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catsmash t1_iz5g0hw wrote

Reply to comment by Sweaty_Conclusion_80 in Why aren't more traffic tickets written? by cmndo

>Are you afraid of having your mind changed?

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/CT-state-police-accused-of-wrongdoing-17220971.php

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/Lawmakers-call-state-police-misconduct-a-17242943.php

https://www.ctpost.com/projects/2021/police-misconduct

lmao, nope! in fact what i'm afraid of is cops. it's a pretty normal way to feel about a professional class that has the power to completely alter or even end my life with limited, if, any, consequence - & who routinely, documentedly abuse that power. maybe you should be concerning yourself with the behavior & actions of the folks who inhabit your profession rather than coming at civilians grousing about rightfully earned negative public perception. your real problems are in-house.

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Sweaty_Conclusion_80 t1_iz5nhjq wrote

I’m certainly not “coming at” you, I’m simply pointing to my invitation to having you learn a bit more about a profession you don’t seem to have much personal experience with, or at least alter your perspective if not change it entirely. I’d call that welcoming rather than adversarial. For a profession accused of being close minded, it seems you’re the one with an entrenched position.

And yes, of course there will be cases of misconduct, we’re human beings and we’re going to make mistakes, it’s inevitable. I’d be concerned if data showed that there was no misconduct because that would mean the data was wrong. Taking a tiny subset and using it to impugn the entire profession is statistically incorrect however; compare police related misconduct to the aggregate of police interactions and you’ll see it’s a tiny fraction. By way of example, medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in America: how many doctors/nurses do you know of who have been fired?

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catsmash t1_iz6e9vj wrote

oh okay. systemic problems that are severe and rampant enough to be reported routinely upon and that weigh heavily on public perception of this entire profession across the entire united states are, like, good actually. my bad.

i think you'll find that doctors pay out the ass for things like malpractice insurance. who pays out the ass when a cop fucks up? let me know. like, sure, yes, thank you, it is an unquestioned fact that cops are "human beings and we’re going to make mistakes", that's certainly not something most people particularly question. the issue lies in the level of personal accountability and consequence a police officer typically faces & the extreme ways in which that differs from consequences incurred under anything resembling similar circumstances by anyone inhabiting virtually any other profession despite the outsize level of power involved. i don't think you're at all making the point you hope to make by drawing a close comparison between health care and law enforcement.

(and for the record: https://news.yale.edu/2020/01/28/estimates-preventable-hospital-deaths-are-too-high-new-study-shows ["you're filtering all this through your own experience!" "how many doctors/nurses do you know of who have been fired?" i... know of a fucking ton, actually? maybe make up your mind about your stance on anecdotal evidence within this conversation.])

anyway, ultimately: hard pass to a free ride in your cop car, lmao. nice try.

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Sweaty_Conclusion_80 t1_iz6hogn wrote

Actually, I retract my invitation, I deal with enough mental illness to see you don’t seem particularly stable.

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catsmash t1_iz6mqvh wrote

yes, this kind of kneejerk assessment of an individual giving you quantifiable pushback on unsubstantiated assertions certainly tracks.

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Sweaty_Conclusion_80 t1_iz6mwat wrote

I hope you get the help you need.

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catsmash t1_iz6say4 wrote

hey, thanks for dragging this down fully into the Personal Insult Zone so you can feel like you don't actually have to address anything i said to you in any substantiative way, but let's end with this: the onus is not on the civilian to solve your job's massive and catastrophic public relations crisis. i'm a middle class, white, professional adult and in theory my demographic is among the force's least adversarial. people like me are among the least at mercy of that power structure. no one should have to take a little spin in your cruiser to have basic faith in the police as a basically positive force. until non-offenders on the police force are willing to grapple with the institution's serious problems in good faith, the problem will continue to fester. later skater!

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