Are you afraid of cops?

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I'm not sure if it's some residual fear from my teen years, when I used to shoplift and paint graffiti, or from my anarchist/activist past, but whenever I see cops I tend to get nervous, even if I haven't done anything. Do you feel the same way?

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

I feel that way about bus drivers.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

i am not afraid of police but i am afraid of yobbos

― blueski, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

i'm afraid of stupidity and fear

― gabbneb, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

Given my experiences with them, I probably should be afraid of them, but I am not. I have a natural middle class respect for law and order, even when they don't actually represent what they are supposed to symbolise.

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

I don't hate cops. I just feel better when they're not around.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:32 (nineteen years ago)

im a cops

― the adam schefter, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

I'm afraid of Finns :-/

― StanM, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

Seriously, though, I was thinking about this yesterday when a CPD drove by the bus stop where I was waiting and my immediate reaction was, "Oh good. A cop," instead of "SHIT RUN HIDE THE DRUGS." That was kind of refreshing, since the police will probably be around for awhile. If I were not a middle class white female I would likely feel differently, though.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/safari/shark/photo/gallery/shark_3.jpg

Me too

― C J, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

Only times I had something to do with them, theyve tried to beat me up, shoot in my direction (pretty close, but only one time) or arrest me. Im glad its in the past. But still, whenever I see a cop I react the same way as when I see a skinhead; with disgust. ACAB, for sure..

― jonperson, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

one of the best lessons i ever learned was to have a cop as a drinking buddy. you never know when it will come in handy. one of the regulars at my local is a member of the cpd and i know the beat cop who patrols the neighborhood. i find them to be of a flexible morality where if i get caught doing something i shouldn't be doing they know me well enough to know that i'm not a habitual criminal and there's no reason to haul me in.

i don't know if justice is truly blind but i do love it when it looks the other way.

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

"whenever I see a cop I react the same way as when I see a skinhead; with disgust."

OTM my feelings exactly

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

because after all, everyone with the same profession IS 100% EXACTLY ALIKE.

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

they might as well be the fucking mafia

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

y'know, like people from the same race are alike or who speak the same language. no difference.

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

very much so....one or two bad experiences ensure I'll always be afraid of cops.

also bouncers...

― Ronan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

I do have an irrational fear of cops, and I don't even have a graffiti/anarchist past. Those people are allowed to walk around with guns and tasers, folks, and they'll let just about anybody join up...! Shit, those people scare me to death.

― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:04 (nineteen years ago)

for years i had absurd nightmares of being arrested by police. the focus of the dreams were generally on the fear of prison and other repercussions, and my psyche always did a half-assed job of finding a reason for the police to come after me. in one dream, walking around on campus i ran into bill clinton strolling around. it immediately occurred to me that if i didn't assassinate him right then and there, i'd probably never have a chance to kill a president again. i ran him up behind him, punched him in the back, and video-game-like he fell to the ground, dead, and his body then disappeared. the rest of the dream was spent with hysteric crying at the realization that i was going to prison, then waking up a disheveled mess.

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

I hate mustaches.

― kenan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

because after all, everyone with the same profession IS 100% EXACTLY ALIKE.

you've got to admit, it takes a certain kind of personality to want to wear a uniform and excercise the authority of force over people on a daily basis. and when I think about the kind of people that would actually WANT to do that kind of thing my general reaction is, man fuck those people.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

http://noleggiodvd.filmup.com/locandine/6234634h3758.jpg

― kenan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

Isn't that Beth Parker's theory, too? That only people who don't want to be cops should be allowed to be cops?

― kenan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

my old restaurant was just cheap and trashy enough for cops to frequently visit during their shifts. i'd do whatever i could to avoid serving them, as it made me irrationally nervous. i once served a table of 6 of them and almost had a heart attack when i realized i'd given one of them the wrong salad dressing. i was a fidgeting, stuttering mess.

(p.s. without any exception, cops are the absolute worst tippers ever. worse than single mothers, sunday christians, euros, or any other group of poor tippers.)

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

That only people who don't want to be cops should be allowed to be cops?

A bit like politicians - anyone who wants to be one shouldn't be allowed to be one

― Tom D., Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

So many cops are bullies. If I know that there's a utility truck ahead up the road with a cop directing traffic around it I will go out of my way to drive another route. Yeah, I'm afraid of them. Plus I raised two boys who got in their share of scrapes with the law, and I got to experience cops up close. They tend to have a great disdain for civilians, like they belong to the only club that counts. There are exceptions, of course.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

not fear, just mostly dissapointment and disgust.

― will, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

Not fear, contempt

― Tom D., Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

ilx be full of thugs

― Ms Misery, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

Those phone calls from the cops are almost the second worst thing a parent ever experiences. The absolute worst being the phone call from the hospital, of course, THANKS A LOT T. FOR TAKING TEN YEARS OFF MY LIFE THAT TIME YOU BROKE YOUR NOSE!!!!!!!

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

They tend to have a great disdain for civilians, like they belong to the only club that counts.

yep - to most cops, a civilian is one of two things, a victim or a perpetrator. neither of which commands their respect or sympathy.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

You know, apart from like the dozens of civilians they, like, socialise with and stuff?

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

The mirrored shades. Why is it allowed?

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

To hide the dreaded Hangover Eyes.

― kenan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:22 (nineteen years ago)

how dare you make assumptions about people who choose a brutal, authoritarian profession - you sir are worse than hitler

― and what, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

You know, apart from like the dozens of civilians they, like, socialise with and stuff?

nah they probably treat them that way too. an ex-cop I used to work with certainly acted that way towards his coworkers. my nextdoor neighbor as a kid grew up to be a cop in the LAPD (ugh) and he developed the schtick too. its totally nauseating.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

also that good cop/bad cop thing never gets old to them

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

It all depends on the cops. The CA Highway Patrol has always been OK by me, but local cops are generally thugs

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not really going to wade in here except to say that because of my skin color and the way I dress I'm never really "afraid" of cops the way a lot of people have had to learn to be.

And also to say that detectives are approximately 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times better than most uniformed police about listening, being respectful and generally not being brutal dumb-asses.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

yeah detectives, CHP, Feds, etc. are a bit of a different deal than yr standard municipal cop

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

http://images.usatoday.com/life/_photos/2006/07/13/wire.jpg

― kenan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

I worked with cops a lot when I worked in film locations and while they generally conform to a lot of cop stereotypes, there are definitely better and worse kinds. The job sucks yet seems to attract an inordinate amount of bullies and the suckiness seems to be exasperated by knee-jerk cop hatred and also general idiocy.

Feds<CHP<LAPD<OPD<Suburban Cops<SFPD, in my experience.

― Michael White, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

There are plenty of good individual cops but I nonetheless fear all cops I don't know, because all have the badge, the gun and the pseudo-authority and therefore any of them can be a threat.

Part of this is just a practical matter of having to deal with sheriff's officers every day at security at the entrances to various courthouses - I never know when one of them will arbitrarily decide to give me a hard time, and it happens regularly.

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

Erm, not regularly, I mean often. If it happened regularly I'd know when it was going to happen.

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

i've never had a bad encounter with policemen - altho you can probably delete the 'bad' there too

― blueski, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

I was going to point out that [Removed Illegal Link], but I guess maybe "do you trust the police" is different from "are you afraid of cops."

― nabisco, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:03 (nineteen years ago)

Why does the fucking thing at the bottom tell you to link things that way if they're not going to work?

http://www.ilxor.com:8080/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=25487

― nabisco, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

i immediately get nervous around cops, having had my fair share of scrapes with the law. as a rule, i assume that all cops are dicks until proven otherwise.

― gbx, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

nabisco, it does work. but be sure you are not putting any quotes around either the link title (which is inside the bracket, opposite to HTML) or the URL.

― Ms Misery, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

Why does the fucking thing at the bottom tell you to link things that way if they're not going to work?

It doesn't work if there are certain punctuation marks in your link-title—I don't think it even likes commas. Definitely not slashes.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

There was a pretty good video demonstration a month or two ago of the problem with talking to police -- did anyone see news about the Sudanese woman who had a miscarriage while in police custody, in Kansas City? There was front-dash video + audio of two cops pulling her over, and it was like a TEXTBOOK of why it's horrible to try to convey information to police. The woman keeps pleading and explaining, calmly, over and over: "I am trying to get to hospital. I'm bleeding. I have four months baby inside me. I need to get to hospital." Both cops -- male and female: "Yeah, it's called your menstrual cycle. Stop getting an attitude."

― nabisco, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

today I was drivin' behind a cop and he keeps glancing in his rearview mirror at me and I'm just thinkin' "oh jesus oh jesus WHY DIDN'T I GET THAT HAIRCUT THAT I SO BADLY NEED???"

then I was like "wait I'm pretty sure they can't arrest dudes for public shagginess" and I went back to rockin' out

― bernard snowy, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

When I weigh my negative experiences with criminals against my negative experiences with police; I have to say that police have been way more intrusive and stolen way more from me.

Criminals:
beat me up once when I was 15
petty vandals damaged my car last year

Cops:
tax collectors with guns
I pay taxes for the war on some drugs
I pay taxes for their prisons
I pay taxes for their departments
I pay taxes for the police state surveillance grid that is being clamped down on the US

TS: A black eye and higher insurance premiums Vs. I don't even know how much...

I would feel safer in a society with more little old ladies packing .38s than I would in a society where the government has a monopoly on violence. I do live in Texas, so ymmv...

― Display Name, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

angry granny cops! let's have 'em

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

Did anyone listen to the npr feature on "excited delirium" yesterday? Common "cause of death" in police custody, not recognized by medical establishment.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

I refuse to drive in front of cops, 'cuz I'm just that paranoid.

― kingfish, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

Your logic there is pretty wild, Display Name.

― nabisco, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

Excited Delirium

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

I got so excited about being arrested I just up and died!

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

Jesus Christ, that "excited delirium" thing!

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 19:18 (nineteen years ago)

tijuana cops robbed me at gunpoint just cause i was having a leak on a dumpter in an alley. so protective of their dumpsters down there. USA cops are my heroes though i love them alot cryingeagle.gif

― iiiijjjj, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

fuck pigs.

― chaki, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

"What does Gary Busey do on vacation?"

― nabisco, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 20:48 (nineteen years ago)

lol nabisco @ carnak. HEY-OOOOOOOOO

― chaki, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not afraid of cops. Chalk that up to being middle-class, white, middle-aged and not conspicuously criminal looking. On top of that I rarely give a cop any excuse to take exception with me. This provides me with a certain innoculation from hassling. Invisibility even.

But, yes, what Beth said. A good percentage of cops are bullies, they resemble gang members in more than a casual way; they protect each other and learn to manipulate the system by lying under oath to get their way, and it does them no good whatsoever to associate constantly with criminals while feeling annointed by society to use force at their discretion.

― Aimless, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

The adrenaline always starts surging when I am pulled over for a random breath test, even though I know I haven't had any alcohol. I start to laugh nervously and inappropriately.
"Have you had anything to drink tonight madam?".
"No. Hee hee, HEE HEE HEE".
"Count from 1 to 10 until I say stop".
"1...2...3...HEE HEE...4...HEE HEE HEE".

I am ridiculously relieved when they tell me I can drive on.

― Hard like armour, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

random breath test

u live n nazi germany???

― and what, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

My last few interactions with police have been excellent, friendly, and professional -- my issue is more that I don't trust in excellent cop-interaction if there were anything at issue that needed to be explained or clarified. When it comes to everyday "just checking" interactions, I don't worry too much.

("Just checking" = all I've ever run into over the past few years: "you didn't see that No Left Turn sign? well just be more attentive" / "you're in the suburbs at 2am with your trunk ajar, so I'm going to peek in there" / "can I see what you're drinking out of that brown paper bag? oh, it's lemonade.")

― nabisco, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

Random Breath Testing - the Australian Way. A Model for the United States?

― Hard like armour, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

The only time I am a bit afraid of cops is when I drive because there are bullshit laws that apply solely to drivers who've had their license for less than 3 yrs and I usually do not comply with these laws. So it is my fault for being afraid of them cos it's not like I've had any specially thing happen to me with them around.

― Jibe, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 22:51 (nineteen years ago)

they have random breath testing in England, too, right? my cuz was stupid nervous when we went to the pub -- I guess they can cut straight to the chase, too, without any of that backwards alphabet one-legged shit.

meanwhile, my roommate gets pulled over last weekend, HOUSED, and somehow manages to get through the field tests w/o having to blow a breathalyzer. then again, this is in Montana, where open containers were legal until less than a year ago.

― gbx, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 23:06 (nineteen years ago)

A cop followed me home last year and when I pulled into my driveway, suddenly flicked on his lights. I got out of the car -- which I wouldn't have done had he pulled me over in the street -- and it went downhill from there, ending up with me handcuffed in the back of his cruiser and him threatening me with his 9 mm semi-automatic pistol... all this in front of my young son.

I'm not afraid of them -- I refuse to give them the satisfaction -- but I have a huge problem with how their thuggish, bullying behaviour is legal. I mean, they sure can be cunts.

― Lostandfound, Thursday, 1 March 2007 05:41 (nineteen years ago)

I should add that I never once: a) raised my voice, b) used abusive language, or c) became physically aggressive at any point in the above encounter.

― Lostandfound, Thursday, 1 March 2007 05:43 (nineteen years ago)

cops i know are all a lovable bunch of ethnically diverse characters who may bumble a bit but always catch the criminal in the end
http://www.crazyabouttv.com/Images/barneymiller.jpg

― gershy, Thursday, 1 March 2007 05:58 (nineteen years ago)

or at least they can carry a tune
http://epguides.com/CopRock/cast.jpg

― gershy, Thursday, 1 March 2007 06:01 (nineteen years ago)

re: drivin' behind a cop and he keeps glancing in his rearview mirror at me

now I really feel like I dodged a bullet because I just realized my inspection sticker expired a month ago!

― bernard snowy, Thursday, 1 March 2007 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

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