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Do the police make you feel safe, do you trust them?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/18/police-sergeant-andrews-freed-appeal
incidents like this make me answer no.
incidents like this make me answer no.
0
Comments
Would I trust a police officer to return my lost wallet with the $80 still in it? Yes.
Would I trust a police officer to be reasonable about not writing me a ticket for running a stop sign on my bicycle in a residential neighborhood? No.
He had his criminal conviction overturned.
Pamela Somerville could bring a civil action against him (or his employers) if she feels that she has suffered damage.
I have followed this case for a little time. Interesting legally as there was more to it than what happened at the station.
Generalisations ?
Perhaps not such a good idea, especially if one was being critical, don't you agree ?
Im not saying what this guy has done is any kind of right or wrong, but an interesting tangent to look at here. How can the police do what the public want and be tough on crime (within the law) when there is the generalisation that they are all violent thugs. Then what do the police do when people accuse them of not being tough on crime?
She shouldn't have been dragged to the cell like that at all but I think the case has rested on the fact that the injuries she was claiming he caused, were infact caused by herself letting go of a door frame and slumping. Yes he shouldnt have been dragging her, but if she had been willing to walk calmly into a cell would this have still happened? Im not saying its right, or even agreeing with the police officer in question, but would this have happened if she had behaved herself, its a common misconception that you can't express your distain at something yet remain civil at all times.
Having said that he is only human and i guess we all do stupid things we regret when we are tired and pissed off.
I still think he should be punished in some way as he did fail in his duties.
In general though i think the police do a very difficult job with one hand tied behind their backs and i believe the vast majority of them do that job very well and really do care about the service they provide.
Its interesting as i live out in the sticks and have very little contact with the police our local one seems to be popular around the villages and has a friendly way of keeping order, and yes i would trust him 100%
Perhaps this is totally diffrent to the way they work and come across in big towns and city's
Let me put it this way: I feel a lot safer than I would feel if there was no police. Even if some of them (or, some would say, "most", though I don't believe this) are villains of one kind, they still chase and catch villains of other kinds.
Whereabouts you at?
The police in the US nearly made me cry - bloomin' four-way stop signs. Them fuckers are angry, and they've got guns.
Their training includes learning how to intimidate you, even if its just a routine traffic stop. But they're armed because most of the population is as well.
The feds? I thought you lived in the UK
I do? why? x
What do you mean by "The Feds" then?
It's just the police where I'm from.. there are a lot of other names I prefer to use, but I don't think they'd go down to well :L Why what is it for you? x
I thought "the feds" was an American term for the federal police they have over there that investigate crimes outside the remit of the state police. I didn't know it was a term anywhere else.
but, it's also used here.. amongst the youtthhhh :P x
Damn youth! :yeees:
:d
It's what kids call us. Along with 5-0 e.t.c. despite nobody under the age of 18 knowing what 5-0 actually means.....
A nation gets the police force it demands and the police force it deserves. And it seems we can't win. If we let someone off with a warning, we're soft on crime. If we stand back and let the drunkards fight in the street we're cowards.
But when we actually do enforce the law? Well fuck me, every arm-chair cop and lawyer just comes flooding out the wood work to tell us how we should have done this or we should have done that despite having absolutely zero clue about what the job really entails.
Yes there are arseholes in the police who let the rest of us down. They normally get weeded out during training. Some, unfortunately slip through and you end up with incidents like the above.
As for the original question, do I feel safer with the police around? Well if it was a choice between a professional police force that for the most part adheres to procedure and genuinely has my best interests at heart, or a mob of vigilantes who beat up paediatricians because they're idiots? Well I think I know who I'm calling if my house gets burgled.
And that's the crux of it. For every bully who is on some sort of ego-fuelled power trip there are ten of us who actually care about you, and your community. When you do ring us up at 5 minutes before our shift is supposed to end we'll put our coats back on and come back out. We're the ones who wade into fights to pull you out of them despite being out numbered and unarmed. Yes no doubt at some point we'll piss you off because unfortunately some laws, in your eyes are petty but we need to enforce them. But if you think we're bad, then the solution is simple. Fuck off to Russia, China, Zimbabwe, Iran or any other country where the police swan about doing whatever the fuck they want and see what the alternative is. Where instead of lining up in front of you during protests, they just shoot you. Where you're left to defend yourselves and your own interests, because the police are there to keep you in line and to look out for the government and nothing else. Where there is no such thing as PACE, or due process where interviews become interrogations, places where you're guilty, period.
And... yeah, I guess I do have a bias view of the cops. But it's from experience. I'm sure, being in the police, you have had good experiences. So, you have to understand that people are going to go by what they know personally.
It does seem though, that a lot of officer's have it in for teenagers or people on estates etc. When the real criminals are still free! All the major drug lords, henchmen, and fraudsters are all still out on the streets. Where as, a teenager drinking a can of strongbow gets in a load of shit! x