Whats your opinion of the Police in your country?

[CardinalPiggles]

What police? I rarely ever see any...

[sub]UK by the way[/sub]

 

[Cabisco]

UK here.

My dealings with them have always been fine, I've been on the wrong side of police once or twice (underage drinking) and in retrospect they where doing what was right and the fact they were dealing with some kid instead of a more important crime must of annoyed them. Always been nice and fair people really but if you act a prick they will too, which I think is a good thing.

Part of me wishes they had more power, I know some teenagers near me who seem to get in repeated trouble but their never are ramifications for all the shit they do, I'd really like the police to come down on their asses, perhaps thats just me starting to get old and bitter though.

 

[Andy Beaumont]

I understand that many UK officers are nice people, my sister in law is one! My dealings with them have all been bad though... teenager in a town full of rich people. Walking home one night down a road of £2 million + houses... just walking down the street, shorts and a t-shirt, it was still light! Police pull up, stop me, ask me what I am doing, I say walking home, they then proceed to press me up against the car and search me. (which I have now found out was illegal as they did not follow protocol) They found some cigarettes and a lighter, I'm 18 so perfectly fine and everything, they proceed to hold me and say they think i am "a potential burglar". I spout out some legal rights and they let me go.

Another time, going to a friend's 18th, I was 17 at the time, bringing a bottle of vodka as a present, get stopped and they ask for I.D. I explain that it is a present and even show them the card i have for my friend, they still took it off me and threatened a criminal record, I KNOW i am completely within my legal rights to carry alcohol sealed at any age in the UK.

They are generally ok, but not in my town....

 

[BOOM headshot65]

American reporting.

I think our police are VERY good, if alittle held back in areas like California and New York. But the rest of the country (namely Midwest and South) are fine.

Then again, I know about 70% of the local sheriff forces and the Sheriff himself in my county, so I may be biased.

 

[DigitalSushi]

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.

Legion only talk to other Legion, its what makes them so scary, only their "family" or "brothers" matter, no one else... never heard of the height requirement though. Legion were sent into Iraq, I know that.

Le Pompier is the same, you get Military and Civilian, if the civilian pompier run a red light and hurt people then they are held accountable, Military is considered they wont hurt others... hence are not held accountable, because they don't need to be.

The parachutist your father speaks of are probably Gendarme's if they had the training, but he's right, in Paris we had some major fuck ups which lead to some nasty rioting, hence the Legion and CRS becoming a common site in Paris.

 

[Leadfinger]

Japanese police are stuck in a timewarp of policing methods from the bad old days. They are so used to coercing confessions from suspects, I don't think they even know how to properly investigate a case.

 

[Panzer_God]

From an observational standpoint, I'd say American police are generally trustworthy, although brutal. In my personal experiences, police officers are corrupt, violent and egotistical. I've been harassed and threatened by officers with no provocation. They also tend to react badly when I point out that I'm completely on the legal side of whatever confrontation they choose.

 

[triggrhappy94]

I'm from America (so I should activate the flame shield now).
I think for the most part the racist, fascist cops make a bad name for all the other ones, who are just trying to follow the rules.

 

[Cpu46]

There are good cops and bad cops. I've met a few who clearly abuse their powers but also have spent time with some pretty stand up guys. I had a conversation with a cop working security on campus last year, by the end we were both laughing hysterically.

So all in all it is a mix of good and bad people working a really shitty job.

 

[Saladfork]

Here in Edmonton, they seem nigh-nonexistent. I've used our LRT train line literally hundreds upon hundreds of times, and I've only seen ticket-takers (a subset of the police) once... and they were off duty.

Also, I've seen police cars here once after a break-in, but never otherwise. I've seen police cars once in over a decade.

I was about to disagree before I remembered that I live just about right next to a police station; I see them a lot, myself.

OT: Well, I have no problems with Edmonton police, which is good seeing as I'm considering joining them myself.

 

[SaetonChapelle]

Well like every area you have both good cops and bad cops. The sheriffs in my area aren't bad, but the county police I suppose are annoying.

I find a lot of times the younger the police individual, the more anal they are, but I've had plenty get on my back and give me a break. my buddy and I were walking down the road one morning at around 2 a.m. and we were stopped by a policeman. In my area there is a curfew at 10 p.m. for those under 16, and although I am nearly 23 I look young for my age. I understand why he stopped us and checked for I.D. Although he did it quite a few times in the future as well.

I don't have a problem with police officers. I know a lot of people have had bad experiences but a lot of times they are doing there job. Like any other profession there will be good ones and bad ones. Many die in the line of duty, and without them there would be a significant larger crime rate. I'm happy they are around and respect them.

 

[BristolBerserker]

While I do respect the police here in the UK I believe they should stop telling us how many minorities and LGBT people they have recruited and why that is good and they need to increase truncheon on skull action. If a cocky chav comes up and haves a go at you, smacked 'em round the head with your truncheon and they won't do it again. I think they should be more like Judge Dredd or Sgt Nicholas Angel and PC Butterman.

 

[lacktheknack]

Here in Edmonton, they seem nigh-nonexistent. I've used our LRT train line literally hundreds upon hundreds of times, and I've only seen ticket-takers (a subset of the police) once... and they were off duty.

Also, I've seen police cars here once after a break-in, but never otherwise. I've seen police cars once in over a decade.

I was about to disagree before I remembered that I live just about right next to a police station; I see them a lot, myself.

OT: Well, I have no problems with Edmonton police, which is good seeing as I'm considering joining them myself.

Yeah, the nearest police station is about fifteen minutes away. That's probably why.

 

[chuckman1]

about 60% are assholes 30-35% do a good at their job which to be hone it pretty damn hard at times the last 5-10% are what we like to think of cops being in they they are noble or heroic and generally not only want to save people but when put to the test actually do. This may sound pessimistic but my view of humanity as a whole is, 60% of all people are likely to be assholes and far less than 5-10% are heroic so yeah over all they get more shit than they deserve.

We also have this odd skew on how we see them, in person we think they are all dicks yet we have a plethora of crime drama making them all out to be heroes.

These sound like realistic percentages.
Although personally I hate the cops. Im in Arizona, US. Cops spend their time cracking down on kids skateboarding or bike riding, hard working illegal immigrants, questioning anyone about dumb shit especially if you're a minority. The NY police have frisked more young black males than there are young black males in New York. Black is something like 50% of all they target for frisks yet they find the most guns on white people who make up one of the smaller percentages (I think 8%).

Also I'm biased since when I was 3 police traumatized me and forced me to start growing up before it was time. I still get nervous around all police officers. Luckily I've managed to avoid arrest so far.
EDIT Oh and they love to kill/lockup innocent people. They also like to shoot peoples dogs and sometimes mace puppies. Theres a blog I found all about people whos dogs were killed by police and there were TONS of cases. Cops in US can kill or rape innocent people and get off with paid leave.

 

[Spleencheese]

Dad's a cop, so I have a little bias to work through.

Generally, most of the cops I've met in New Zealand are alright. There's a few dickheads who kinda spoil it for the rest of them. I guess most are just trying to do their jobs.

 

[Penguinis Weirdus]

In the UK I feel that the majority of the Police are good people doing a generally a crappy job and has improved since me dad's day a hell of alot. Though if I had to criticise I have been part of several demonstrations and protests (not the summer riots) and they seemed fairly baton happy at protests where I was charged by horses and had to try and get 15 yr out of the way, but I feel that they were held back during the riots (The reasons that I read in the papers at the time seemed to be that there weren't enough policemen to deal with the rioters). I've also heard stories that they are still authorised to use plastic bullets atm at riots. (That I've taken with a pinch of salt having not seen that yet).

Simply put, generally nice people, riot police less so at PROTESTS (due to a minority of thugs). Needs to be a better definition of riot and protest and what they can do.

 

[Mariakko]

Snip

I checked you're account information to see what country you're from because that sounded like something officers in my country do. Lo and behold we're from the same country. Our police really have nothing better to do sometimes do they. I saw one with his radar on looking for speeding cars outside a library and he was so bored that he went inside and borrowed a book to read while waiting.

 

[cookingwithrage]

Local police (VPD)=pretty relaxed and decent, you can actually have a nice conversation with them.

RCMP (federal police.)=garbage, human slime, incompetent, half trained, stupid corrupt piles of shit who couldn't graduate highshcool to save their lives..

 

[Signa]

Seattle here. I think "Sheriff of Nottingham" sums them up quite well on a good day.


Other days, they are incompetent [http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-dont-forget-your-assault-rifle-20110628,0,4816427.story] murders [http://www.king5.com/news/local/Video-of-fatal-Seattle-police-shooting-of-woodcarver-released-112106374.html].