? about taking the law into ones own hands and cop haters

[Cloudchaser]

Hello :-)

First, so I don't seem like a fool, I wanna say that I do respect the law and those who enforce it, the worst trouble I've even been in being traffic tickets and the last one of those being over 5 years ago.

It is said that people shouldn't take the law into their own hands and for good reason since a criminal is denied due process at best or at worst, innocent people get hurt or killed. But what is one to do when the law, the justice system and those who enforce the law are unable or unwilling to do something or in a worst case scenario will protect those that something needs to be done about and in either case, going through "proper legal channels" as it's called, will not work fast enough if at all?

Why do some people hate all cops no matter what? For example, I'm thinking of a t-shirt I saw that showed a officer with a limp child in his arms, a look of anguish on his face and a caption that said "Some would still call him pig."

Take care!

Cloudchaser
"No matter what you do. I'm gonna take you down. Shakedown, breakdown, takedown. Everybody wants into the crime life. Breakdown, takedown, your busted"
Bob Seger-Shakedown

[rpd1794]

Taking the law into your own hands is rarely a good idea. You are, of course, allowed to defend yourself, within reasonable boundaries. As far as the justice system itself is concerned, that is one of our greatest frustrations. We do mounds of paperwork even for minor offenses, and the suspect walks with a slap on the wrist. The system isn't perfect, but it's all we got. I do my job and once it goes to court it's outta my hands. Lawyers and Judges take it from there and I stopped worrying a whole lot about the outcome.

As far as why people dislike us, who really knows? Mostly I think it's because they can't go and do whatever they please without fear of being charged. An old friend that had a lot of years on the job used to say, "Everyone hates us but they all want to be us". I think most people have issues with any authority figures. I got over worrying about all that a long time ago.

[backinblue]

I do my job and let the courts hand down the sentence. Most times the sentence I think is appropriate is different than the courts. I've had experiences where suspects fight police or give us a problem the judge is harder on the sentence. Since you know what a normal sentence would be, this kinda makes you feel good although you sill think the sentence should be tougher.

[hemicop]

The police are not "the system". We are only part of it. We'll arrest someone,do our best to convict them but once lawyers & judges get ahold of the case it's very much out of our hands. I've had people try to kill me & have had prosecutors tell me "Why worry? He didn't hurt you,we're dropping the charges " See? Even we can't get a fair deal or understand "the system"s thinking. But it's all we got and no one has come up with anything better so we work with what we got. As to why people hate us so much? Well, it would probably take a sociologist to give you a clear answer. My opinion is that we're like dentists---no one wants us around until we're absolutely needed and then once we've done our job they want to get away from us ASAP. But considering we're a country whose ancestors were fugitives or penal colony settlers & we're descended from them all this shouldn't be too surprising

[backinblue]

The police are not "the system". We are only part of it. We'll arrest someone,do our best to convict them but once lawyers & judges get ahold of the case it's very much out of our hands. I've had people try to kill me & have had prosecutors tell me "Why worry? He didn't hurt you,we're dropping the charges " See? Even we can't get a fair deal or understand "the system"s thinking. But it's all we got and no one has come up with anything better so we work with what we got. As to why people hate us so much? Well, it would probably take a sociologist to give you a clear answer. My opinion is that we're like dentists---no one wants us around until we're absolutely needed and then once we've done our job they want to get away from us ASAP. But considering we're a country whose ancestors were fugitives or penal colony settlers & we're descended from them all this shouldn't be too surprising

Very well stated!!

[Rally]

"It is said that people shouldn't take the law into their own hands and for good reason since a criminal is denied due process at best or at worst, innocent people get hurt or killed."


I would say that people shouldn't take the law in their own hands, to prevent them from being hurt.