Saying the police are antagonistic against those who serve is exactly the attitude that anti police folks seem to have. Broad brush and such. Everyone is less than perfect every day, but to insinuate police come to work just to be antagonistic against the public is ridiculous. It’s too difficult a job for too little money for that to be true. I will say a couple bad ones likely have an attitude like that and that’s terrible.
NOBODY dislikes crooked police more than good police. Good police are the ones carrying the issues after the wrongdoing. As far as the guy that hates traffic enforcement, I’m with you on police not obeying the laws they enforce. I have conversations frequently about how bad it looks to the public when rule enforcers aren’t rule followers. I’m not in agreement about the hiding thing…Hiding in an unmarked car or a U turn doesn’t negate the speeding violation. Police are trained (most anyway) on where to safely pull over a vehicle that gives other motorists time to observe and change lanes. If they’re doing that in a bad spot, their training should be better. I agree that would be frustrating, not to mention dangerous for all involved.
Getting into details about the police hate is a fool’s errand though. I’m not going bang my head against the wall trying to convince those who have made up their mind. I’ve never hurt anyone that hasn’t tried to kill/assault me and I’ve talked people down from potential assaultive behavior. Pulling a weapon on someone is rare and not something nearly all police ever want to do. I’ve seen many cases where using a firearm would be completely justified, however they didn’t.
It’s difficult to convey what it’s like being spit on for wearing a uniform, distrusted due to your profession, doxxed by sovereign citizens, sued for doing your job, having a social media attack campaign levied against you for writing a traffic ticket for running a red light (an officer is currently dealing with this now- not to mention his wife, hearing threats to ram his car and shoot him in the comments!) , having false accusations brought continuously against you , etc
As far as false accusations, it happens constantly. Literally dozens for every one that is legit. Claims are made, investigation commences and the body cam footage directly refutes the claim/allegation. Almost 100% of the time the agency refuses to enforce the laws against filing a false statement for the fabricated allegation. It’s easier to just let it go. Newspaper and media sensationalize incidents or accusations against police and even though it’s nearly all provably false, no pushback occurs. There’s no defending of the officer’s reputation. This happened when an attorney threw several allegations in the paper (to help undermine credibility for his client on a separate case) and each allegation was fully looked into, proven false by those the attorney claimed to have as sources. Their story directly contradicted the attorney’s story and nothing. No published account to clear that officer in the media. That story still gets brought up 5 years later and it was almost all complete bull crap. This is far too common.
A local paper ran an article publishing all discipline records for an agency dating back over a dozen years. The implication was that it was covered up. The officer had been punished and this was a headline grabbing tactic. No context was given, just the charge and punishment. I get that scrutiny comes with the job, taxpayers and such….Most of the
published records were for inadequate job performance or minor property damage accidents from years ago. I don’t think teachers would enjoy their records being published (I mean they’re entrusted with our children and funded by tax dollars), the politicians coming up with this stuff don’t enjoy this accountability and scrutiny. This seems targeted for just one profession. It’s almost like some want to keep people from the field of law enforcement, I mean who would sign up with the headaches? It has worked too, as those signing up is down significantly- which leads to to relaxing of standards - which leads to iffy candidates (or outright bad) - which leads to people saying “Ah, see the police are awful, I told you”
The job is set up for dislike. Nobody enjoys getting arrested or getting ticket. However it is necessary, even if it isn’t done properly to the liking of some in this board. I’m surprised he hasn’t seen any help with a flat/etc. I’ve personally done it many many times and have seen it done by police quite a bit as well. I personally encourage that type of customer service.