Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Good cop to bad cop ratio

I don't think that there are many truly bad cops. Jerks, plenty. As much of their job consists of roadside revenue, of course they leave a foul taste. But there are a million cops in this country, cameras everywhere, a radical media that loves nothing more than to tear down a white authority figure, and even with all of that these pig-assaults-nurse stories aren't a daily thing. That's doing awfully well in my book.

That said, the invariable progression of these stories wherein the department closes ranks around their bad apple and none of the other officers at the scene ever saw anything until the video leaks to the news three nights later leads me to conclude that there aren't that many truly good cops either.

APD: "Yes the arrest is on your record, but most people interested in your background give you an opportunity to explain what happened as far as the charges being dropped. Most businesses ask "have you ever been convicted", not "have you ever been arrested". Those who do ask about the "arrest" vs. the "conviction" should allow for proof of no adjudication and use that as the basis for hiring or not." You are sadly misinformed. In my profession a yes answer to arrest on an application means you will never have an interview. In your profession will a potential candidate get an interview if he was arrested?

Bob, the same in my profession, but every application I have see also has a place for "Explanation". Didn't say they would use the explanation, I said they "Should" use that as a basis. As an employer, if I were sorting through applications, I would use that arrest record to weed out candidates, but, after 26 years in LE, I also know that not all arrests are what they seem on the face. Maybe I'm just too reasonable.

Ed

"most people interested in your background give you an opportunity to explain what happened as far as the charges being dropped" No they don't. Say yes to being arrested and your application ends up in the round file without an opportunity to explain regardless of what you put in the "Explanation" block. Hypothetically, lets say that nurse in Utah is awarded a modest settlement and being a caring individual decides she can positively influence more lives by being a nurse practitioner or a nurse anesthesiologist.Thanks to Officer Bully she can now afford to take some time off work and pay the tuition. However, she has to say yes to ever been arrested? Because there are 100 applications for each seat in those programs she could be Florence Nightingale but she is not going to school.
A real example. A ghetto playground and 2 middle school kids are shooting hoops. Suddenly a caravan of unmarked Crown Vics rolls up, doors fly open and out come a bunch of cops with 12 gauges. No AR-15s or body armor because it was not invented yet. With my face planted in the brick wall I was making the most convincing argument I could that we were just shooting hoops as the other officers searched the window wells for our stash or other drug paraphernalia. Fortunately no dopers had recently left anything there. By the grace of God nothing was found in the window wells and it was not Sargent Bully asking the questions with an "arrest them all and let the prosecutor sort them out" patrol philosophy or my life would have been totally different.
Ed, I bet you can look back on your childhood and had you run into the wrong officer you would not have been afforded the opportunity to serve in the profession you have so obviously dedicated your professional life to.

A cop decides the wrong way--whether due to bad light, distraction, incompetence, corruption, or whatever else = somebody is injured, maimed for life, or dead.

Nah, I don't think that holds up.

In general, jobs in the productive sector attract people who can do them well, because people who can't do them well tend not to advance in them, or even to get fired from them. Consider a welder who can't weld well, or a cashier who can't resist stealing money, or a doctor who can't be bothered to keep up with the latest pharmaceuticals. They'll all lose their jobs to competitors who do those jobs better; so the would-be welder might choose instead to be a guitarist, the would-be cashier a housekeeper, etc.

But where jobs in the parasitic sector are concerned, there's a definite moral hazard that doesn't exist in the productive sector where the coercive power that comes with a particular job attracts precisely the sort of people who shouldn't have it, and the lack of competition makes it easy for them to stay.

For example, corrections officers. You should want to be a corrections officer because you want to help people get their lives back together, and because you want to be a line of defense against the worst of the worst in society. But you'll also want to be a corrections officer if you simply enjoy bullying people, tormenting them, and beating them up without having to worry about retribution. I'm here to tell you that in real life there are plenty of corrections officers at both ends of that scale, and that's not going to change anytime soon, because the way the system is designed keeps it like that.

Or politicians. You should want to be a politician because...heck, I don't know. I can't think of a decent reason why anyone would want to be a politician. But there are plenty of corrupt reasons why people want to be politicians, and as we all know the number of decent politicians--if that number even exists--is dwarfed into insignificance by the number of corrupt politicians.

The same is true of cops. There are good reasons to be a cop, and there are really bad reasons to be a cop, and plenty of people are cops for both kinds of reasons, and the system doesn't differentiate between them. As long as they're good enforcers for the State, they'll keep their jobs.

So no, I don't think the ratio of bad to good is the same in the parasitic sector as it is in the productive sector: I think it pretty much has to be much, much higher.

Watch it

And read his book.

Recently I have been thinking of getting into politics and try to protect myself from the Left. My wife told me, "They would crucify you. You're too honest and say what's on your mind. That's not tolerated."

Fix the police by--among other things--national gun registration?

Nah, not for me. My solution is different, and simpler.

Privatize the police. Take 'em out of the parasitic sector and put 'em into the productive sector, where the competitive free market will work on them like it works on everybody else.

Well of course that is a non starter however it's nothing new, most police want a disarmed public.

A mechanic who installs a tie-rod incorrectly, a welder who welds a trailer hitch wrong or a trucker who drives with an unsecured load will all be prosecuted to the fullest extent if they make a mistake in their profession and very likely lose much or all of what they own. They are all expected to do their job correctly and professionally EVERY time. My business liability insurance is outrageous for those reasons.
When LE screws up they get some paid time off while taxpayers foot the bill.

There is a difference between a mistake and malicious intent. Mistakes happen and upon hindsight most could have been avoided. Sheet happens. When a professional intentionally, for whatever reason, does harm to another person or property while performing their job, they should be run out while tarred and feathered. Professionals are considered professionals for a reason. They are expected to be far above and beyond Joe Blow while performing their duties. Public servants should not get a pass.

You are ridiculously off base here.




Dave

I politely ask you to enlighten me.
Please jazz it up a little as I am a huge fan of your humor. Make me the butt if you wish as I will understand. Seriously.

A cop can absolutely be held 100% responsible in civil court.

Not their department. The individual officer.

That's why many carry insurance and/or pay their union dues without fail.





Dave

Anyone can have a civil case filed against them.

True they can be held accountable. Anyway.........

This is probably a dead horse now and it's the weekend. Take care all and have a great Labor day weekend CF!

There are basically two kinds of people.

One kind really just wants to be left alone and wants to leave others alone.

The second kind wants to change things by directing people when he is not their employer. In fact, he ( supposedly) works for the public he is interfering with.

If you are not nosey you probably won't make a good cop.

It's pretty common for cops to take on a "supervisory role" and start bossing people who don't need a boss.

Guys who opt for a career in Law Enforcement are wired differently than the rest of us. It might make them better, but too often it makes them worse.

Of course, they have no way of knowing they are wired differently, but it's why they hang out with other cops socially as well as at work.

Many of them think they are elite, but they're really just different.

I don't think I'm elite, I'm just special.

That's why they call me "Special Ed".

(something to do with a hockey-helmet wearing window licker in the back of the short bus...) I wonder what they mean by that?

Ed

"Many" is an excellent word to use when you don't want to piss your friends off.😀😀😁

I'll go with this one....but what do I know.