.

 

[mahon83050]

i think their pay is different in every town. some places can afford to pay their officers better than other places. same with fire fighters and ems.

I heard if a city/town also has a paid fire department..the cops get paid alot less.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Wow, in my small town the pay is more like $18-20,000/yr, but then again they very rarely have a degree. I know one guy who quit the job to go work at a factory, because the factory paid better.

 

[whistler]

I would venture to guess that feelings of hating the police are directly proportional to having an external locus of control.

Bingo. I bet it's the best predictor. I vaguely recall an article (by Zajonc, I would guess) that argued something very close.

 

[Joe The Homophobe]

People hate the police because they have been conditioned to hate them by the media. Whether it is rap music to tv shows, cops get a lot of haters. You take an average ignorant young guy in high school and he listens to rap music and how cops are "pigs" he will probably go on to hate cops. Most people just don't know all the trouble and danger cops go through to enforce the law. If they did they wouldn't hate cops as much but all they know is what the media brainwashes them with.

Cops put their lives on the line to protect people. Next time you or someone you know gets a ticket or pulled over by a cop before you start hatin just remember, if there was no cops it would mean we have no laws, and if we had no laws we would be living in a world of chaos. We need laws and we need people enforcing those laws just so you and I can live in a peaceful society.

 

[Tomatoes]

I like the police when they are helping me out or when they are doing things that are correct.

I dislike the police when they are being petty and annoying. The police would lose alot of heat if they didnt have responseablity of "traffic law". Thats the main thing that gives police a bad name. Speeding tickets, parking offences and other traffic law enforcements.

People always feel a little edgy around the police.....EVERYONE has broken the law at some point in their life.

 

[amadoodisforrealz]

i fcukin hate the police.

when i was 9, my parents were in a high-speed chase in utah state. i was in the backseat and the cops were on our tail. but my parents didn't wanna stop because we had marijuana in the car.

they were high and sh!t, and drunk too. it was so close to being on the news. i'm not sure, maybe it was.

but anyways, we eventually got pulled over. my mom started cussing out my dad. and my dad punched my mom, and she started bleeding. i was scared to death because i didn't know who to run to. the cops came running to the car, and told us to get out with our hands up. they just pulled me out of the car from the back seat window.

and then - i got scarred for life. they raped my mom and my dad right in front of me. and if that wasn't enough, they finished it off by beating them with those damn sticks. that night i just cried myself to sleep next to my parents who were unconscious on the side of the road. the cops just left us there. lucky some guy pulled over and called an ambulence.

oh and when i was older my parents had another kid - my bro. and when i was playing with him outside, he was like 4 at the time. i was showing him how to play basketball in our yard and then some cops come running after i guess what they thought was some gang bangers through our yard. and one of the cops hit my lil bro in the head 'by accident' knocking him to the concrete. and his head got split open. and he's been in the hospital in a coma ever fcuking since.

SO YEAH, I FCUKING HATE THE POLICE, AND FOR DAMN GOOD REASON.

 

[cant think of a user name]

Some people dislike the police, but not on an individual level. Rather, they hate the way the policing system is set up, the isolated culture that such a setup inevitably creates, and the ways in which police operate on a practical basis (e.g. targeting young people because they cant exactly target every single person, so they create this image in their head of who might be most likely to commit a crime while walking on the street etc):

The police do not prevent crime. This is one of the best kept secrets of modern life. Experts know it, the police know it, but the public does not know it. Yet the police pretend that they are society's best defence against crime and continually argue that if they are given more resources, especially personnel, they will be able to protect communities against crime. This is a myth. What is the evidence for this heretical and disturbing assertion? First, repeated analysis has consistently failed to find any connection between the number of police officers and crime rates. Second, the primary strategies adopted by modern police have been shown to have little or no effect on crime (Bayley 1994: 3)

That quote does not blame the police officers themselves, but rather the way the policing system is set up.


For those interested look up:
Bayley, D. (1994), Police for the future, New York: Oxford University Press

(yes, the article is 12 years old, but it definitely still has a lot of relevance to policing systems today)

 

[MuayThai]

I can imagine america as a sort of post apocalpytic waste land without any law enforcement.

Sorta mad max style.

Police are essential I feel no right to hate them because threy protect my freedom more than they hinder it. But sometimes a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do, and this frequently involes breakiogn the law.