What Is YOUR problem with the police?

Since joining ATS I have been amazed at how many anti-police threads are posted daily as well as (whether rightly or wrongly) negative news stories. Reading through a selection of threads I find some posts by some members quite disgusting and it shows a complete lack of respect and appreciation for what this vital emergency service does.

Yes, the police do get things wrong and yes, they are just human beings. If there was no police there would be no order at all. If there were no laws people would stretch the boundaries as far as they could and run completely wild. I have rarely seen any positive threads on here about the police service. No thanks, no well done - nothing. Instead people seem to jump on this bandwagon of being a police hater and seem to enjoy making sarcastic remarks and ridiculous comments.

Now I'm expecting a backlash from the majority of people here but I would really like to know why those people in particular have a problem with the police. I'm sick and tired of people jumping on stupid theories and stupid stories that they twist round to make it appear as if the police are in the wrong all the time. We should have more respect for these men and women. I appreciate some of you may have had personal dealings in the past but do not let fantasy news stories change your views.

What some people do not realise is that police are not robots. They have family, they have friends, they go out and enjoy themselves like me or you. The majority really care about helping people and some pay the ultimate price to protect people. Would you be brave enough to be battling against murders, sexual offenders, rioters and weapon wielding maniacs?

Before I go I would like to share this story with you which has encompassed what the oath here in the UK means to the majority of our officers ---> Police officers risk their own lives to save lady.

reply to post by ProfessorT

Originally posted by ProfessorT
Yes, the police do get things wrong and yes, they are just human beings.

Certain professions should REQUIRE a higher standard of care than others.

What seems to have happened is we have institutionalized a diminished concern for the consequences of poor law enforcement behavior. Plain and simple.

Yes, there are good LEOs... And, yes. There will always be bad LEOs... What burns me up, however, is the manner in which the bad ones seem to be repeatedly protected from their bad acts.

the question should be what is the POLICES problem with us.

reply to post by ProfessorT


I don't have a problem with the police. My personal experiences with the police; have been good ones. They have actually helped me a few times.

I will give an example: one year the snow was excessive in the city I live; and I was trying to get home from work; the buses were not running their usual schedules; so I had to walk and it was a few miles; as I was walking a police car pulled up; the officer introduced himself and offered me a ride home; which I did take. He was very pleasant and a gentleman.

If you watch children, you will notice that they get mad at the authority figure (Mom/Dad/etc) when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The ones who protest the loudest are "usually" the ones who got caught in similar situations. Please notice, however, if these same people are in need of police type aide they are the ones who complain about the lack of promptness and efficiency. Some children never grow up. Stands to reason that these people have no moral fiber and everything is always someone else's fault. If you are arrested for DUI, theft, etc., you are probably where you should not be and keeping company with the wrong crowd. But then this is just my observation.

reply to post by caladonea


I have experienced both, and I fall in a demographic where one would never expect abuse.

I can only imagine how the distribution of experience changes when you fall into the 'wrong' demographic.

reply to post by searching411

Originally posted by searching411
If you watch children, you will notice that they get mad at the authority figure (Mom/Dad/etc) when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The ones who protest the loudest are "usually" the ones who got caught in similar situations. Please notice, however, if these same people are in need of police type aide they are the ones who complain about the lack of promptness and efficiency. Some children never grow up. Stands to reason that these people have no moral fiber and everything is always someone else's fault. If you are arrested for DUI, theft, etc., you are probably where you should not be and keeping company with the wrong crowd. But then this is just my observation.

Nearly complete rubbish. My observation.

I don't have any issue with the police and think the majority of them are just doing their jobs the best they can. That being said....

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Some folks can't handle any power and abuse it as much as they can. I don't paint them all with the same brush, but there are a few that could stand trying another job all together.

Police should be respected but also scrutinized.

Power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely

When police kill people and taser people for no reason
When police use there powers to abuse and intimidate
When police do not hold themselves to a higher standard than a common thug.

That is what we point out.

If you feel that there needs to be equal exposure then please post vids of cops doing good things for people.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

Originally posted by Kangaruex4Ewe
...but there are a few that could stand trying another job all together.

Or be appropriately disciplined or prosecuted for their bad acts.

A day doesn't go by where you read some egregious story that results in little punitive action. They aren't making cupcakes.

They have a duty to the public as public servants. That should really mean something, imo.

This is my problem. I had to leave a specific town because my abusive stepfather who is abusive to my entire family paid off a certain police officer to come to my house three times because I stood up to him (step father.). When I called dispatch there was never record of them being there. I was taking a nap and it was for notice complaints. I'm the quietest person in the world. They pushed the door in and intimidated me and when I stepped outside and he would pass he would harrass me. Then when he would let me go he wold just sit there with lights on. They abuse their authority so much I had to leave town. Oh, and I have PTSD and social anxiety. I don't even so much as smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol. That's my problem.

They maintain the power that threatens us.

reply to post by ProfessorT


Simple answer? they can kill us with impunity. We, however, get into a whole world of kaka if we kill one of them.

i think police are great when thay are one with the community.
but in a post 9/10 world where poeple get locked up for video recording PUBLIC servents in PUBLIC places, that for me is where thay (leo)are no longer one with the community thay serve/run.
asides from that there are a lot of great departments at least here in the states
and thay dont need our "thank yous" or " nice jobs" thay are compensated for the services renderd

at least thats the gist i get from friends in the biz

My problem with the police is a personal one. Between the ages of 13-20, i was stopped by every officer who walked past, hassled constantly, and always felt like a criminal without commiting a crime, ill tell you of one example that sums alot of it up;

I was on my street on the way home (i live on a cul-de-sac) and seen a load of people run into a car and speed off, just after a huge crashing sound. I seen down my road that they tipped a car over, so i went to the house and knocked on their door to tell them what i saw. Next thing i know i was pinned up the wall by several officers, with them shouting at me "Why did you do it?! We know it was you! Tell us what you know!!" for over an hour.

After that i was thrown into a cop car and hand cuffed, it took them over 3 hours for them to decide that i could not tip the car over on myself, it was redicules. I was 19 at the time, i had to ring my parents over, that was an embarrsement in itself, having to ring your parents for help at the age of 19, but they even had to hold my mom back because she was getting so mad (my mom is 4ft10 and is a part time worker in Greggs, not an aggressive character at all)

A lot of people from my generation have simular stories, we are treated as criminals before we can even be questioned on a crime that has been commited. In my opinion, the best way to sum up the UK youth/working class public can be well summed up by a song from The Clash;



The video does not seem to be working, but the song is The Clash - Police on my back: Lyrics;

Well I'm running, police on my back I've been hiding, police on my back There was a shooting, police on my back And the victim well he won't come back
I've been running Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday Runnin' Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday What have I done? What have I done?
Yes, I'm running down the railway track Could you help me? Police on my back They will catch me if I dare drop back Won't you give me all the speed I lack
I've been running, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday Runnin' Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday What have I done? What have I done?
I'm running I'm running I keep running
Yes I'm running down the railway track Could you help me? Police on my back They will catch me if I dare drop back Won't you help me find the speed I lack
I've been running Monday', Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday Runnin' Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday What have I done? What have I done?
'Cos I'm running (Police on my back) Hiding (Police on my back) Running (Police on my back) Hiding (Police on my back)
I'm running down the railway track Could you help me? Police on my back They will catch me if I dare drop back They will kill me for the speed I lack I've been running, I've been running

Since I have been in this site I have been steadfastly hard on law enforcement personnel. I rarely give quarter and hold police to the highest of ethical and lawful standards. I have frustrated many a member in this site because of this. However, I have had the profound privilege of making friends with many members who are police. Some have openly declared me their friend in their profile and others have kept their friendship or respect limited to personal messages. Indeed, just very recently I authored a thread about experiencing the loss of a friend I made on this on this site and a few days later I received a message from a member who is a police officer who I was scathingly hard on in a thread. That message was a heartfelt condolence.

The good cops may get frustrated with my expectations of them, but they recognize what I am fighting for and they recognize that in the end we are on the same side and this gives me great hope for the future. This site should not only be hard on errant police, this site should be hard on every single errant government employee collecting a paycheck. This site should be hard on errant doctors, errant lawyers, errant teachers, and any other professional where a high ethical standard is a given.

The best things in life don't come easy. It takes hard work to obtain that which is worth obtaining. Good police officers is hard work. Great police officers is even harder work. I expect great police officers and nothing less.

Oh, attitudes like if you use your constitutional rights then you have something to hide and must be guilty. little stupid attitudes like that.

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux


We are of the same mind on this.

reply to post by freebornman


I have a problem with the Police because of my experiences with them. It's really that simple. I don't have a problem with every Officer individually, and some are really good people who do their job with decency and respect, but i have come accross many who are simply thugs and bullies. I am a good person who tries to treat everybody i meet with love and respect, and I shouldn't have to justify myself to idiots who stop me and do not treat me the same way. Respect demands respect or it is just fear, the police govern by consent and should remember this, as many already do. I think many people's problems with the police are actually really problems with the law and, as the enforcers of that law the police are at the coal face.
though i do have problems with certain types of policing (which seem to be getting more prevalent), i have to say i've met a number of officers who are very decent people. I feel police need to be very intelligent people to be able to police properly and unfortunatly many aren't. i feel the way they recruit favours a lack of morality and reason for certain roles and this is a shame for the people who have to deal with them.
btw, I'm talking UK police here.

What is my problem with the police? It's difficult to know where to start to be honest. There is so much wrong with the way the police act, the way they protect goverments instead of citizens, businesses instead of people. The way they think it's just fine to kill people if they don't do what they say when they say it. The way they are protected by their own when they go on the rampage. The utter disreguard they hold toward the public. The police will justify any use of violence and murder, because it says that can kill and batter people in a little book of laws written by those who wish to rule by fear. and the police are only too happy to carry out these acts. They are not here to protect us, they are here to enforce goverment rule, by intimidation and violence. Collecting taxes along the way, for the investors of the police force. Not the sort of people who want to protect you, the sort of get off on bullying people into submission.

You don't need to be a criminal these days to have the police come hassle you, because your friendly goverments have fully enabled them with a bucket load of "laws" which are going to keep you "safe". (lol) You probably break laws every day without even knowing it.

And I'm not stupid, I know we need a police force, there are lots of bad people out there who do very bad things, and they need to be stopped. But the continued harrasment of everyday people, is not doing that. If the police just went after criminals, then there'd be no problem, but they don't. They go after anyone in their path, and find something to get them for, gotta raise those taxes...err...I mean fines.

They are ment to uphold the law, not be above it. They should be held to a higher accountability, as they are representing the law and should be of upstanding morals to do so. But this is far from the case.

Avoid the police at all costs. Do not interact with them unless you have to, and then, keep it short and sweet. My advice to anyone, anywhere.