Do you think there are more good cops or bad more ones?

[JustinTheGreat]

I don’t think all cops are horrible people. I like to believe there is a small percent of police officers who chose the profession because they genuinely want to make a difference and protect their community.
However, if someone is an asshole who gets off from controlling and harassing people, what job do you think they’d choose? Exactly lol

I think a lot of cops choose that job because they’re dicks and they want an excuse to be a dick.
My coworker is dating a cop and he’s literally abusive and a psychopath. When she told me he was a cop, I was not surprised

Updates

+1 y

When I say “bad cop” I don’t necessarily mean they’re killing people or doing police brutality, I just mean a lot of them are assholes who are on a power trip

[nightdrot]

It's not even a close call.

No joke, when I was no more than 5 years old, I can remember my mother telling my younger brother and me, "If you kids get thrown in jail you can expect to stay there because I won't be bailing you out. Because if you are in jail it means that you deserve to be. When a police officer tells you to do something you say, 'Yes, sir" and you do it!"

To be sure, beyond wondering how I would end up as the first second grader incarcerated on Alcatraz, speaking at just a personal level, I have no sympathy for this notion that someone is a delicate little snowflake who deserves to have his feelings given a higher regard than the rule of law. It is utterly alien to everything I was raised with.

The police have a risky job, their lives are on the line at every stop, and they have no way of knowing who you are or what you are doing. They deserve deference and if they go outside the bounds, you have redress for that in a court of law.

The current popular attitude toward law enforcement is an outgrowth of a sniveling, self-absorbed and self-pitying culture that too easily takes for granted the difficult task of maintaining a stable social order. "The policeman was mean to me!" Good grief.

Do they get unfairly treated? Absolutely. It is the sign of a self-satisfied and sanctimonious age that too easily takes for granted its safety and those who assure us.

In 1977, after nearly two decades of a culture that had taken to calling the police, "pigs" and that thought the criminal was a victim of society rather than a victimizer, Gallup took a poll. It showed that 72% of all women - and 92% of African-American women - of all classes and incomes and all the rest, did not feel safe walking in their neighborhoods at night.

Americans, as was said of the French kings, "Forget nothing and learn nothing." Suffice to say, having learned nothing, we are repeating history.

[TonyV]

In the grand seem there may not be that many bad, but there should be zero bad cops.

There's absolutely no reason for cops with chips on their shoulder towards criminals to exist. If you feel strongly about criminals you shouldn't be aloud to be a cop.

Let's compare it to a court jury, they won't pick you for the jury if know a party involved or have a strong biased opinion one way or the other, you have to be an open minded person with no pre conceived notions.

Cops should be the same way, you traumatized cause you lived through a violent home invasion as a kid? You shouldn't be a cop, you hate drugs? You shouldn't be a cop.

Not only that if your a cop then law breakers are your lively hood, absolutely no reason to hate lawbreakers cause they keep your paychecks coming, if the world was perfect and we didn't need cops y'all would be out of jobs, so shut up and deal with it, if you hate the job and the people you work with (criminals) then get a different fucking job.

Iwe wouldn't put up with bakers that throw our cake on the floor cause they hate sweets and baking, so why should we tolerate cops that can't arrest 14 year old kids caught with drugs without punching CHILDREN in the face or swinging them around like rag dolls.
I geuss a better example would be a dog trainer. A dog trainer needs to have a lot of patience and the ability and knowledge to use proper positive and negative reinforcement teaching techniques. They are suppose to be able to teach good habits and end bad habits effectively, efficiently, and without abuse, other wise they get fired, and for good reason. If I just wanted the dog "taught" with being trapped in the kennel, yelled at, and being slapped in the nose for every issue1 it's not the best way to handle it and 2 I could do that shit myself.

[Anonymous]

I have 2 friends who are cops, my aunt was dating a cop, and my best friends brother who is like my brother is a cop. Because I know them and they aren't some nameless face on the news, I've had a lot of conversations out of curiosity with them. Some are frustrated because they are trying so hard to do their jobs, but as with many jobs, there is a lot of BS that they deal with that is out of their control and there are system wide issues with how you can report/backlash from it on a fellow officer who isn't doing their job in a legit way. I've seen bodycam footage of some arrests from my friend and the stuff they go through is insane on a call and dangerous. All that being said, just because we need cops doesn't mean we give them a free ride to do whatever they want just because "who else are you going to call." No, there should be NO ONE out there who is legally allowed to take away your freedom and put you in jail for the rest of your life, that should not have an oversight committee checking in on them from time to time.

[Smoke-n-Growls]

More bad cops. Especially in the US.

When you look at how the financial incentives and training are produced and enforced, it's hard for them *not* to be bad. They're trained to be easily frightened and easily keyed into escalated tension, trained to assume every interaction will be deadly, and incentivized to arrest easy targets or plant evidence to meet quotas.

They're systemically set up to fall into a bad mold. It doesn't have to be that way, and I'm sure many cops generally wish to be "good", but when there's bills to pay and only certain stuff being taught, even good hearted people will wind up victims of the system.

[spartan55]

Incentivized how?

[Smoke-n-Growls]

Quotas. Like sales quotas but for arrests.

[spartan55]

Those are not standard across all departments.

[spartan55]

They don't get any $$, there are financial incentives for making arrests.

[spartan55]

*are NO financial

[Smoke-n-Growls]

Lol, ok bro

[spartan55]

You clearly don't know what you are talking about BRO. How many cops do you know?

[Smoke-n-Growls]

So many, man. But I don't live in the US - I just read studies on financial incentive structures for federal and state police on occasion.

[spartan55]

Ooohh, so you don't even live in our country and you are making all these ridiculous claims. You know so many? Where? Wherever you live? Apples and oranges. Those 'studies' you are reading are misleading at best, outright false at worst.

[Anonymous]

Consider that to cops a “good cop” is a cop that won’t report other cops for misconduct and a “bad cop” will, I’d say they’re beyond saving.

Simply put: any job that doesn’t require schooling and guarantees a gun (along with immunity for using it) is going to attract a lot of petulant maladjusted people with short fuses. Combine that with the fact that it’s somehow easier for a cop to get away with murdering a 14 year old girl in a department store (LAPD) than it is for cops to solve a burglary with the whole thing caught on a nest camera (or finding a subway shooter who literally called and gave his location). In the end cops are egotistical, lazy, and largely illiterate beyond a 6th grade level, and solving most crimes comes with more paperwork than glory so it’s safe to assume they won’t even try to solve it. I once had a gun pulled on me, got the guys license plate, found his info, gave it to the cops, the guy admitted he pulled a gun on me but the cops were still like “we can’t really do much and if we tried it would take months and you’d have to come back (I was moving). We don’t think it’s worth it but if you want to press charges we can try that.”

[Msputiton]

Well that's kinda a tricky question and how you define bad cop

I say more bad.

The reason is.

A very small group are out causing trouble.
But a large majority of cops protect these dirty cops because they have the mentality of protect our own.

To me if you know someone did wrong and you keep the secret or defend their actions, you are not as guilty but you are almost as guilty for doing it, because you have enabled them to be able to hurt more people.

It's like as a grown up you witness your brother is kill someone. But you go i will lie and say he was with me that night because he's my brother, so he goes on and kills others, you could have helped prevent it

[JustinTheGreat]

True but the sad thing is a lot of the times when these good cops try to report the ones who are bad, they end up getting fired or in trouble. The higher ups will always try to protect and cover up these bad incidents. So even when they try to be the good person, it doesn’t get far.

[Msputiton]

And that's very true and really concerning that being a good cop gets punished while being a bad cop gets protected.

[DizzyDesii]

I think there are more insecure cops who misuse their authority. That doesn't mean that they are full on killers. But i mean specifically that they are sneaky. They do things to their advantage whether it be stealing money from certain cases and covering their tracks, or shooting before asking questions, or planting things in cars to make themselves look good and so on. But i have nothing bad to say about them in general since i have thankfully not had an encounter with a cop in general. The closest to it was dating a guy who was in training to become a cop but after he threatened to rape me AND tried to take advantage of a highschooler, i felt bad for anyone who would have to deal with him as a future cop.

[DizzyDesii]

“misuse their authority” as in, on a power trip

[MCheetah]

I think like 5% of cops are assholes and bullies with a power trip, 5% are genuinely good people, and 90% of cops are just doing their job and are neither good or bad. Still don't trust them, though. And as others pointed out, a lot of "not bad" cops cover up for the good ones.

I dunno. I almost became an officer myself (thank goodness I didn't). I don't think most police officers are bad people. But I don't trust the police, they've literally never helped me in my life before (me growing up lower class "scum" and all) and I don't think anyone who isn't rich or a First World White woman should trust the police, either. They do the bidding of politicians and scumbags and help them more than they ever help the everyday civilian.

Overall though, I think like most things in life, "it depends on the time and place."

[monorprise]

This is the real problem, people who have a problem with "The police" are not addressing the issue because they are talking like the police are somehow a thing with their own agency to be addressed, rather than the local politicians who hired, trained, command, and disciplined them.

Police are not Independent actors, they have no agency! They are the arms of the Government, in the case of the USA, almost exclusivity your local & state government.
Those politicians are alone entirely responsible.

In the USA 90% of law enforcement works under your State, with nearly all of that in most states Local. As such when speaking across state or even city lines there is no "Police", its your local Government.

[NathanDavis]

one the worst things that cops can do is... when they all refuse to do the right thing as a group... in order to support and protect the few cops that did very wrong

cop unions can be truly evil when it comes to protect their own interests... and that are many proven cases of that, happening all across the USA and even the world

but, to your question in specific, yes... there is a whole lot more good and decent cops than there is bad ones, but that is not of much help... when the unions have the power, the influence and the ultimate say

[LaFerrari]

There’s bad everywhere, but there’s good too, name one career with no bad, you can’t… there’s greed, power, and egoistical, criminals in every single career that has ever existed ever.


The media outlets frame the picture of all cops being bad because they are on a rating system, the more views the more cash in their pockets… they know what makes people tick…so they focus on the bad, whilst the heroes and good are forgotten.


Think of it as the oscars, everybody was celebrating their award and accomplishments then some egoistical narcissistic bully comes up on stage and assaults the host, the media covered only that, ignoring everyone’s accomplishments and focusing on the bad.


That’s exactly what happens….. I believe there’s more good than bad, but people just want to side with the media because they’ve been manipulated in believing what’s false to be true.

[bolverk]

Most cops are good people, but it is the bad ones that blacken all of them, just look how the bad ones have acted in the state of Victoria Australia, once the state took the breaks off with the Covid reg's the bad cops ran amok tarnishing the name of the Victoria Police so badly that next to no one in Victoria trust them any more, the only exceptions to this are the officers who ran the rural stations and did their jobs without resorting to the physical violence as they depended on local support more in local emergencies than their urban officers ever had too.

[zagor]

I know some really good solid guys who are cops. But I've also heard some stories about others. In fact one of the guys I know doesn't hang out with other cops outside work because he doesn't think very highly of most of them.

A co-worker told me about when his mother was dating a cop, until she went over to his place and found him having sex with another man. She broke up with him, and he came over and beat her up. When she called the police they told her that because he was so high in the department that nothing would come of it. They advised her to get a gun and make sure he was inside her house if she shot him.

[TheFlak38]

Depends on the country. I like to talk about the US police officers who face more danger and hostility compared to police officers in other country. Sure there is a percentage of psychopaths. I don't doubt it. For the most part I believe cops in the US want to feel like superheroes and really help and protect people. Sadly reality hist them hard as neither the government nor a large portion of the civilian population cares about them which forces many to kill themselves. Cops in the US have my respect. In European countries the vast majority are scumbags and enemies of the people. Then they're wondering why the people hate them.

[ShadezMcgee]

Well given my little sister is a cop, she has a lot of patience and empathy with her job. She does very well helping mentally disturbed individuals when those incidents pop up.

Bad cops? Yes, there are. But to say only assholes do the job is a stretch. No different than asshole warehouse managers or CEOs.

[LikeALog]

I've been stopped many time, a couple for speeding, several times for burned out tail lights (dog liked chewing wires under my truck), and a bunch of times for minor infractions. The only tickets were for speeding. Every cop was polite, none were on a power trip. The only a$$hole was a State Trooper when my SO totalled her truck. Definitely had an attitude, obvious control freak and on a power trip. It was his way or else. The only nice thing was he never issued a ticket, he probably forgot.

[YoHoeRose]

I'm not saying there are no good cops but I hate to say I think there's a lot more people who do it for the title and the power than to actually help

[vald9inches]

If there is 1000 good cops and 3 bad cops but the 1000 good cops cover for the 3 bad cops you have 1003 bad cops

[JustinTheGreat]

Exactlyyy. Perfect statement

[Luopio27]

Here in Finland most cops are good, but that is easier for me to believe becausr my experiances with them have always been good.


If you would ask me if more psychologist and psychiatrics are good than bad, I would say, their entire fields are rotten to the core. That again is based on my life long experiances with them.

[lovedejj_xo]

I don't know I’d like to be optimistic and say equal
Amount of both. I have a really good friend who’s a cop and goes out of his way to be a role model and be within the community so it’s nice. But I also know shitty ass cops and COs when I use to work in multiple male prisons I’d call them out.

[crmoore]

I think a vast majority are morally decent people, though the system is absolutely fucked. Cops swear to uphold the constitution as well as swear to uphold the law and those are frequently in conflict with one another and they can't uphold them both in many situations. I also think that many cops would follow orders that are immoral, simply due to a lack of understanding or foresight (not due to an intent to act immorally).

[Anonymous]

My brother in law is a cop and he's one of the best humans I know. I also know a lot of his fellow cops and they are all good guys doing a great service for the community they serve. I have never had a bad experience with a cop. They have all been helpful and seemed to be trying to do the right thing. Only an ignorant fool thinks most cops are bad.

[steve43]

All my life I've been pretty against or angry twords them due to the simple fact that all my life they being the cops weather good or bad are always 20 mins late when you need them and a mile up your ass when you don't need them cops have a job to do most cops have morals a code they live or work by the are good and bad cops of all color or gender so I think it's pretty diverse when I ask the question

[Confidentandchill]

I assume there are a few good cops but most are bad and cannot be trusted in America. I’ve known several professionally through the years, they say and do things that would disgust even the garbage guy.