Imagine using your online community notice board to murder a member of your community, and when your community tries to hold you accountable your fellow programmers, politicians, and members of your political party around the country circle the wagons and shout PROGRAMMER LIVES MATTER!!!

If people were picketing me that intensely, I'd do some serious soul-searching of myself, my coworkers and my reporting structure.

If programmers were resulting in deaths in my community, I'd be picketting right with them with "I'm a programmer. Please hold me accountable. End qualified immunity for programmers."

assert great_power == great_resposibility

Etc

I mean, sure, if that online community board somehow shoots unarmed people I'd want to picket your house too.

Programmers have none of the authority, nor the history of abuses of power that cops do.

I'm not saying all or even most cops are bastards. But there's a non-trivial number of bastards, and the harm they've done to the communities they police (and to other cops, honestly) is immense.

> only for a rabid horde to start picketing your house, shouting ALL PROGRAMMERS ARE BASTARDS!!!

Won’t lie, I’d probably hop outside and join them.

The problem is lots of police members don't do their best to help their local communities, and the ones that do stand behind that ones that definitely don't.

Most people I know can't distinguish the difference between an anonymous hacker and their IT department. Many roles are vilified by society due to ignorance, not just the police. I hear about the good software developers are doing in the world, much more often than I do the police. That certainly has an effect on everyone's perceptions of these roles in society.

I'm glad to hear you conducted a thorough survey with the millions of good police officers out there and found out they support the bad apples. If only everyone had access to this unprecedented data you have collected, we could finally put this matter to rest.

Who needs statistics when you can see the police acting like this in your own day to day life?

That's the reality for a huge amount of people.

Bad cops are extremely rarely seriously punished, and its ever rarer for other cops to finger them for it.