I've met some decent police officers in my day, but I've met police officers that take their discretion to a whole new level. What do you bloopers think?

It's SUPPOSED to be Police Officers: Protecting and Serving or Big Bully's! It cut me off!

*Bullies ;)

I couldn't say; thankfully I have had next to zero dealings with the police, which is how I'd like it to stay!
I do think thought that the Police Force in the UK is way too politicised and constrained by targets and paperwork.

Ah-ha! You little grammar nazi ;) j/k. Thank you. I've never been to the U.K., but I can only imagine.

My opinion is, I know there are some decent cops, but there a shit ton of crooked ones, & ones that take their authority & think they are better than everyone. They treat civilians like crap, which I've been a witness to it many times.

My friend was standing outside a 7-11 type store, smoking a cigarette (kinda in a bad neighborhood, but he wasn't doing anything wrong), but cops came up to him, hassled him, yelled & cursed at him, called him names, made him get on the ground, they stepped on his back, & all over his knuckles. Then they just left. I honestly don't like cops, but I have met a few, & I wanna say, maybe a handful or more, of good, decent cops.

Holy hell. Cops like that are the ones that give the police a bad name.

In every profession, everywhere, there are going to be people who are good at their job, and people who are not. Police Officers are no different. I've met a lot of wonderful upstanding Police Officers, however I've met a couple of PO's that were power hungry, rude, and absolutely should not be authority figures

Agreed.

While I understand this sentiment, it's a lot more problematic for police officers do be bad at their jobs than it is for anyone else, only because they're in a position of power. Not just in terms of pulling you over and detaining you, but in terms of ruining your credit and/or your entire life. It's something you really need to be careful with -- something not just anyone should be trusted with.

Oh, I agree. But, is there really anything WE can do about it? Probably not. That's why I said there are some police officers that should never be put in a place of authority at all. It won't change it from happening, though.

I got pulled over for littering the other week, I was driving home at 1130pm after work and all I wanted to do was go home and get to bed, threw a ciggie out the window next thing i knew the car behind stuck his flashing lights on and pulled me over. He was really nice about it and just let me go. He could have given me a fine! He could have also pulled me over for speeding, I was doing 45 in a 40, according to my fella I have a plate light out so he could have pulled me for that too but didn't! How bizzare!

Overall, Yes the Officer I delt with was nice.

Wow! What a generous cop! lol. *in Napolean Dynamite voice* Lucky!

I think there are good ones & bad ones. I've seen some police officers risk their lives to save others, while one cop shot my uncle & killed him when he was unarmed. So it can go either way.

Holy Shit! No justice, eh?

He got suspended for 2 weeks WITH pay. Yea, more like a vacation until the media cooled down.

my thoughts are: The Police used to watch over the people, now they watch the people.

That crime is an economics issue for the most part.

That crimes is also wanted, because prisons have become a cash cow.

Just look at how many people sit in prison for smoking pot. a drug that kills cancer tumors.

I agree. Now I'm not saying that you are wrong, but personally I don't know of anybody sitting in a prison facility. Most of them spend a month or so behind jail bars. It's mostly the harder drugs: cocaine, heroin, meth that send someone to the federal pen. But I strongly agree with the statement about the police.

what happens is one gets busted smoking pot, they get probation, whereas they are drug tested, and some cannot complete the probation, and do prison time.

I used to work at a bail bonds

Ohhhh ok. See I'm one of these people that believes if you smoke pot, don't be stupid about it. If you want to smoke, stay in your house and blaze up. Then when you're driving around you can't get into trouble without something on you.

Working for the schoolboard, we have local police doing detail at night for us. For as long as I can remember we had this one officer who only worked Thursday nights doing detail and we all thought he was a pretty decent guy. I even got a ride with him to our off campus location to pick up money one night. He disappeared for a couple of weeks and was replaced with someone else. Finally, we learned he pulled a woman over who was leaving the nearby bar where he was at and groped her. She called the police station and reported him.
I also know of someone who used to work with us (he was a real asshole but thats beside the point) whose father was a lieutenant and he and some of his other cop friends got caught selling a substantial amount of drugs they confiscated from dealers they busted.

Does that make all cops bad? No. I know a substantial amount of cops who are honest and hardworking. Not every cop goes bad.

I agree. It seems like all the police in my area are like the cop that worked by the school district. lol.

There will always be someone within a large group of people who makes everyone else look bad.

Before my daughter was born, I worked for the state police (and there is another Blooper still there) and I can tell you now, until you see first hand what a cop goes through in their day to day job, NEVER assume. There will always be corrupt cops, but the thing to remember is that they are the minority.

The hardest thing now is that the legal system and the fact that everyone is a pussy and will sue over EVERYTHING even when THEY are doing the wrong thing, means that it makes it downright fucking hard for a cop to do their job.

Oh I know. I'm majoring in the Criminal Justice system myself. A couple of the ex-police officers that work at my college go into detail about what they did while on the force. It's scary, but brave. I wish we had cops like a couple of my professor's.

I think there's a combination of decent & respectable cops and then there are the ones who ruin it for everyone. I used to know quite a number of cops; they were mature cops - around 40 to 50 years old, but regardless of age, they were quite sensible and knew what their jobs were. I haven't had to encounter any cops on duty as such, on the one occasion that I did - they were very professional and did their job quite well. But you do hear stories and I guess that just messes up the whole system. I also watch a lot of cop shows - but they just make me laugh.

I have to say though, I noticed in Perth, well, not ALL of Perth - just the section I was from - it was abundantly clear that you never wanted to get pulled over by a young newbie cop. The younger they were - the more of a power trip they were on. They were all about giving out as many tickets to as many people as they could. Again - I'm not saying ALL the young cops were like that - but quite a few of them really loved showing off how important they were.

And that's exactly how the police are down here. I've seen a small handful that are the older police, and some of them are still on their power trips. I've met a couple that I applaud for their participation in community policing as well as being a brave cop and doing what is right.