Pigs prove that they're assholes, from their own mouths.

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

So you know how those liberals constantly try to claim that what happened in Ferguson and Staten Island are all just bad apples? You know, just exceptions because most police officers are decent people who'd never EVER do anything similar?

Well, DailyKos pretty much proves here that, yes, pigs are assholes by default. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/04/1349424/-Wait-A-Minute-Let-s-Hear-From-Some-Actual-Police-Officers-Before-We-Rush-To-Judgment?detail=email)

That's not fake, folks. This shit is taken straight from the horse's mouth.

FUCK THE POLICE

[Bala Perdida]

That's worse than youtube's comments.

[The Disillusionist]

Back when I was Criminal Justice major (first year college student), I used to check out some of those police forums, and the attitudes of the people on there, as well as the attitudes of the people in my criminal justice classes, were a large part of why I dropped the idea of ever becoming a cop and became completely disillusioned with the American justice system as a whole. Then anthropology completely changed my life, but that's another story.

I do have to make the old cliche'd argument that not all cops are bad though. My favorite criminal justice professor was the local police chief, and he was a really great guy. He made sure that we talked a lot in "Intro to Police" class about ethics, and racism, and things like that. But, that doesn't change the fact that police culture is inherently bigoted and treats outsiders, especially minorities, as inferior.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

I do have to make the old cliche'd argument that not all cops are bad though.

I don't think many people think that all cops are "bad", although the vast majority of them are singularly unpleasant specimens of the species. In fact it would cheapen our critique of the police to ascribe things like this to some personal flaw on the piggies' part. But structurally, the police are bad for us. Their job is to enforce the rule of the bourgeoisie with gun and truncheon. They can put on their best smile and be as understanding and "colour-blind" as they humanly can, their role is still to uphold an inherently anti-worker, anti-woman and anti-minority system.

That one "nice" cop is just as capable of smashing in the head of a worker or gunning down a black "thug" in the street. It's what they're paid to do.

[The Disillusionist]

That one "nice" cop is just as capable of smashing in the head of a worker or gunning down a black "thug" in the street. It's what they're paid to do.

Yeah, that's what I meant when I said that the individual doesn't really matter within the context of the culture. I agree that the problem has a lot to do with the increasing imbalance in authority and capability of force between police and citizens, as well as funding and the motives of the people signing the paychecks (and no, it's not the citizens).

[Illegalitarian]

Not all cops are assholes, the same as not all CEO's are assholes and I'm sure not all slave owners were assholes.

One can technically be a "nice person" or a "good person" and still big a monster while in their institutional role.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Ultimately it is the system and their role in it. On a less fundamental level though, there is kind of logic to the sort of "police culture" created. When you look through that original thread from the article, the cops are jumping on anyone (other cops) who dares to even suggest that this murder was anything but a public service. (I find it funny that they have a term "anti-police" that they use as a noun rather than an adjective)

The system needs cops to have a sort of aristocratic privilege over the population (look at me sideways and get harassed, try and run and by rights you will be flogged, ignore or just not hear a cop and you get tackled, talk-back and you will be cited for... Something, film me while I'm doing any of that and we'll dig something up on you and arrest you). The cops, like people going to war, need this to feel protected and entitled to do the bullshit they need to do and they need to dehumanize the "enemy" (I.e. "Thugs" i.e. Black and brown and poor folks) in order to carry out their duties.

This is why imo they are particularly assholes rather than cogs in an inherently oppressive capitalist social organization. This is why our rulers would risk towns exploding in riots rather than allow an obvious abuse to be punished for the sake of the illusion of fairness and legitimacy. If cops felt like they couldn't act like the aristocrats of the street, then they might not be as willing to cover for eachother or do the awful shit the system might require of them. They are legally held as unaccountable in order to create a culture that is separate and antagonistic to the population and will willingly defend the ruling class and systemic injustices.