Police mostly just follow orders. Most terrible things we like to pin on police should probably instead be pinned on police, local political leadership, and ultimately local polities.
If police are assholes in your area there's probably a good chance it's because the local political elites want them to be assholes.
I'm not convinced this is true. Surely the power afforded to police attracts a disproportionate amount of recruits that want to use that power the wrong way.
Not that any individual policeman is sadistic by default, but the likelihood is higher than a random sample of people.
Agreed. All I have to do is think back to which people from my high school went on to become police officers. Somehow it's never the types of people that were looking out for others.
"Just following orders" isn't a valid excuse. Following orders means you are still compliant in making those orders happen, I don't think it's more complicated than that.
I think the OP is just saying that people often forget about what separation of powers is and what it implies. If cops didn't have to follow orders this would mean giving them more powers than just executive. Would that really be a good thing ? Probably in some cases for sure, probably not in others ...
And in this case, the law. If the locals don’t like this, they should carve exceptions into their law.
Not pass “a City Council resolution encouraging the mayor to consider relaxing crackdowns” and a CDC encouragement “not to clear homeless camps unless they can move those living there into housing” [1].
This should be required reading for every person. I remember I thought I kind of understood the issue but the reading of this book opened my eyes to how important and fundamental the issue really is.
It is true. When a policeman breaks the law himself he might get covered by his higher ups and merely lose his rank or the job but still not face any criminal consequences.
I agree with that. Cops that get into their career because they believe in Justice will follow the letters of the law. Only as they gain experience to they see the big picture and become the best kind of cop. Someone that uses good judgement
In all honesty, I'm not really sure how the whole, "well everyone is corrupt" thing all you guys commenting here seem to be doing helps. I mean, yeah, everyone is corrupt, but you are still responsible for your actions. I mean, if the DA or mayor or whatever in a town is bent, does that mean a cop who coerces sexual favors from a prostitute he's caught in that jurisdiction is not a dirtbag?
Of course not.
It only means that your DA is a dirtbag, and your cop is a dirtbag. (It's also likely that the dirtbaggery extends to others in city leadership. The judges, the mayor, some council people. Etc. Just like the dirtbaggery in the police force likely extends to other cops in that department.)
They are not devoid of personal responsibility for following bad orders either.
Someone else on this thread already referenced "Superior Orders" which I was thinking about as well.
We as a society already determined in the 50's that doing bad things because a superior officer told me to does not negate responsibility for the actions taken.
No one tells police to beat up homeless people. Police will do it because they know they won't be held responsible. They're assholes because of the inherent power dynamic.
If police are assholes in your area there's probably a good chance it's because the local political elites want them to be assholes.