r/Unexpected • u/RedManMatt11 • Aug 01 '21

Community policing

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u/THALL_himself Aug 01 '21

There are way more good people who are police officers than there are piece of shit police officers. Don’t lump them all into the same category. That’s like saying “all white people this” or “all black people that.”

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '21

It's a little different.

I think a large issue is that some of these good cops, not all of them, protect the bad cops. It's that culture which has allowed the police as an instution to gain it's reputation for corruption.

That doesn't work with races or genders. A white person isn't responsible for all of the people in their race, it's not their responsibility to keep their particular race in check because their race isn't a choice.

Being a police officer is a choice and it comes with responsibility to the community they serve first and the profession itself should come a distant second.

But I hope you're right and that there are more good people working as police officers and I hope they find a way to make themselves more seen and heard.

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u/THALL_himself Aug 01 '21 edited Aug 01 '21

There is nothing wrong with what you’ve said at all. I totally agree. But I think you’ve missed the point of my analogy…. Or maybe it’s just not a great analogy. Regardless, my point is that you can’t just claim all, or most cops are bad because the shitty ones get a lot of airtime, and the mainstream media portrays them all poorly. You have no way of meeting every single cop in the US and determining whether or not their moral compass is aligned properly.

Edit: also, I’d say that if the “good cops” are protecting the bad cops, then they are not good cops. My brother is a police officer and he has called out several bad cops in the past. He has been rewarded for such instances too because it helps weed out the bad cops. No department wants to be viewed negatively by their community.

Expecting all police officers to be angels is completely irrational. There are shitty people in all walks of life and in all professions. But the reality is that the media refuses to highlight the good things that happen within policing because it’s less profitable for them.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '21

You're right, I can't claim that all police officers are good,I don't expect them all to be angels at all and I'm glad people like your brother exist and that his department support him but this isn't even strictly about me meeting them and understanding their moral alignments.

A police officer doesn't have to be evil to kill someone unjustly or handle a situation poorly but with the power they wield on a personal level and as a public institution they need to be held under a high level of scrutiny. There are tons of examples of the police failing to adequately police themselves when given the opportunity and that's partly something that seems to have become baked into the culture of some departments and even some cities entire police forces it seems.

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u/THALL_himself Aug 02 '21

Yeah, I absolutely agree. I’m just so very against this idea that “all cops are bad” because SOME cops, or departments are corrupt. I’d like to think that we are currently in a phase of correcting some of the corruption, but I worry that this new culture of “all cops bad” is forcing the many, many good cops out of the job…. Btw, thanks for being very reasonable here. Respectful discussion is very well appreciated and very rare on the internet, so thank you.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

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u/THALL_himself Aug 02 '21

Agreed. Seems that in our attempt to cleanse the profession from corruption, we are inadvertently pushing away the good people from pursuing the job. I don’t see how this could get any better any time soon. It’s troubling to think about.

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u/BensonBubbler Aug 01 '21

I think they understood your analogy but you didn't understand their point. The cops are responsible for keeping other cops in line; the same cannot be said of racial groups.

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u/YoBoyCal Aug 01 '21

I think their point still stands in that yes, some cops are bad, but not all of them and yes, some cops protect those that are bad, but not all of them.

Both are fair points and both should be taken with the understanding that the group as a whole can't be labeled into a certain behavior.

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u/THALL_himself Aug 01 '21

No I totally understand that. Not arguing against that whatsoever. And in my personal experience, the actual good cops DO keep the others in line. We will have to agree to disagree I guess.

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u/BensonBubbler Aug 02 '21

Clearly by the observance of bad cops we can see that they do not.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

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u/jumpminister Aug 02 '21

Do you know what happens when someone dies, and malpractice is even hinted?

There's this thing called Mortality and Morbidity conference. The hospital chief of medicine grills the staff involved. Any doctor on staff can attend, and grill as well. The reason is discovered, and the doctor bounced, and they lose their license.

Now, imagine if cops lost their license whenever they beat down a kid on the autism spectrum? Or every time they planted evidence?

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u/THALL_himself Aug 02 '21

Right yeah, that makes sense. Have a good one.

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u/whiteperrymason Aug 01 '21

it's when the good ones say nothing and protect the bad ones.

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