Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but police often close ranks

Re:Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but polic... by dopamean on Friday June 26, 2020 @09:45AM (#23651900)

No it actually doesn't. This is anecdotal but... my father in law is a police officer in a city with 1.2 million people and the way he talks you'd think officers were dropping like flies. I looked it up and in the last 150 years 20 officers have died while on duty in his police department. Many were traffic accidents. One was a heart attack.

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Re:Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but polic... by jfengel on Friday June 26, 2020 @10:39AM (#23652465)

I found it disturbing to discover that my local cemetery has a memorial already up for local officers killed in the line of duty. The only name on it is a police dog. There is a lot of empty space.

I'm sure this came from a salesman at a law enforcement expo who has been selling these to every community in the country. It suggests a national narrative where the police are convinced that people are plotting to kill them at every moment, and even if none actually have, it's only a matter of time.

Every encounter with police begins with hostility. You know they're armed. You know they're assuming you are, too. I can only imagine how that's magnified for people who "fit the profile" solely because of the color of their skin.

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Re:Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but polic... by int_19h on Friday June 26, 2020 @04:12PM (#23656422)

The sources of that narrative are very prominent. Here's one.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jun/05/architect-of-c...

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Re:Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but polic... by ntsplnkv2 on Friday June 26, 2020 @10:58AM (#23652687)

The police have been made good by decades of "good cop" "bad guy" TV dramas.

I mean look at Law and Order, or Chicago PD, or Blue Bloods. There's a token episode about police brutality or corruption that is "solved" by the "good apple" standing up to them.

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Re:Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but polic... by kevin_thibedeau on Friday June 26, 2020 @11:08AM (#23652811)

Good apples get fired, harassed, and stripped of pension for breaking the code of silence.

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Re:Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but polic... by tw04 on Friday June 26, 2020 @10:32AM (#23652374)

I often (disgustedly) hear "it's a war out there". The only "war" that is equivalent to the current policing in the US is the occupation of the axis post WWII. It's absolutely a war, but it's a war where the natives are being raped and pillaged by the occupying force with no recourse because they already lost.

I'd be willing to wager the source of violence in police|public interactions is the public in less than 5% of interactions, probably less than 1%.

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Re:Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but polic... by CompanionCuuube on Friday June 26, 2020 @12:06PM (#23653531)

> Police officers getting "almost killed"?

Your comment only addresses dead, not almost killed as the comment you are replying to.

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