How do you feel about the police?

[David]

Be honest. How do you feel when you see a cop car, or police officers passing you on the footpath? Scared? Safer? Pick the poll option that closest matches your attitude to the police.

[Morrigu]

Extremely grateful that my brother is no longer a member given the scum roaming the streets, the slack judicial system and the attitude of tools who are critical until of course they need to scream for help!!!

Eternally grateful for the amazing support that they all without exception gave me and my team when I was in charge of the CAT team and the residential drug withdrawal unit that took in the area from St kIlda to Dandenong!

I have never ever felt remotely threatened intimated or frightened by any police officer or police car behind me, I just think they are trying to do their job !!!

[think positive]

[pietillidie]

I've had a grand total of zero negative interactions with police. They're underpaid for an extremely complex and stressful job, much like teachers.

No doubt the position attracts a good swathe of authoritarians, but the cost in stress and PTSD would outweigh the opportunity for abuse of power by a considerable margin.

[stui magpie]

The Police force do a vital role and is full of mostly good people trying to do that job for all the right reasons.

I've had a number of interactions with Police over the years, starting from childhood and with a few exceptions the vast majority of those were positive.

The job has got harder and harder over the years as the younger generations come through with less respect for authority and the powers that be make them focus on the trivial at the expense of what they should be doing.

If I see someone in a Police uniform I have automatic respect for that person unless/until they behave in a way that makes me change that, and that has been an uncommon experience.

[Tannin]

I can't vote. I need an "all of the above" option. (Not joking: the ones I've met cover that entire range, from dedicated people of great understanding right through to corrupt bastards of the worst order. Most are in the middle: decent people battling to deal with a bad system and sometimes getting it right, sometimes getting it wrong.)

Our recent police policies are very, very bad, however, and the force is now set on a path downhill towards the horrors of American police forces. No time for an essay here, but I give you three items:

(1) The new uniforms. The old light uniforms had a different aspect to them. Police didn't look scary. They looked approachable, honest, even friendly and helpful. The new Gestapo-style uniforms make them look mean and officious and scary.

You think looks don't matter? Then you don't know much about humanity. Throw yourself back into the gene pool and start again. Presentation of self is the most important part of social interaction. It flows through and powerfully influences everything we do. As you look, so do you act. Fact. As other people see you, so do they act. And, in consequence, so do you act. This is not the place for a comprehensive introduction to social interaction and the presentation of self in everyday life (do that in another thread if desired; I'll try to contribute to it as time allows), just let it stand that the uniforms are a big mistake.

(2) The new never-alone rule. Yep, sure it's a safety thing. Can see that. And see also that it's a gutless caving in to the most corrupt union in this country. Can see that too. There is sense in it, and there is also great danger in it.

From now on, it's not possible for a citizen to have a conversation with a policeman. A real conversation where two people orient on one-another and interact. Now, because of the always-in-pairs rule, a citizen can only interact with a pair of policemen - and pairs of anything are very, very different animals. Just by this simple, seemingly minor thing, the government has completely changed the dynamic of citizen-police interactions. The two police orient on each other (basic rule of presentational psychology: you always orient on the most significant person present, and a workmate is always more significant than a customer) and thus each acts a role more like a policeman and less like a human individual reacting to another human individual.

Some good comes out of this, mostly bad. Less communication. Less understanding. Less give and take. Less flexibility. Bad move, Victoria.

(3) There is no 3.

[stui magpie]

^

Interesting thoughts.

IIRC the uniform was changed deliberately for pretty much exactly the reason you said, if not the unintended consequence. It was felt that as more younger people demonstrated no respect for Police they needed to make themselves present more authoritative. The unintended consequence as you say is it makes them less approachable to the ordinary person.

On point 2, all I'll say is if the Police union is the most corrupt union in the country (not doubting you btw) they have beaten out some serious competition from a relatively small but select field.

[think positive]

[think positive]

So come on David, let's here your reasoning behind your vote?

[David]

Interesting responses. I could probably count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've interacted with a police officer, and they haven't really been particularly positive or negative experiences (well, ok, a few have come across as jerks, but that's hardly a hanging offence). As with soldiers, I wonder about the kind of person who would feel motivated to join the police force; but I do believe that we need to have a police force, and it seems like the police in Victoria, at least, are pretty well managed so as to curb any inclinations towards extreme authoritarianism and corruption.

(Tannin makes an excellent observation on the social effect and role-playing of two officers together. I totally understand the safety reasons for doing so, though, and think they probably outweigh the social concerns. Police are there to keep the peace, after all, not be your best friend.)

That's my intellectual standpoint. On an emotional level, however, I'm terrified of them. I can't help it - every time I see a police car, or see them walking on the street, I feel on edge. Yet I'm probably one of the most law-abiding people I know.

It's like this: every time I see a booze bus, I find myself desperately hoping I won't be pulled over, even though I haven't had anything to drink. Dr Freud, your opinion, please!

[think positive]

[3.14159]

Back in the dae I liked Walking on the Moon, Roxanne and a few others.
These days I prefer listening to Credence, the Stones and the Clash.

[David]

Lol, 3.14. They were definitely a necessary evil.

TP, I think I explained it pretty well above (and yeah, I voted for the "necessary evil" option). In an ideal world we wouldn't have police, and there seems to be something pathological about the whole phenomenon, but this isn't an ideal world and we cannot have a functional society without them.

Consider Peter Dutton, for instance. Does the fact that he was a cop make you think more highly of him, or do you think he's only a colossal boofhead despite being a cop? Rightly or wrongly, to me it just seems to make sense on every level that he was one.

As for my own gut reaction to them, it's not really about having something to hide, but more an instinctive aversion to authority, I think (and perhaps some residual irrational Christian guilt to throw into the equation, lol).

[think positive]

So if your a cop your a colossal boof head?

David I don't find your lack of respect endearing at all, it's not cute, it's not brave, it's arrogant and just a little bit ignorant.

[3.14159]

Did I vote necessary evil???
I'm with Tannin.
I don't want them in my life but they do manage to intrude I generally regard them in 1 of 2 wayes.
1. The Police, a man's best friend.
2. &$%# the Police