re: Too late to apologize for Canton cop that kicked compliant suspect

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The standards are literally not high at all. It's extremely easy to become a cop. It has to be, because no one wants the job.

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He's talking about the expectations of conduct, not the job requirements. And yes, they are high. Cops are the only people in civil society who are legally justified in using force (including deadly force) to control other people.

If there isn’t enough scrutiny, there will be abuse. If shining a light on abuse runs a “good cop” off, they were never a “good cop” to begin with.

Comply or die

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When you carry a badge and a gun, the standards are higher. When people routinely hear that pay is low but then every year you see stories of people retiring from LE with six figure pension payments, don't expect a lot of sympathy to flow from the general public.

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Pay could also be much higher, even under current budgets, but there's a significant holdback so that veteran officers can get massive annual OT payouts. From what I remember from the last time I looked at the annual reports, OT payout is nearly linear with number of years spent on the force. What you posted about pensions is absolutely correct, but there are street cops making six figures now.

And for the record, I'm not saying that's inherently a bad thing. But the "cops get paid dogshit" mostly only applies to newbies, and that's by design.

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LEOs spent decades/centuries covering for their colleagues no matter how bad their behavior, lying on police reports, planting evidence, abusing citizens, and once we rolled out body cams, just like fricking magic, the bad behavior footage starts rolling in. And the worst part? Without public outcry, in a depressing number of cases, the cop will be quietly suspended with pay for a couple of weeks, or at worse get “fired” and immediately hired onto the force if the jurisdiction next door.

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That is true. My stepdad was a LEO. He was not a bad cop but they always closed ranks, according to him, unless someone did something so egregious they just couldn't stomach it (losing your temper with a suspect was not one of those things).

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I have good friends who are LEOs.

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As do I. The guys I know now are younger and they seem to be more inclined to avoid those situations. Also tend to mostly remain uninvolved rather than closing ranks when these situations arise now. Not perfect, but better than it was.

Public support is essential for a police force to operate properly, that will never happen if they don't properly police themselves. The movement away from localized policing (in medium to large cities) has somewhat removed the police from the communities, I think to the detriment of both. I know there has been movement to get that back but not sure if it is happening much. It will take longer to re-establish that bond than it took to break it.

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Maybe if you guys spent half the energy praising the good cops out there instead scouring the internet for the bad apples to bash on, then more good people would be joining the police force.

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Are you under the impression that abuse of power by the police is a recent development?

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Probably not, but all you pussies whining about it so much probably is.

Police abuse and brutality really aren't the problem though. Of course any level of it isn't really a good thing but it just really doesn't affect the lives of everyday Americans at all. What is a problem for everyday Americans is actual crime by criminals. And we can't hire enough police in many high crime areas because the job sucks and pays dogshit. Most neighborhoods aren't overpriced, they're underpoliced. If a fee people get their civil liberties violated by some a-hole every now and then so we can tackle the real crime then oh well. Can't make an omelet without spilling a little milk if you ask me.

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Our founders would be utterly fricking horrified by this drivel.

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Our founders would be utterly fricking horrified by this drivel.

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Nah. Probably not

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If it really wasn’t personal and he apologized the “victim” is kind of being a dick here by not letting it go.

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Bootlicker goalposts are moving. I thought one just had to comply and be agreeable so that cops would behave. Now people need to just let it go when they do that and the cop is still a dick?

"Well, hey, it wasn't personal when I kicked you in the chest for no reason whatsoever. Why are you being such a nerd about it?"

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I don't advocate for it or advocate for allowing it. Just saying it's not the real problem. Crime is. We need cops to arrest criminals. Some cops will suck and that's too bad but all criminals suck and need to be policed.

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If a fee people get their civil liberties violated by some a-hole every now and then so we can tackle the real crime then oh well. Can't make an omelet without spilling a little milk if you ask me.

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You're saying that you can't adequately police criminals without allowing jackbooted thugs to abuse the citizenry. Just own it.