:wince:

Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people.

it is no better to assume cops are the worst than it is to assume blacks are the worst. all that does is feed into the stereotype that cops arent to be trusted and neither are the blacks

Frankly, the pronunciation of Missouri as "missour-ah" is grounds for full martial law and strict curfews over the entire state.

Where did I say cops are the worst? That's the thread title, but I didn't make the thread, did I?

I said that their job requires them to assume danger and risk, much more so than the average person. Mike Brown was a kid walking down the street. He has no obligation to do anything other than live his life. The cop, on the other hand, has an obligation to serve and protect the citizenry of his jurisdiction. If the eyewitness accounts are true (which I think it is probable that they are), the cop began the whole incident when he pulled his gun and threatened to shoot Brown (and then did, multiple times, even after he showed the he was unarmed and non-resistant). THE COP MADE THIS HAPPEN. If this was an average person, we would say that he assaulted Brown and murdered him, and he would be thrown in jail. The cop though, has a further obligation in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION, which is supposedly to protect and serve Brown and other people in the community.

People on here criticized me for suggesting that George Zimmerman began the incident with Trayvon Martin, but in both instances, if Zimmerman/this Cop simply leave the people who were doing NOTHING wrong alone, NOBODY DIES. It's that simple.

I like this Orpheus account

where did i say that you said they were. i was pointing out both instances arent ok


the cops shouldnt be in swat gear/riot gear

the people should not be looting and setting things on fire


neither instance is making the other side stand down

they really, really shouldn't be harassing the press

The press are the worst

It's certainly stupid of them but I resent the idea that a press badge should be a magical shield against the indignities all the little people have to face.

No, a properly identified member of the press should be able to report on public demonstrations and clashes with the police without fear of intimidation and outright harassment/assault.

Thanks dude. If I had to guess I'd say I have had more personal relationships with black people than most on this board. Not saying that judgmentally, just seems to be the truth from what I've gathered. So comments like "black people are animals," "we should put walls around the black neighborhoods" obviously bother me on a philosophical level, but it's more personal as well. I mentored a kid that was part of the socioeconomic group that these hateful posts are made about: very poor, very southern, what most people would call "ghetto." Watched him grow from being a nine-year old in those little sweat pants all kids wear to a 14-year old before he moved away and we kinda grew apart. Right now he's 18, the same as Mike Brown and Trayvon were, and I often find myself thinking about him and checking his facebook to make sure he's ok. So this shit really, really bothers me and I have to speak up about it when I have the opportunity.

Bad news man, turns out you may be a decent person.

Right?

I remember the first time I learned about quotas and how all cops have them. In fact, my friend's father was a police officer and told him that if any cop says he doesn't have a quota, he's full of shit. Anyway, I remember having this thought: Why don't they have quotas for helping people?

If a cop is chasing a car down for speeding on the highway, and passes a pulled over vehicle with smoke coming out of the trunk, is he really letting the law-breaker go to help those people? And can you really blame him? The quota system creates this narrative: people are bad and you need to punish them. If you don't punish enough people, you are going to be in trouble. It just reinforces this mentality that people are law breakers.

It's the system, man...

but think of all the money they'd lose if they only issued tickets when it was necessary

Did thodoks tell you to turn this into an economics argument?

I have personally seen the numbers at my county's sheriff's dept trust me, some of these guys really do not do a damn thing all day long. It was actually pretty hilarious and embarrassing how little some of those guys did during a year. The whole quota narrative is just something for people to bitch about mostly...

If only more cops could be lazy like verb's buddies, the world would be a better place.

All I'm saying is that 'Quotas' don't really exist in the context you guys are framing them in. Sure, they keep statistics... but Officer Friendly isn't getting fired if he doesn't write X amount of tickets in a month.