What's with police cursing at people they're trying to apprehend?

[StarfishSaver]

Last edited Mon Apr 26, 2021, 07:36 PM - Edit history (1)

So many of the videos we've seen show police screaming and cursing at the people they ended up shooting.

I could understand if they felt they had to yell to be heard, but cursing at them is an and indication of anger and complete lack of control.

No other public servant - or anyone else who serves the public - is given a pass for treating people with such anger, disrespect and outright abuse. But it's even worse when the people charged with keeping the peace and given the power of life and death and extraordinary discretion and often a pass when they choose death do so with such an obvious lack of control and abusiveness.

And no, don't tell me it's because they are in stressful situations and are only human. I don't want or expect the people with the badges and the guns to be able to fall back on the "Jeez! I can't be expected to control myself under stress."

Why aren't more questions raised about that?

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

1. Because

Drop the effin gun works better than please put it down.

Just a guess

[Ms. Toad]

2. Most of the ones I've seen recently with police rage cursing

do not involve a black or brown people with guns.

They largly involve black and brown people trying to move slowly, carefully, and/or to a populated place so they dont get killed.

Two that come to mind are Caron Nazario (the man who drove to a gas station before stopping and was pulled from his car) and Derrick Thompson who was also pulled out of his car (but who sat with his hands up in the car while a very angry police officer cursed at him).

[Loki Liesmith]

9. How many have you seen?

[Ms. Toad]

11. Quite a few.

And I've just pointed you to two - they are pretty easy to find.

[wryter2000]

16. Caron Nazario

"Honestly, I'm afraid to get out of the car."
"You should be. Now GET OUT OF THE CAR."

Anyone see a problem with that?

[Ms. Toad]

21. The language did not include swear words -

but what I was reacting to was the irrational rage, the use of pepper spray, and the threat of electric chair (you're fixing to ride the lightening) during what should have been a routine traffic stop (or not even a traffic stop).

There is absolutely no call for that kind of rage, regardless of the language uttered in the midst of that rage.

And, FWIW, not only do I have a problem wiht it, the Windsor police force had a problem with it since they fired the police officer.

[wryter2000]

37. I don't think we're in disagreement here

[Ms. Toad]

41. Yay!

Obviously, what stuck with me was the out of proportion rage - enough that it fely like cursing even if technically it wasn't.

[StarfishSaver]

5. You always manage to reveal much more about yourself than I think you intend to

It's almost fun to watch.

[sop]

22. Really. In what other profession dealing with the public (apart from working as a stand up comic)

can someone constantly curse at people at the top of their lungs without being summarily fired? Hell, even USMC drill sergeants can't get away with it any longer, and boot camp recruits volunteered for the abuse. Like dog bark collars, body cams should be programmed to recognize specific words and emit an electric shock to the offending cop.

[GoneOffShore]

33. I like the way you think. Shock collars for cops? That's fecking brilliant.

[Decoy of Fenris]

76. Casino dealer. Not being contradictory, but oh lawd, the veteran dealers didn't hold anything back.

"The fuck you think you're doing, Chachi? You put them fuckin' chips back or I'll have your fuckin' hand."


Not saying your general premise is incorrect, but a surprisingly high amount of customer service jobs actually endorse/support that kind of behavior. It makes you more 'personable' and 'real', supposedly.

[Treefrog]

30. I see you say this to just about everyone with a different point of view from you.

Revealing indeed.

[StarfishSaver]

36. No, I don't

Just to people who show everyone their true colors while thinking they're cleverly hiding them.

And clearly, I'm not the only one who sees that flag you keep waving.

[Bettie]

57. Nope. Those flags are pretty obvious

and flying proudly.

[StarfishSaver]

63. Yup

And they move from thread to thread in hopes of hijacking and provoking. Have flag will travel.

[LanternWaste]

40. Sounds like a tough old world...

when consistent and obvious narratives are seen as such.

I can certainly understand your interest.

Indeed...

[mcar]

43. I haven't seen that. Just the obvious ones. NT

[uponit7771]

8. So does cops not executing Americans right?! tia

[obamanut2012]

19. Just stop

You are embarrassing yourself.

[GoneOffShore]

29. Nope it doesn't. It escalates the situation.

Watch most English and European police in similar situations. They start fairly low key. And don't end up shooting people.

[qanda]

52. Because calling a 13 year old child an MFer right before you shoot him

Works so well. 😡

[johnp3907]

3. As someone who doesn't swear I've often wondered about this.

It seems similar to the way they often roughhandle someone who isn’t resisting, thereby forcing them to resist. It looks like deliberate escalation.

[Ms. Toad]

4. Agreed. n/t

[StarfishSaver]

7. Agree

[uponit7771]

6. " indication of anger and complete lack of control." When they feel justified this is EXACTLY what

... they do is go from zero to 13 on a the anger scale in -3 seconds.

Cops are damn near incentivized to kill folk when they do they get good time off with pay !!!

[Bettie]

58. And even if they get fired

they get to go work for another department.

[uponit7771]

64. +1, then the cities have to funds lawsuits to pay for their shit

[Mister Ed]

10. My guess:

The intent is to intimidate people into cooperating, but instead, the practice causes confusion and disorientation while fueling an upward-spiraling escalation.

[StarfishSaver]

12. You really think that's the intent?

[Mister Ed]

13. To intimidate, yes.

It might be that I'm being too generous in thinking that the intent is to intimidate people into cooperating. Perhaps the intent is to intimidate, period.

Of this I feel certain: that the effect is to escalate.

[StarfishSaver]

14. I agree that intimidation is part of it - and not always with the goal of achieving compliance

I think it's also intended to dehumanize, debase, and humiliate.

[Mister Ed]

17. That rings true to me.

How would I feel if confronted by an enraged, armed person screaming obscenities at me? A person that I don't dare stand up to and don't dare flee, because either will almost certainly get me killed or severely beaten?

Well, I'd feel intimidated.
I'd feel dehumanized.
I'd feel debased.
And I'd feel humiliated.

So yeah, that certainly checks all the boxes.

[obamanut2012]

20. Yup, and it is very abusive behavior

Not only allowed and condoned, but praised by many in the public.

[Mister Ed]

23. On further thought, there's one more thing I'd feel in that situation:

Rage.
White-hot rage.
Those who know me regard me as a calm and gentle soul, but in that situation, I'd be enraged.
I would manage to keep a lid on my rage, for the sake of survival. And that would leave me with the first four: intimidated, dehumanized, debased, and humiliated.

[wryter2000]

38. You're braver than I am

I'd be too terrified to be angry.

When the terror wore off, I'd feel humiliated, dehumanized, and debased.

[StarfishSaver]

44. I am so appreciating the empathy you and Mister Ed are showing

Putting yourselves in someone else's shows is so important. Really glad to see you doing that!

(It's very refreshing after the number of "He should have just stayed calm and compliant Iike I would have done" posts appearing on this board ...)

[wryter2000]

72. Thank you!

I appreciate your willingness to put up with crap to post the truth. What a lot of white people don’t realize is that lots of POC have given up on us. I don’t want anyone to give up on me.

[Bettie]

60. I would too

and it would be traumatizing for a long time afterward.

I don't know that I could ever go calmly into a "traffic stop" situation again, after that kind of experience. It would induce panic.

[Hekate]

66. You describe domestic violence as well. Yes. The strong against the vulnerable. nt

[NH Ethylene]

15. It makes sense that it is condoned for that reason.

It is of paramount importance to them to be in control, to dominate, to intimidate, to bully.

(Generally speaking anyway; I've encountered some kind, courteous, and thoughtful cops now and again.)

[Patterson]

18. How many are hopped up on steroids?

And how many start every day hoping it's the day they get to kill a ____________?

[TheRickles]

31. I've never seen stats on that, but it's a good question.

My guess is that 'roid rage is behind a lot of these incidents.

[LiberalLovinLug]

24. I can see them raising their voice and temper if someone does not comply

But many times they start out with this approach before they try the calm reasonable one.

They start the interaction as a confrontation from the get go. Like they always assume the civilian would kill them if given have the chance.

It boils down to training. Other countries have years of training to be a police officer, the US has a few weeks of "us vs them" mentality training an then given a gun and a badge.

[StarfishSaver]

25. I think it goes beyond poor training

Some behaviors are based on attitudes and perceptions of the people they're encountering and those kinds of things can't easily be trained out of someone.

[Bettie]

61. Yeah, when my husband has been stopped in the past

it's always "Do you know why I stopped you?" in a friendly and even voice.

It was for speeding and forgetting to use a turn signal. No ticket, just a friendly warning.

[StarfishSaver]

65. My sister was stopped last year

The cop asked her if she knew why he stopped her. She answered honestly, "No, Officer, I don't."

He responded with "Don't be a smartass!!!"

He would not have said that to a white woman driving a Lexus. But he sure said that to a Black woman driving one.

[Bettie]

67. Yep.

Mine drives a lot of miles for work.

He has seen multiple times, cops helping white women on the side of the road, from changing a tire to putting gas in for them.

Black or Brown women are usually sitting on the side of the road with the four squad cars while they toss everything in her car on the side of the road.

And yet people continue to say there is no difference in treatment.

[StarfishSaver]

68. They use an age-old propaganda technique that involves

focusing attention on each case in isolation, insisting that in THAT case, there were good reasons for the cops to act as they did. Never mind that the reasons in one case are completely contradictory to those in another ("He should have complied " "He complied, but he complied too slow" "She complied, but she complied too fast" ...). They do everything they can to try to keep people from pulling back focus to see the patterns that cannot be explained away by these picayune individual excuses. Because they know that when looking at the bigger picture, there is only one explanation for the fact that myriad situations all have the same result.

So when attempts to disaggregate and distract fail, they resort to deflection and gaslighting, accusing us of "smearing all cops as racists" and/or "calling all white people bigots."

DU offers a fascinating, if frustrating and pretty disgusting, case study of this practice - proving, among other things, it's not limited to racist Republicans.

[Bettie]

69. +1

And they get really upset if they are challenged because they are 100% certain that they are right in all ways and that their way of looking at it is entirely unbiased.

But, the big picture is pretty damning.

And it's more than "Look, a higher number of white people are killed by cops than Black people, thus, there is no issue!"

Yeah, I've heard that one more than once. I'm sure you have as well.

[StarfishSaver]

70. We even got some "why don't you care about black on black crime?" posts today

Sometimes I have to check my url line to make sure I haven't stumbled onto the wrong site ...

[betsuni]

71. +1

[greenjar_01]

26. It's the dumb police training, like they're in a counter-insurgeny

They're trained to yell and scream orders in as intimidating a way as possible. It's bonkers.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

27. To intimidate, humiliate and dehumanize. All part of the process.

They're angry and abusive people, and angry and abusive people tend to talk that way.

[Treefrog]

32. Ever watched any Worldstar vids?

Ever been around any teenagers on a football field?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

35. No, and yes. Why?

[bucolic_frolic]

28. When people tell you who they are, believe them the first time /nt

[Gore1FL]

34. Dehumanization.

Police work is like pit bulls, motorcycles and guns. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of those things, but in my observations, those things tend to attract people who have a lot wrong with them.

This is conjecture on my part, but I suspect the more decent-starting cops eventually get worn down and dehumanize the suspects to mentally get through the process. The bad ones never thought the suspects were human to begin with. People view things by the lens we choose to look through.

[mcar]

39. They sound completely out of control

The anger and, yes, hysteria that they show is way out of bounds.

[StarfishSaver]

45. Exactly

But we're supposed to believe the guys who can't control their mouths or their tempers have the presence of mind to make the right decision when it comes to using lethal force?

[mcar]

46. About 8 years ago, I was taking my son somewhere

Deputy had pulled a car over and motorists were moving into the left lane, as I always do and is now FL law. Don't know what I was thinking, maybe I was in a hurry, but I shifted into the right lane near where the cop had the car pulled over.

He flagged me down. I pulled over, realizing my mistake immediately. I was fully prepared to abjectly apologize because I was wrong.

When he came to my window he started screaming at me - I mean eyes bulging, veins popping. I don't recall what he screamed at me but he succeeded in terrifying me and annoying me at the same time. I told him I'd made a mistake, I apologized and he let me (white woman, of course) go.

I was shaking as I drove away and hoped that poor other driver didn't pay the price with a larger ticket or something.

Again, at that point, it wasn't a law in Florida to move to the left, just a suggestion and courtesy. Still, I get the danger to LEOs in that kind of situation. What could have been a teaching moment, especially to my then early HS son, turned into a demonstration of an officer losing control at a traffic stop.

[womanofthehills]

42. I think lots of people with personality disorders go into policing

They love to control and if you don't obey some of them immediately - they can't control their anger.

[demigoddess]

47. If cops can't be civil why do they get to decide who is being resistant? For all we know they

are just reacting to the swearing and aggression.

[The Wizard]

48. Chicago, 1968

[karin_sj]

49. You're absolutely right

And it's something we barely give a second thought to because we're so used to them acting this way. It's yet another sign of disregard and disrespect for those they are supposed to be protecting.

[Evolve Dammit]

50. They enjoy berating and dehumanizing their victims. I do believe they feel entitled to do so.

Some really enjoy it. Absolute power over a person of lesser or no power, invites abuse. A perk for some. Will never understand that mindset. I speak from experience of knowing some cops.

[Hekate]

51. Steroid rage? This behavior is asinine and dangerous. nt

[bringthePaine]

53. resurrect the "peace officer"

[radius777]

54. Reimagine the police.

Policing is a very difficult job, because they're put in positions most of the day they shouldn't be in - that we need trained social workers who can deal with those situations more calmly and effectively.

And for situations where we do need cops - most of them are not qualified at all for policing itself. I think this point gets lost in the background, but I strongly believe most of these guys/gals are physically, mentally and otherwise unsuited for these jobs - thus they reach for their gun first. A more physically fit, intelligent police force would be able to apprehend suspects and deal with these situations without needing lethal force. We need to fire all of the cops and rehire on stricter standards. The police unions are fundamentally the problem, as they stand firmly in the way of change.

[CaptainTruth]

55. It's unprofessional, disgusting, & shouldn't be tolerated.

I'm truly running out of words for the disgusting crap that's tolerated within law enforcement. It's exhausting.

[Bettie]

56. Steroid use?

Or they are just on a power trip.

Could be both.

[ProfessorGAC]

59. There Should Be Many More Questions

To me, this seems like it's trained behavior.
Perhaps an intent to escalate a confrontation.
It's bad enough that only a small % of cops are capable of deescalating a situation.
It's much worse if this being trained as the "right way" to do things.
Escalating an already tense situation is stupid & leads to "accidents".

[Hassin Bin Sober]

62. Really good point.

[RobinA]

73. It's The Way of The World

these days, the cursing. I work in a psychiatric hospital with people who have been charged with crimes. I get cursed at constantly, and I don't raise my voice or abuse. I try to show each and every patient respect, I get some in return, but there are those who just can't speak to anyone without a string of cursing. And I'm not talking about psychotic people, they don't do that. It's the people who are not that ill. Rudeness on all fronts is just more acceptable these days. The police curse at the criminals, the criminals curse at the police. It's a mess that is seemingly never ending.

[ripcord]

74. What is with people cursing at police who are doing their jobs?

[sheshe2]

75. It's a power trip for them.

They want to push all the buttons to escalate the situation, especially with black and brown people. I can almost hear them muttering under their breath "make my day".