Replies

I won't say there aren't a##hole cops out there.

Some of what you see is driven by the Municipality they work for (Not a good reason, but they need to keep their jobs too.)

You appear to be reasonable in your assessment and I can see how you came to it. I cannot speak for the officers that gave you that impression. I can only speak for myself and the people I work with.

My beef with some is they have the "Cops are Nazi's" mentality as a default.

I hope some reasonable discussion between us can help you see another side to the story

Some of what you see is driven by the Municipality they work for (Not a good reason, but they need to keep their jobs too.)

I think this is a good point you bring up here, I don't know if it is true but I have heard of Municipalities putting officers on a quota system. (i.e. you *will* issue x number of tickets this month).

What I have a problem with is not so much the officers as the system, I think often traffic ticket schemes are sometimes not designed to reduce accidents but rather to increase revenue. I have heard from several civil engineers that traffic light fatalities could be reduced by increasing the length of yellow lights, but that typically light timings are optimized for revenue not safety.

That in particular is clearly not the fault of the officers. I certainly don't think that all "Cops are Nazis", and I also understand that is would be hard not to get a little bit jaded when you have to worry about getting shot at after pulling some over for a minor traffic violation.

When writing this reply I started thinking about a relative of mine... he is on the Maryland highway patrol, and he talks about not letting the outliers give him a bad impression of the populous as a whole. I suppose I should apply this to the police force as well.

Anyway, I appreciate your work, personally I would have a hard time sticking to a job that has the possibility of getting shot at by the people I'm trying to protect.

-paridel

I won't say there aren't a##hole cops out there.

All the "good" cops say this, but I am waiting for them to actually DO something about it. Otherwise, you are judged by the worst of your brethern.

My beef with some is they have the "Cops are Nazi's" mentality as a default.

That is in my opinion unacceptable and an inappropriate mentality as law enforcement is largely fair, reasoned and doing the best they can.

I will however still argue the point that an aspect of law enforcement is a revenue generating tool and means of control over the sheeple