Comshaw
VAGITARIAN
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2000
- Posts
- 12,215
Do you really need a lesson in human phycology? It isn't JUST American cops. ANY time you have a profession, law enforcement, military, government, where one is imbibed with authority over others, you're going to have people that apply for and are accepted to those jobs whose sole aim is the accumulation and implementation of power over others. And many of those not only are unaffected by the pain and suffering of others but actually like and go out of their way to cause it.
A true story: I worked for a small city most of my working career taking care of the rolling stock. We did all the Departments including the Police. There was a couple of officers sitting in my office one day waiting for their car to be serviced telling stories. One was the canine officer. He was telling about tracking and arresting a guy who fled after a traffic stop. He and his dog tracked the guy to where he was hiding under a bottom-side-up old boat in the backyard of a residence.
The officer demanded the guy come out. When the guy refused to, the officer threatened to turn the dog loose on him. The guy still refused to come out. The officer then turned the dog loose with an order to "get him". The dog could only get to the guy's ear, which he proceeded to rip to shreads. Keep in mind the guy hiding, while being reticent about crawling out of his hiding place, posed no threat. The officer telling the story was laughing as if it were funny.
Keep in mind the officer had other means to get the guy out, pepper spray being one. But he chose a physically damaging means to do so.
The point of the story is there are those who, given a choice among several options, will always choose the most painful most degrading option BECAUSE THEY LIKE DOING IT. That kind of person is attracted to law enforcement because they will, at some time in their career, have the option of dealing out pain and suffering to someone to satisfy their need for that kind of gratification.
To be clear, all cops aren't like that, not even the majority. But as the old saying goes, it only takes one bad apple to spoil the barrel. And law enforcement, no matter where they are, are like any other group, they will try to downplay or cover for those who do such thing because they are afraid it will tar them with the same brush. After a long varied life I've seen it play out, to varying degrees, in lots of different groups: Unions, government, volunteer groups, social groups.
I don't believe it is only American cops who do this. The thing is right now, all eyes are focused on U.S. law enforcement. Which isn't a bad thing. To my mind dragging everything into the light, into the public eye isn't a bad thing at all.
I think if you looked around your own backyard you would find instances like this.
'nuff said.
Comshaw
