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In reply to the discussion: There are roughly 800,000 cops in the United States... [View all]Silent3
(15,201 posts)8. Is the impression that "government institutions... turn a blind eye"...
...actually the most common case, or merely the most common case in the stories that gain notoriety? How much selective bias is there in the reporting of these stories?
There certainly is a default assumption, not necessarily an earned one, that cops are telling the truth when they testify unless proven otherwise. That, however, is not a new problem nor a uniquely American problem, and I'm mostly interested in how the cops we have now in the US stack up by global and historical standards.
The cops are not just permitted to be corrupt, but are rewarded with more money, better technology...
Is "corrupt" a binary, yes/no quality? If any cops are corrupt, no matter what the number, the institution as a whole is characterized fully by the word "corrupt", and therefore the only right thing to do would be to cut their money and technology and not say one good thing about them until every last bit of corruption is rooted out?
No... I don't intend that rhetorical question as my own straw man, it's just my way of pointing out that you're begging the question. I'm trying to tease out the degree of corruption, and you're skipping right over that to treating it as a settled matter that cops are already beyond any boundary where "corrupt" becomes a fair generalized characterization.
Of course, to the extent that we're wasting so much money and causing so much collateral damage with the "war on drugs", I'd happily see budgets for that cut, which I think would go a long way in helping reduce police corruption and brutality no matter what the current level is, as it would both reduce the temptation of drug money that corrupts some cops, and help reduce the we're-under-seige mentality of others.
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309 U.S. deaths by police action in 2013. 47 deaths by police action in the UK since 1922.
pa28
Feb 2014
#2
Yes, but we have some of the best gun control around, and you have some of the worst.
Donald Ian Rankin
Feb 2014
#67
The percentage of bad cops approaches 100. All you have to do is judge it rationally.
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#3
Do you really not realize that yes, this is the only thing that matters regarding this issue?
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#12
No, it isn't. FFS, have we fallen so far down the rabbit hole that even this most fundamental
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#15
It must be just awful living your entire life so in fear of bogey-men that
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#71
IOW, our police kill more Americans every year that the most successful terrorist attack in history.
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#16
Something like 31000 a year die from guns here and another 33000 in traffic accidents
struggle4progress
Feb 2014
#19
Neither guns, motor vehicles, nor even terrorists are granted special license
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#20
It's a bundle of problems worth considering, and if you have any useful ideas, I'm sure
struggle4progress
Feb 2014
#21
There are literally thousands of useful plans out there. Lack of alternatives is nowhere near
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#22
I'm a radical. Libertarian, Communist, left-wing, hippie, looney, racist, feminazi, purist,
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#36
I have an idea not sure if its a good one...all complaints against police are filed by and interview
Drew Richards
Feb 2014
#90
I think only larger police departments have something an Internal Affairs
struggle4progress
Feb 2014
#91
You're right, I mis-read the reply. It doesn't change the point at all. n/t
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2014
#40
"a few bad apples spoils the barrel." is the full term, as Scootaloo said
AZ Progressive
Feb 2014
#26
I'm sure all the dead victims and the families left behind appreciate your statistic.
Rex
Feb 2014
#50
It wouldn't be wrong to say that there's something wrong with the military, or with the police.
Silent3
Feb 2014
#55
Cops as the base of the percentage seems wrong, indeed percentages seem minimally useful
HereSince1628
Feb 2014
#59
There's nothing in what I wrote to suggest that simple percentages are the be-all...
Silent3
Feb 2014
#65
Percentages, like anecdotes must be considered carefully and compared to something
HereSince1628
Feb 2014
#69
Where's the threshold between appropriately sensitive and unrealistically idealistic?
Silent3
Feb 2014
#75
Yes, exactly. It's a critical issue, and not really a matter of statistics per se
HereSince1628
Feb 2014
#86
so many police because of the legal seizures of cash and assets from their 'war on drugs.'
Sunlei
Feb 2014
#70
It isn't just an issue of mental illness...it's the problem of cops dealing with noncompliance
HereSince1628
Feb 2014
#87