Why are the police held to a lower standard than the rest of us?

[Captain Stern]

This has been bugging me for a long time.

In my opinion, the people that are paid to enforce the law should be held to higher standards than the rest of us.....not lower ones.

Even if they can't be held to higher standards of conduct, can't they at least be held to the same standards as the rest of us? Is that really too much to ask?

For the record, I'm as white as wonder bread. But I'm pretty sure that if I was in an encounter where a guy died, and there was a nine minute video of me murdering the guy, I wouldn't have been free to go.....the next video would have been of me being hauled away to jail.

The cop in Minnesota got caught straight-up murdering a guy on video.....and he got to walk away.

[DanieRains]

1. Because The Have To Deal With A Lot Of Real Bad People All Day Long

Many of the people they arrest are evil criminal assholes who hurt others constantly and belong in jail. Don't torture them, just arrest them.

I want to give the Police a lot of leeway, because their job is dangerous, and tough, but no, don't torture or kill anyone.

While society crumbles, we ask the police to do a lot more than they should have to. It's not like mental health care, or drug treatment is easy to get ya know.

[Captain Stern]

2. A lot of us have hard jobs....but we're still expected to obey the law.

And, that's how it should be.

I think that all of us should be treated equally under the law....regardless of our circumstances.

If a LEO shoots an unarmed person, they should get treated the same way you or me would be treated if we'd done the exact same thing.

[Sherman A1]

3. Precisely

[Solomon]

11. Fuck that!

Spoken like a person who is not the subject of police abuse.

[A HERETIC I AM]

16. The idea that cops have this incredibly dangerous and tough job is nonsense.

THEY DON'T, plain and simple.

Being a cop is way less dangerous than being a truck driver. A hundred times less dangerous than being a lumberjack.

"They put their lives on the line for us every day" Is an often heard line, and it's bullshit.

Utter bullshit.

Being a cop is only slightly more dangerous than being a fucking landscaper. And landscapers don't have guns and clubs and radios to call other similarly equipped individuals should a rose bush start giving them shit.

Sure, they deal with the dregs of society. Of course they see the worst of humanity, but they weren't fucking drafted into it! THEY VOLUNTEERED!

The police are out of control in this country, it is as simple as that. Over the years they have been successful in setting themselves up to be above the laws and constitution they swear they will protect and defend, they have created intrinsic organizations to protect themselves from scrutiny, they investigate THEMSELVES for wrongdoing, they can and will harass and ruin the lives of officials that cross them, including judges and prosecutors, they lie as a matter of course on sworn statements and under oath and they literally get away with murder on a regular basis.

The sooner the population realizes all this, the sooner we can put a stop to it.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. They're entitled, yunno

They work so closely with laws that they're entitled to take.liberties with them.

[Freddie]

5. MOST police are good people. But there's bad eggs

Who are attracted to the job because of the power it gives them. And police culture, plus their unions, encourages their superiors to look the other way. It happens in a liberal state with a liberal mayor and a liberal governor.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Most police like to think they're good people, but ...

... how many would testify against a killer cop, vs silently obstructing investigations and trials?

That "blue wall" seems pretty ingrained, along with giving "courtesy" to other cops who break traffic laws or other minor infractions.

[A HERETIC I AM]

17. Bullshit.

MOST police are NOT good people, by definition. How many of these supposed "good people" have seen fellow officers blatantly break the law or violate someones rights and didn't arrest them? Or even report them? Most, if not all is my bet.

Sure, there are plenty that you can have a conversation with, and be friendly with, but there is a reason that most cops hang out exclusively with other cops.

For the vast majority of police officers in this country, the distance between being "Officer Friendly" and beating your ass or kneeing you in the neck till you're dead can be measured with a micrometer.

[Chainfire]

6. There is nothing worse

than a bully with a badge and gun.

The have an us and them view of the world where us is cops and them is the rest of the world. Of course there are good cops, but too many of them are rotten right-wing racist bastards too. The good ones know who the bad ones are, but they protect them anyway, because the bad cops are their us.

[marybourg]

8. Because they have to make split-second, life-or death

decisions as part of their job. Sometimes on a routine basis. They could not continue to do so if a wrong split second decision would mean being held to the same standard as a criminal committing murder.

This particular case was not one of split second decision making. Therefore it is appropriate that the officer be charged with murder. I am not excusing what happened. I am factually answering your question. No blow-back, please.

[Captain Stern]

9. I think you misunderstood me.

I'm not asking that law enforcement officers be held to the same standard as a criminal committing murder.

I'm asking that they be held to at least the same standard that all the rest of us are held to.

[marybourg]

14. When the rest of us commit murder

we ARE a criminal committing murder.

[Captain Stern]

15. Good point. I wish I'd said it the same way. n/t

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. Because some people believe they're the only thing between "us" and chaos and so they must

be catered to.

[bigtree]

12. same reason the president has been

...institutional corruption. It's that simple.

Righteous anger always succumbs, in the end, to a system which refuses or neglects to hold these public officials accountable. It is a conservative movement/ infrastructure over the decades which has prevented full accountability and justice for these violent offenders.

[hunter]

13. I don't get it. Policing isn't even an especially dangerous job.

I've had some truly dangerous jobs.

The hardest but not the most dangerous job I've ever had was rough urban high school science teacher.

Litlle did my sniny white idealistic ass high school dropout self know that Room 222 or Welcome Back Kotter was bullshit.

We weren't allowed to carry guns, we were advised we shouldn't ever touch our students, even when they hit us or bit us. Back off. Don't escalate.

Nevertheless we persisted.

I had a student who pulled down his pants and flashed his bare ass at me when I told him to park it. He was a kid who couldn't stay in his seat. I laughed.

He was later expelled when they found a gun in his locker but I'm pretty sure that was for his day job in gangster land and not anything to do with his questioning my authority or me laughing.