There are roughly 800,000 cops in the United States...

[The Straight Story]

18. My take, as someone who was a deputy some years back

I get what you are saying when it comes to percents - as I have said on gun threads less than one percent of gun owners are the ones who are causing problems but they get all the press.

Back in my day I can say that there were a lot things going on behind the curtains. And there were good reasons to some of them. Cops did tend to mostly stick together (but certainly not always, there were cliques). The reason why is actually something quite simple we learned in training.

The criminals hate you and so does almost everyone else. People complain about crazy speeders, law gets passed changing the speed limit, you ticket someone, and they hate you. If you don't ticket people (and there are only so many cops) that others see speeding that hate you for not being around when they need you (apply just about anything to that, 'speeding' was just one example).

Internal affairs will bust you down, people will complain about you, and lots of bad people would love to see you hurt (i had one enterprising guy try to follow me home after work once).

Cops symbolize power and they can do things to you others cannot. We fear them.

So the folks tend to stick together - like after work, parties, etc. It's just a thing that is not always easy to explain unless you have been there.

Now - there are, from my exposure, a lot of asshole cops who abuse their power. I was a more by the book kind of guy and didn't make a lot of friends. I was young, naive, and idealistic.

For every one bad thing that might make the press there are many more that don't. It gets frustrating in that line of work - especially when you have people on your hands that killed kids, molesters, or just some bad scums in general.

I think cops should have mandatory counseling once a year or so myself. It is especially bad working in the jail where you are sitting a few feet away from someone you know did something bad (and don't give me this innocent until proven guilty stuff, some folks you know did things because they stand there and tell you - and they were just brought in from the scene. Like one guy who blew his wife's head off one night during a drunken fight).

Shit builds up. You see people walk, or get light sentences. You get spit on. Attacked. Pissed on. And any number of other things and then you just snap.

It is wrong, it is systemic problem that is not going away, and it is worse than the press is letting on.

Real solutions are not venting but preventing, and the key to that and many other ills of society start with listening, expanding dialog, and mental health professionals playing a role (especially since there is no one cause or solution - each one is different but there are underlying symptoms across the board in most cases).