Okay, I think we can all agree that more or less everyone is a little bit paranoid of police, even if they aren't doing anything wrong. When they see a parked car with the lights on top, they instinctively slow down or put on their seat belt.

I was just outside going for a midnight longboard cruise, because I'm bored and I wanted to do something active with myself. I live in a well-lit small suburban town, and at this time of night there is little to no traffic. Keeping this in mind, I went out and still longboarded safely, stopping at corners and checking traffic, and looking way ahead and behind me before taking a hill. So then I get pulled over by a cop, who gets out and makes me look like a punk-ass teenager dumbass. "Sir, are you a pedestrian? Where do you belong? (doing the whole 'ask you simple questions in order to put himself on top and make me look small) Not on the road, that's where. I saw you weaving in and out of lanes (it's called carving, it's so I don't eat **** on the downhill), wearing a black t-shirt (that may have been my fault ), and going in the middle of the road at night. What if a drunk driver hits you (At midnight on a sunday?)?" And I looked him square in the eyes and responded as intelligently as possible, saying I was fully aware of what I was doing and the dangers involved, that I had no preconception of invincibility and that I was avoiding any and all traffic. That being said, he asked me for a license (like I'm gonna bring that with me on a midnight cruise?) and my personal information and told me to 'get on my board and get the hell home'.

Needless to say, I'm pretty annoyed at the whole system. Cops are, I'm pretty sure, paid by meeting a ticket quota. This may work in larger cities, but in small towns like mine, that just doesn't work, and only makes cops act like d*ckheads in order to get paid. They'll punish any small crimes they see and even non-crimes like mine, making the name of police feared rather than respected. The whole panopticism thing isn't supposed to be for a force that we should be relying on for protection. It makes people fear and distrust police, not the way it should be.

Thoughts, massassi?

You are wrong.

I shall now depart before the flames come and overwhelm my low-end flamesuit. However, in passing I will say that longboard/skateboarders skateboard in my town and as long as they stay off the sidewalk (due to pedestrians and the town ordinance prohibiting such) and if they're not a hazard to traffic, I leave them alone. I don't think I've had to deal with one yet (except the dude who went down a huge hill and crashed..that required an ambulance).

Before you leave, tell me how police are paid, then? I thought it had something to do with meeting a quota of tickets issued per month, which explained why they got so much more stingy about pulling you over by the end of the month.

Do McDonalds employees get paid for the number of Big Macs they sell?

Don't patronize me. I had heard that before, and it makes sense that a job with as many responsibilities as policework has wouldn't be paid per-hour like most jobs. It promotes diligence, so one doesn't get paid for sitting on their ass while supposedly "upholding the law".

I asked JLee, not you.

This thread could win internet

I get paid hourly. Some administrative people (i.e. chief) gets salary.

If I got paid per ticket, I'd either have to start writing them or go broke...I write probably 95% warnings.

A fine example of doublethink in real life.

Okay. So what confuses me is why police in general are so ready and willing to give harsh warnings to innocent people for incredibly petty things like minor speeding and skateboarding? I wasn't in the wrong, and the whole time this was happening I was pretty angry at the cop for making me look like some stupid delinquent kid. It wasn't necessary to pull me over, and it wasn't necessary to belittle me as he did. As soon as I defended my position he said "now I'm not yelling at you, man, I'm just telling you what you did wrong". Also, taking down my information was completely unnecessary.

I guess I'm just confused as to why modern cops are so often mistrusted by the general public because each person is afraid the cop is gonna ticket them for something minor and easily accidental. I wanted to know people's opinions on this. Thanks for weighing your own professional opinion, JLee.

[EDIT: Touche, Ultimate. I suppose I was speaking hypothetically when I was referring to a per-ticket as opposed to a per-hour payment. On paper, it would make cops not be lazy and get off with money for doing nothing. But what it would actually do (seeing as I thought this was the system up until now) is simply make them more eager to punish smaller crimes in order to make more money for themselves. Although it appears I'm wrong about that, so I guess I should just drop the whole subject of payment and what it does. :saddowns:]

Yeah right I'm sure Hitler thought that 95% of the jews...

I got nothing...

Zell, I think its just that policemen are people too. In your story, you didn't get a real ticket with a fine did you. I'm unsure. If it was just him telling you to leave, this leads me to believe that he was a guy who just is old and stingy who just happened to be a cop. Like JLee said, I'm sure there is some cop who really has no problem with longboarding and stuff because maybe he used to do it as a kid or he just doesn't fundamentally care about it. AKA it seems like that guy is just an ******* who probably hates "damn teens and their rap music".

So in your situation, I don't think you should be *****ing about cops, but *****ing about just overall dumbassery by people

And Antony: Lulz

He was probably 30 years old.

It seemed to me that he was a pretty uptight guy, probably looks down on teenagers as a whole. I'm sure the reason that I didn't get ticketed is because when he actually spoke to me and I responded in a level-headed, mature manner and with some actual spine, he realized a warning would have to suffice. When he stepped out of the car, he looked ready to serve out some tickets or take some delinquent in for the night, hence why he started out with the demeaning tone right off the bat.

So actually, I guess this thread is now pointless. I'm not sure why I started it. I wanted to get some other peoples' opinions on the whole police system and how it treats them, as an everyday person, but I suppose that's a good enough answer: police are people too and there are tools as well as saints.

**** da police.

no SHUT UP, i want a police officer to answer my stupid question

No wonder people don't like you, damn.

don't condescend to me!

how DARE you imply that something I believe can be disproven with a minimum of critical thought

Look, man. I make threads rarely. I had an experience that I wasn't pleased about, and Massassi is generally a pretty good place to have debates, so I posted to hopefully get a conversation going. My original post is grammatically correct, has content to it, and I posed a question. I may not have been right in my thinking, but you could have handled it a lot better than you did, i.e. with sarcasm. You're just being an ass for being an ass' sake. Get over yourself and stop picking fights on the internet.

Did I ask you to reply to me? No.

Actually, Jon, you didn't direct your first question at anyone, so he could reply if he so desired.

Such a trend of whiny Babara Streisand here. Look, if you're out in the middle of the night, prowling the streets on a skateboard dressed in black with no ID and a cop "hassles" you, big deal. It's activity that could warrant questioning. Or, you could just cry racism.

I don't mind cops at all... I've been pulled over for speeding (I honestly think I was doing 15-20 over in a school zone) with no ID because I lost my wallet the previous day, and I got away with it because he went all question crazy. I told him to follow me home and I'll show you my credit card bills, or something. I drove away thinking... Shouldn't he have given me a ticket?

@Wookie06: I'm trying really hard not to take that personally, seeing as it's the internet and you don't know me, but that was completely unnecessary. Chill out. Name calling is uncalled for, as is your generalization. I merely used my little situation tonight as a 'straw that broke the camels back' for behavior I've been noticing for a while in police. I was hoping for a discussion, but instead it's apparently turned into 'attack Zell time'. I'm noticing a few members here seem to have this problem wherein they take absolutely nothing I say seriously and instead leap on me with name calling and sarcasm, two of the most immature responses one could have.

@Sol: Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Haven't had problems with any cops. I once got a warning for not wearing a helmet when biking or actually that was just "HEY FGR, MAYBE YOU SHOULD BUY A HELMET". Ah, small towns.

Zell, what you experienced is what happens when you give an extrovert an introvert's job. They're out there, at night, and their job is boring as ****. They are incapable at occupying themselves, so they search for every opportunity that provides the least little bit of stimulation. Night jobs are for people who don't get bored.

Oh great, here we go.
Come on, lets get that other guy in here that once tried to argue the legitimacy of game piracy. Might as well get ZoSo back to give his two cents.


Someone wearing black and weaving all over the road on a board is dangerous and stupid no matter what the time of day. Going out in the middle of the night to do that **** is weird and not common. You just drew a whole bunch of arrows at yourself and shouted "HEY POLICE OFFICER, I'M DOING SOMETHING UNUSUAL."

You know why the cop talked to you, Zell? To get an idea if you were planning on doing something you shouldn't. You know why he talked to you the way he did? So you wouldn't do something you shouldn't. It's not about any bull**** ticket quota or power trip or any other crap you might think, it's about doing their job, which happens to be law enforcement.



Complete ****ing bull****.

This thread appears to be dying out so I figured I'd go ahead & post one of my favorite blogs that's somewhat relevant to the discussion. I have nothing else to contribute because it's pretty much common knowledge that police officers are *******s to the general public (if you disagree I'm going to assume that you're also an *******) but then again the general public is full of *******s as well. I just drove from Louisville, KY to Cocoa Beach, FL & back & am absolutely amazed that human beings are allowed to operate motor vehicles. We literally came close to death about 5 times.

I have no idea what the hell Zell was on about with this whole weaving in and out of roads related to trying to eat something on a midnight drive.

Ive met a few policemen/women in my time and they were all lovely people. I wouldnt want to generalise about american cops but i'm sure they're not that bad.

Sounds like you just want to rage against something.
Rage against this *points to groin* :downs:

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

I think some departments (specifically smaller cities) 'require' a quota just so they bring in more money.

That aside, if I see a person on a skateboard at midnight on a sunday night, I would be suspicious. It's a suspicious activity, especially if you live in a nicer part of town. Just the way it is.

Hmm..

I've been trying to find out the answer to exactly where this "quota" thing came from, as I've heard it as well...

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/05/587.asp



There is much conflicting information. And I can't find a SOLID source (MSM Outlet)..

http://gothamist.com/2010/03/03/cop_claims_nypd_quota_is_20_summons.php

There seems to be a lot of pointing towards cops "unofficially" having a quota on the books, yet maintaining different definitions for it or loopholes or outright denials.

And then there's this gem......
http://www.autoinsane.com/2010/06/03/news/ohio-supreme-court-rules-officers-can-just-guess-how-fast-youre-going/

Oh yeah...
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/834042--ombudsman-to-investigate-ontario-s-secret-g20-law?bn=1

Secret ****ing laws. Women are coming out and testifying that policemen touched them, and some even going as far as to threaten that they are going to rape them, and these people have not only themselves but WITNESSES. But first, they're going to have a nice long investigation. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. ****. The. Police.

I wonder what would happen if I were to just walk up to any woman and threaten to rape her...Some nice influence they have huh..


Just another reason to not trust the police.


Don't even get me started on the recent G20 fiasco in my ****ing city.

Yes, Temperamental, people are abusive when in positions of power, get ****ing get it. But generalizing about police ****ing stupid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Yes, hate all police because there's some that are bastards. That's sound logic, that's why you should also hate all blacks, asians, whites, human beings, dogs, cats, birds, fish, toasters, hot dogs....

Eh, I might as well throw this in since it relates to some degree (WARNING: bad language) :

http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you.html

All it takes is one bad cop to ruin your perception of them, maybe not totally, but you learn to be a bit more cautious of them.

Anecdote about my most recent experience with the police: A few months ago I had to call the cops on our neighbor directly above us. The problem was that they were hammering on their floor, at 4 am. Then, the couple started arguing, horribly. I have had issues with them in the past, and I was going to go knock on the door myself to say something like I had in the past. However, just as I reached their door, I happened to hit at the right point in the conversation.. And the guy was abusing his wife. She was fighting back, but it was a bad bad fight. So, I immediately ran downstairs to my apartment and called the cops.

They showed up 2 hours later, for a domestic disturbance call.

When the cops FINALLY reached the apartment, they came to me first. They started to take my statement, and every question they asked was extremely snappy and rude in tone. I can't quite type it out HOW the female cop said it, but you could definitely tell she was talking down to me. It made me feel like I did something wrong. She was huffing and puffing at every single thing I said, rolling her eyes even. While she was doing this I noticed the male partner of hers actually LOOKING around my apartment. I stopped and asked him wtf he thought he was doing, and that he wasn't here for me, so either stop playing detective or get out of my apartment (Note: You can talk to cops however the **** you want). He snapped for me to shut up and calm down, which I obviously did since I wasn't about to aggravate the situation.

They took my statement and left without any other words. The next morning, the woman from upstairs came down to my apartment screaming and banging away at my door. Apparently the COPS HAD TOLD HER THAT I WAS THE ONE THAT PHONED THEM.

I called the police department that I phoned the night before to complain, and they said they'd look into it and call me back.

It's been 4 months.

Let me put it to you this way: You work in a restaurant. You are having a fantastic day so far. A bunch of men come in, and they're rude as ****. They treat you like **** and make you feel tiny in front of the rest of the establishment. You know that in 5 minutes, you have to perk up and wait another table of possibly nice or naughty folk. How likely are you to be 100% chipper when you wait their table? Or are you still going to be a bit disgruntled (at least inside) when you do? Okay, fine. Now, imagine that every single person that walked into that restaurant that day acted and treated you exactly the same as the *******'s that ruined your day. I'm sorry but that **** is going to ruin your day or at the very least your perception of people. THAT is my experience with the police here so far. Out of maybe 10 cops (although I've talked and known significantly higher), I've met maybe 1 or 2 actually genuinely nice cops.

I guess it doesn't help that one of my family members happens to be a cop and is a total absolute douche bag that physically abuses his kids and then brags about how nobody can touch him because he is a cop.





Who said anything about hating ALL police? I don't hate all police, and if you were to bother and do a forum search of all my posts, in the last few topics we've had regarding the police I've stated nothing but exactly that.

That being said however, there are way too many cops out there that abuse their power. Yes, I understand there are always going to be people that abuse power when given to them, but cops take it too far and there are too many of them that abuse the power. This whole G20 thing in Toronto recently showed me this. You might not be able to say the same thing where you live, but as I just said, you don't live where I do. There are just too many incidents of cops abusing their power and more and more come out every day. It's getting a little ridiculous.

The government passed a secret law that is by itself illegal, giving the police basically all the power they wanted during the G20 summit, including harassment and intimidation over protesters. See: cops threatening to RAPE protesting women. Don't ignore what I posted regarding the ombudsman actually investigating this, as it wouldn't be happening if some of it weren't true and/or backed up with witness testimony. This is serious ****.

It's disgusting to me that people are automatically given trust because they are a police officer. Trust is earned, not given away. And so far, the Toronto police department has done nothing but steer me the other direction.

Again, Emon, as I said you may be able to state differently about where you live, and I am not generalizing about police officers everywhere.

I do not hate all police. I realize there are totally awesome cops out there, and I am thankful to have THOSE ones on the streets keeping them clean and safe. But trust them? **** no.

I didn't write those articles I linked, I simply linked them. So don't jump down my throat; head on after the authors.

But before you do that, please come live in my city for a few years before you even try to state an opinion on what the police are like and what their conduct is here.


We clear now bro?

So what the **** is this



Hey, I know, if you have an idea, express it properly instead of spewing hateful spite that's VERY easy to misinterpret.

Mentat and Temperamental, I'm sure you guys have had your share of bad experiences with the police. But to make these blanket statements you all are making seems, to me, to be unnecessary. Is it not enough for you to describe the experiences you've had, without applying them to all police officers? Don't you read JLee's posts and see that in large part he's a kind, decent person who doesn't seem to fit the stereotype you describe? What kind of power-tripping, mean-spirited ******* gives 95% warnings?

I have had not a single negative experience with the police, but I certainly wouldn't tell you that every cop is a saint, and (additionally) that everyone knows this or they're a fool.

Emon, seriously, stop grasping. **** the police doesn't have to mean **** I HATE ALL THE POLICE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.

**** the police is used, at least where I live, to express your distaste at police practices, or abuse of power, other incidents. Things like I described in my anecdote above, lead you to say **** the police. It doesn't necessarily mean that you hate all cops and want them dead. Do you honestly think that I would have bothered to even call the cops if I hated them so much? I wouldn't even want to deal with them or see them. If you hate someone, you avoid them.

That is actually the original meaning of the song by NWA anyways.



Saber - Again, as I stated, might be different where you live, but here in Toronto, for the most part the cops are *******s.

Also: I don't ever recall trashing JLee, in fact I recall standing up for policemen like him in the previous police related thread. But, again, as I said you guys may have had different experiences where you live. I have had bad ones, thus my perception on police is a bit different than yours. Also, they are not just my own experiences but those of my friends, family, and people that you meet and discuss these things with. The stories are rampant and not just here and there nonsense you hear from delinquents out looking for trouble.

I like to think of myself as someone that stays out of trouble, no criminal record, nothing. I smoke weed, that's it. Never been in trouble for smoking weed from the police, never had any other issues whatsoever with the police. I am initially always nice to the cops, because you don't want to start out a conversation on the bad side, but as soon as they pull out their dick hat, mine comes out too. And there are just too many cops in Toronto wearing dick hats for me to give them the benefit of the doubt any more.

Simply put, all it takes is one negative experience to change your perception of people. Two, three, or four, and you might start to think a little bit differently. I've had about 20.

I.e - Not many people like me around here because I used to be a total dick on the forums. This perception has carried over to today, 7 years after the fact (including a 3 year hiatus altogether from posting), yet, people still hold a grudge. Why? Why suddenly am I not allowed to have the same feeling towards the police, yet you guys can have one towards someone over the internet? I was a dick before, and thus people assume I still am, or they simply don't like me because of the past. Again, I ask, why? Could it possibly be that your perception of me has been influenced by something? Maybe it could be that I was a dick in the past, and thus you assume I am one now, and thus you conclude that you do not like me because of it. People do this every single day in their lives. To judge, is to be human. To be jury, is to be God.

That's good, because it doesn't mean the same thing to me.

Egads! That's an incredibly awesome tidbit of information. Are there possibly any more things that you and I use different definitions or expressions for?

Look, Emon. I don't want to fight or argue with you. I have my own personal opinion on the police, and I have had a great deal of negative experiences so far with them. I am seriously happy that you have not had any yourself, or at least none that have ruined your outlook on the police. You are entitled to your own feelings and I am as well. But seriously, don't jump down my throat because I don't happen to think very highly of a group of people that you do.

Uh, yeah, I'm not really fighting. But your post can easily be taken the wrong way. Ever wonder why JLee gets upset with you? Going around saying "**** the police" isn't really a good way to make your point, even if you have an otherwise useful post. It puts too much spin on it.