Whats your opinion of the Police in your country?

[Diddy_Mao]

I don't trust the police at all.

I spent some time teaching a class aimed at educating people on their basic civil rights. Explaining to them what the police do and do not have the authority to do, why exercising your right to remain silent is the best advise I can give to anyone EVER.
And so on and so forth.

It wasn't too long before one or two cops decided that we were training people to be better criminals and attempted on several occasions to shut the class down. Going so far as to insinuate that we could not rely on police protection if we continued to hold our classes.

Essentially what they were saying was that educating people on the laws put in place to protect them from false incrimination and authoritative abuse is bad because it makes the cops have to follow the laws they are paid to enforce, and if we didn't stop they would have no problems either not doing their jobs or actively abusing their authority to stop us.

Now in the interest of fairness I need to say that I know deep in my heart of hearts that the majority of police officers are good folks who put on their uniforms and proceed to protect and serve their communities with the respect for the law that their position of authority demands.

However, I can't ignore the fact that there is the small minority who are attracted to the job because it grants them power and authority they would be otherwise unable to command on their own.
It's these select few that mean I don't have the privilege of trusting the majority. It is not in my best interest to assume that the police officer I'm speaking with at any moment isn't looking for a reason to abuse his/her authority.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

I think they're condescending pricks with power-complexes who are far too quick to talk down to people then pull out the 'insulting-an-officer' card when people talk back.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Basically this:


I've only ever met one police man who I would consider a sound fella. In general they are fucking assholes.

 

[Samurai Silhouette]

Pretty cool guys, I'm friends with quite a few because of where I work. They're normal people just like the rest of us.

 

[sneakypenguin]

They are annoyingly corrupt, not to mention the immense power to screw you up and get away with it. The old guys are usually pretty cool, the young ones with the military haircuts are pretty much dicks. I partially think its a training issue as well as qualification issue.

 

[DigitalSushi]

I'm from Venezuela,

Sorry for off topic, sorry to hear your Police force are workshy.

But congrats on Pastor Maldonado winning the Spanish Grand Prix, the first Venezuelan to do so, I hope your country was united in that!.

 

[370999]

snip.

Can I ask what country are you from?

I'm Irish so are police are alright. Honestly they are more lazy and ineffectual then corrupt and brutal.

 

[frizzlebyte]

It largely depends. Most are pretty good at their jobs, and arrive quickly when there is trouble. However, some tend to be a little...lax, I guess. Kinda let things slide when it's a chronic issue and they are sick of dealing with it.

However, if there is something really going on, they usually bring their A-game.

In my personal experience, dealing with the police is a little like dealing with a cross-section of humanity: Pretty much all over the map, but the good wins out for the most part.

EDIT: On a national level, the police-statism thing is getting pretty scary. Reports on the treatment of the Occupier movement can be a little freaky, especially when it seems that the police are trying to manipulate the media's perception of and reporting on the protesters.

For example, on the blog of one of Family Guy's producers, who had been a protester, he said that the police would go in, bust up the protest, drag everyone to jail, tear up the tents and drag their contents all over the place, and then claim to the media that all the trash had been left, as is, by the protesters themselves.

Whether that blog post could be trusted, that is another story, I suppose.

 

[Frission]

I'm from France, and we have several police departments.

Gendarme's, they are Military that become police officers, if you back chat them they will arrest you and they will never cause a situation to escalate, they are like psychoanalysts with assault rifles. Very calm but if they are on your case, it means you've done something bad, so you deserve it.

La Police, standard Police force, a bit like most Police forces in the world were you get some bad egg's that spoil the bunch but in general they are pretty good, I was witness at 1.00am in the underground of them opening up the Metro gates for plastic gangsters with no money to get home because otherwise those kids would have been out on the street's if they couldn't get home, and that act of compassion probably helped their PR when you think about it.

Police Municipal, these guys are the ones that failed all the test's for joining the Military, Police, Gendarmes and are generally Bouncers, Meat Heads and ex Plastic Gangsters trying to make an honest living, unfortunately they have a tendency to have an aggressive manner of speaking to people but are good foot soldiers for Police presence.

CRS, they are Riot Control, you find them in hotspots such as St Lazare Paris, got a bad rep, but are really good, they carry FAMAS'.

In Paris you often find 3 guys in Red Camo, one point man, two either side several metres back, they carry FAMAS', don't look at them in the eye, don't talk to them.
For they are Foreign Legion

IN general I like my countries Police, since I live in England I can act the tourist and get help from them when back in France.

UK police seems pretty decent, not that I've had much experience with them, but they generally do their job well and without being armed to the teeth like many other countries police are either. A guy I used to know became a policeman and he was pretty cool so yeah...

UK Police are brilliant, its just the poor sods are really really overworked, you guys need more police departments to handle different situations since SO19 are emergency only and the DPG are never used unless its for Diplomats, foreign dignitaries or Ministers, basically anyone like you and me that need help on the streets.

Yeah the legion is scary. There's actually a height requirement to join. My dad when he worked in Côte d'Ivoire saw them roll in. Scary guys. Effective, yes, but scary. I wonder why they are only sent to Africa though? Maybe they're valuable to be sent to Afghanistan.

I don't know about police, but do the Pompier, the fireman count? In the ranking order of jobs I like the fireman the most, since it's their job to save people. The police are underneath, since they go from those who do their job to uphold the law to brutes. At the bottom (no offense to those who have relatives or who have been in the military) is the military. (I'm not talking about the reservists) In France you only join the military if you failed to join police or fireman or you want to kill someone as I remember. Then again it's my own part. Where are you from?

Have you heard about Plogoff? There was a protest some time ago on the building of a reactor. It's a good example about the different branches of the forces.

My father was there as well when he was a teenager and he recalls that things went relatively well with the riot police. Then some idiot in the government thought it was a good idea to send in parachutists. As a bit of context, the riot police are specialized in not killing people. They have to, imagine if someone died every time there was a protest? In that respect they are even better than their British counterparts. The parachutists aren't trained for that, so they were a bit like the NYP in their treatment of protesters. Probably worse, since some people were badly hurt. Some Breton said that next time the parachutist came, they're bringing their own guns. Of course, someone higher up called off the troops, which was good. I'm surprised there's not more media coverage on this, since it's a prime example how to and not to treat a populace.

 

[MrFalconfly]

http://satwcomic.com/art/core/here-to-protect-you.jpg

Scandinavian police look cool.

Denmark here (that's the shortest guy in the Comic, the sparkly one is Iceland, the really tall is Norway, the Blue is Finnland and dancing cop is Sweden).

I'm fine with the police as it is in my country. They are usually a cheery bunch and the only time they get accused of "police brutality" is when a bunch of youths dressing like slobs get it into their thick skulls that throwing bricks at shop windows is a good idea.

Like this: http://ekspressum.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/ungdomshuset-ryddet-189212c.jpg

I seriously don't understand the hate towards police men and women that sometimes come up on internet forums. But that might be because I live in one of the lucky places where we have decent cops and not corrupt bastards?

 

[RustlessPotato]

Belgium Here. They're all right. My city isn't really a dangerous city so I suppose they mostly spend their time patrolling, but they're friendly enough and always helpful.

Some of my friends and peers (and even my dad) get annoyed sometimes by them. For example, my dad once got pulled over because he had a bit of a drink and was driving. Maybe he wasn't 'that' drunk, but in my opinion any amount of alcohol while you're driving is bad. And when you're tested positive they take your license for 6 hours and after that they'll test you again... But still, he's mad at them because he broke the rules ? Seriously, that's childish. Considering he already had an accident due to drunk driving when I was a child.

Or when some of my friends were drinking a bottle of hard liquour in public, so not in a cafe, but just on the street. That's illegal and they know it, but why are they still angry when they have to face consequences for their actions ? Apparently the police have nothing better to do.

Seriously ? I'm happy the police "have nothing better to do", because it means it's a safe city.

You'd think they actually want crime to go up so that the police "would have better things to do " :/

 

[Shuguard]

Atlanta, GA

In my town: Tickets for so much as looking at them funny

So True...
I personally dislike the Dunwoody and Duluth police.

 

[The_Waspman]

After having seen The Raid, and the madatory training the police go through in Indonesia, I look at headlines like '65% of Scotland Yard Overweight' and shake my head sadly.

I don't have any problems with the police though. The ones round my way will always greet you when they walk past, and at least they're not armed to the teeth. I also count myself lucky, because like 90% of the female officers in my local cop shop are smoking hot.

 

[Matt King]

(england) i have a pretty high opinion of the police, the police where i live are especially good and friendly

i can never take them seriously because one of them is called p.c gooche

hehehe gooche

 

[keiji_Maeda]

The Swedish police is... No doubt filled with loads and loads of people who try their best to do their jobs well, and most I've met have been wonderful people. They do their job.

With that said... It can be horribly inept at times. And some divisions (mainly the Malmö police department, for some reason) tend to be needlessly brutal and rude. Many, many crimes that doesn't seem to pick their appetite goes unsolved, and the policemen themselves aren't monitored properly. If they ever are investigated for improper conduct or criminal activity, the investigation seems to be carried out exclusively by their mates. In short; you can get away with anything as a policeman, and there's sadly many policemen who use that perk reguraly, be it to cover wife beatings, theft of confiscated items at the station, the odd bribe...

Also, whatever they say is true is true, no matter if there's photographic evidence that casts a few doubts. If something happened, it happened their way.

They also have a tendency to support the employer or corporation over the union or the protesters during strikes and labourconflicts. Which they aren't allowed to, since they're supposed to be neutral... Ah, sod it, I'm rambling again.

Tee-ell, dee aaar, loads and loads of good people in the blue (well, black, really...), but the violent wankers are still there and aplenty. They've just got way too much of a leash to do what they please.

Buuut then again... They do have a pair of fasces on their logotype, halfway hidden behind the shield. Suppose things could be worse then, couldn't they?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Polisen_vapen_bra.svg

Another person who've had experiences with the Swedish police calling in here. Mostly in Stockholm (our capital) and in Gothenburg (our Osaka/Manchester/orleans And so forth) on completely personal basis of having a pretty rowdy youth i'd say that i've never been hassled when there wasn't a cause to. I've been questioned once or twice, but in all fairness i was at the scene of a crime. And when we've called on account of "stuff" gettin out of hand, they've always been courteous until there was a need not to be.

That being said, i've had a lot of friends who've been cuffed for little to no reason, i've had friends who've suffered from botched "after crime proof collection and processing" and just recently an acquaintance of mine got grabbed and driven twentytwo kilometers away from where he was going,to make sure that he wasn't doing anything wrong.

In my own opininon it all fits into my societal theory that ten public servants doing a competent and good job is not news worthy, one person, acting like a complete and utter TWAT, will garner a lot of attention, wreck a lot of peoples confidence in public instances, and be pretty difficult to stop.

 

[Terminate421]

Atlanta, GA

In my town: Tickets for so much as looking at them funny

So True...
I personally dislike the Dunwoody and Duluth police.

Milton's are the worst (I live there). I got yanked over IN FUCKING NEIGHBORHOOD for doing slow stop. It was 2 months after I got my license and the guy sounded exactly like he was going to give me a warning. Next thing I know I have a ticket and in two hours the mayor calls us telling me I gave him ammo trying to stop this kind of shit.

Also my ticket was apparently "lost" after this incident as well. Either way, I learned my damned lesson.

 

[Tsaba]

US Police are all right, there are those few who ruin it for the majority like everything else.

I do get laughs when I hear about police brutality, I want to see the 3-5 mins leading up to said incident before I make a decisions now thanks to biased news.

 

[Bomberman4000]

I can't speak for the country as a whole, but I know here in my small slice of hell (rural South Carolina) our cops are all power-hungry old fat white guys who are trigger happy with speeding tickets. That seems to be the only thing they know how to do though because I've been involved in several instances where the police were called and NEVER showed.

Fuck'em I say.