PSA From a good cop

[tulipsandroses]

[link:https://www.instagram.com/p/CAtjNiQHgTE/?igshid=sz8bs729nex|

[Aristus]

1. There are good cops out there?

Color me shocked.

How come they only ever speak out individually? When are entire police forces going to rise as one and denounce extra-judicial murder?

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. In a conversation once with a policeman

He protested the tarring of all cops, citing the Jackson 5 Defense:

One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, girl.

I asked him if he was a good cop.

"I like to think so," he said.

"Do you know any bad cops, colleagues who have done illegal things?"

"Sadly, yes," he bemoaned.

"Did you report them?"

"Huh?"

"Did you report your fellow officer's illegal acts to your supervisor or Internal Affairs?'

"!"

"Then you are a bad cop."

He got snippy after that.

[SoonerPride]

4. This. Exactly.

Covering up for or looking the other way is complicit to crime and illegal acts by the bad cops. It condones it. It furthers the problem.

Yes I am sure he did get snippy.

Good cop? Prove it.

[Blue_true]

8. The system as is makes it very difficult for a good cop to report a bad one.

The good cop is likely to lose his or her job first.

Change has to be driven by Mayors, City Councils and Police Chiefs. You can't expect a uniform officer or a detective to ferret out the wrong doers.

[safeinOhio]

9. There is always one good cop in every dept.

He or she is the only one that has never given or accepted a "Professional courtesy". Those are the magic two words that start and end all police corruption.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. Cops are *supposed* to "ferret out the wrong doers."

Uniforms and badges are not magic. If a criminal is wearing one, he or she is still a criminal and should be arrested.

[Blue_true]

14. I don't disagree with your sentiment. But I believe it isn't as simple

as you make it out to be. Police departments are structured like the military, how many times have you heard of a Sargent turning in a Captain, or even a Lieutenant?

[renate]

3. There are.

But I certainly understand and sympathize with people who don’t believe that there are, especially because we don’t often hear about the good ones.

The cop I know best is a wonderful young man who went into police work specifically to combat the culture of institutional racism.

[Blue_true]

7. The good ones don't make the nightly news. Day in and day out

they do their jobs with honor, then go home to their families. There are lots of good cops, unfortunately they often clam up about the bad cops because the "blue wall" system makes it difficult to get rid of bad cops, the good ones would likely be forced to resign first.

[Blue_true]

6. There are lots of them. Unfortunately they keep their mouths closed

about the actions of the assholes because that don't want to be in a dangerous situation, call for backup and have other cops take their time getting there.

I have always argued that good policing starts at the Top, at the level of the Police Chief and his or her Captains. When there are people that demand even-handed policing and reasonable use of force at those levels, the effective policing moves down to the cops on the beat.

[safeinOhio]

10. It was a sheriff that explained to me "Professional courtesy".

He had a phd and was a great man.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. A good cop

Is as rare as a unicorn.

I totally agree with him
On the real reason cops exist. To help.

[SunSeeker]

12. Damn. Wish we could clone that guy and put him on all the PDs in the country. nt

[Withywindle]

13. The expression "one bad apple" gets abused a lot. It's not meant to minimize.

The real expression is "one bad apple spoils a barrel." Rot spreads.

If there is one "bad apple" in a department (i.e. one murdering cop) and the others don't report or prosecute or arrest or testify against him because of some kind of "professional" code of silence or whatever, that one bad apple has indeed poisoned the whole barrel. There are no good apples anymore. They're all corrupt.