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To what standard should police be held?

What standard of behavior should police officers be held to?

  • They should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us.

    Votes: 38 74.5%

  • They should be held to the same standard as the rest of us.

    Votes: 9 17.6%

  • They should be held to a lower standard than the rest of us.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 4 7.8%
  • Total voters
    51
Gaius46 said:
No doubt. However the whole thing stems from an "us vs them" attitude that is brought about in large part by police department policies and the insularity of the
police culture. The public is wrong to convict a cop without a trial but the reaction is at least understandable. If the police want that to change, if they want their relationship with the public to change, it's incumbent on them to change since it's largely their actions that gave rise to this situation in the first place.
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Well we can agree to disagree on that, because in my interactions with police forces in several different cities--and my own occupation and avocations and social circles have required/allowed quite a bit of interaction--have in no way been negative experiences. Any 'police culture' I have witnessed up close and personal is something that should be emulated, not scorned.
 
Wiggen said:
Because normally the CEO or the teacher isn't armed like a member of Seal Team Six.
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And normally the CEO or teacher's job does not include expectations that he or she will keep some drunken or drug crazed person from killing himself or others or dealing with a rape or domestic violence or robbery or bar fight in progress or going into neighborhoods populated with anti-social, even sociopathic thugs, hoodlums, and various unsavory types who very much have the police outnumbered.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Well we can agree to disagree on that, because in my interactions with police forces in several different cities--and my own occupation and avocations and social circles have required/allowed quite a bit of interaction--have in no way been negative experiences. Any 'police culture' I have witnessed up close and personal is something that should be emulated, not scorned.
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Unless you are a police officer yourself and part of their department, I would suggest they acted differently with you around than they would when no outsiders are around. Not unlike kids behaving better when Grandma comes to visit for the holidays.
 
radcen said:
Unless you are a police officer yourself and part of their department, I would suggest they acted differently with you around than they would when no outsiders are around. Not unlike kids behaving better when Grandma comes to visit for the holidays.
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But what difference would that make? Most of us let our hair down in a closed group with people we know very well and trust. Why should cops be any different and how would we know that anyway unless we were part of that closed group?

I'm not saying cops should be exalted or elevated any more than anybody else. I have just been arguing that we should hold them to the same standard as everybody else--not some artificial higher standard that nobody can meet 100% of the time.
 
AlbqOwl said:
And normally the CEO or teacher's job does not include expectations that he or she will keep some drunken or drug crazed person from killing himself or others or dealing with a rape or domestic violence or robbery or bar fight in progress or going into neighborhoods populated with anti-social, even sociopathic thugs, hoodlums, and various unsavory types who very much have the police outnumbered.
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I didn't bring up the ridiculous analogy. That was somebody on your side that did that.
 
molten_dragon said:
A lot of the time when discussions come up of police mishandling something, you get people defending them by saying how difficult their job is. That got me curious about how people feel about the subject in general?

To what standard of behavior do you think police officers should be held while on duty? Should they be held to the same standard as anyone else? Should they get some slack because of their difficult job? Or should they be held to a higher standard of behavior because of the enormous amount of power they wield?
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When they are on the job they should be held to a higher standard. When they are off, they should be held to the same standard as everyone else.
 
Wiggen said:
I didn't bring up the ridiculous analogy. That was somebody on your side that did that.
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The comment was directed to your post suggesting that the cops were excessively armed to the teeth and teachers and CEOs aren't. I was simply explaining why.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Well we can agree to disagree on that, because in my interactions with police forces in several different cities--and my own occupation and avocations and social circles have required/allowed quite a bit of interaction--have in no way been negative experiences. Any 'police culture' I have witnessed up close and personal is something that should be emulated, not scorned.
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Fair enough Albq. Perhaps it's a geographic thing. I live in NY and there is certainly an insular culture in the NYPD. My family and friends who are to were on the job aren't shy about talking about the necessity of protecting their own, not only from the public but the brass.
 
Gaius46 said:
Fair enough Albq. Perhaps it's a geographic thing. I live in NY and there is certainly an insular culture in the NYPD. My family and friends who are to were on the job aren't shy about talking about the necessity of protecting their own, not only from the public but the brass.
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That is likely a valid consideration. My experience with police, except for relatives here in Albuquerque, has been mostly in small town, small city America which in itself is vastly different than Dallas or Chicago or NYC would be.
 
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