My impression is that it is certainly a lot worse in the US than here in Germany. I imagine the abundance of guns means that being a cop is fucking dangerous, which means they will get uneasy in conflicts quite logically, but also that it’s not exactly a job you go for, if you have aspirations in life. I mean, why would anyone voluntarily become a cop in the US, if not to abuse your power?
Being a pizza delivery driver is more dangerous than being a cop in the USA.
I think Germany is known for serious police. In fact, I half remember a joke about that… something about the perfection of a British Cop, a German car, and an French Chef – compared to the misery of a German Cop, a French car, and a British Chef.
Obviously not funny in the mangling, but the joke wasn’t that German cops were bad, just not the generally pleasant ‘fair cop’ stereotype of Brits.
Personally,. the stereotypes that have stuck in my head are: that low-level officials in India (including cops) can be bribed to look the other way for minor things, Nordic cops are well trained in de-escalation and restraint techniques where no one gets injured, Brit cops might be fair or might be racist, but the laws give better protection to citizens, and that German cops are stern, and will rigidly follow and enforce all laws and rules… generally. Not sure if it is true or not, but I’ve also heard that German cops will fuck you up if you give them reason, but you’d really have to give them reason.
German cops will fuck you up if you give them reason, but you’d really have to give them reason
Lol I saw a video of some dude doing a nazi salute and nearby cops tackled him 🤣
Good. There’s no place on earth for nazis, but ESPECIALLY Germany.
Tell that to the 93% of morons who voted AfD in my town in Brandenburg. I’m so glad I’m moving away.
I think Germany is known for serious police
Mandatory training to become a police officer:
- US: 600-700 hours on average, much of which is gun and combat training and not policing
- Canada 2080 hours
- Spain 2880 hours
- Germany 4000 hours
With that little time spent training and heavy combat focus a US cop might get as little as 2-4 weeks of training on everything that a cop does that doesn’t involve guns. People get shot by US cops because they weren’t taught anything else. People don’t get help from US cops because they were never taught solving problems that don’t involve shooting a minority.
Cartman yelling
respect my authoritah!is not far off from what a rookie US cop knows about being a police officer.I’m defintely not a fan of cops, but in Scotland I never thought of them as evil/lazy/incompetent. They’re still the arm of state control, and have been used to break strikes and stuff, but there is at least a vibe of policing by consent. There are plenty of cases of individual cops who were psychos, and the institution defintely defaults to ‘protecting it’s own’ which is a fucking terrible attitude and in my mind makes all cops culpable for the crimes of the “bad apples”. So I’m still acab overall.
But most of my interactions with the police have been pretty decent, and that includes being questioned as a suspect (for something that I may not have been innocent of…) They don’t ‘solve’ many petty crimes like burglary that actual effect normal people but they are generally university educated and properly trained.
I now live in France, where the police are none of those things. I’ve only heard bad things about them ranging from patronising and incompetent to raping student protesters in the back of the police van. I would never ask a French cop for help, but unless I was high or carrying something illegal, i wouldn’t be worried about talking to a Scottish policeman.
Same in about every western civilized country, and many countries outside, too. American cops are relatively untrained, especially when it comes to non-standard situations, where they often stress out and overrreact due to lack of training.
All cops perpetuate the states monopoly on violence. Their primary purpose is also usually to uphold the interests of capital. I mean, just look at pro Palestine demonstrations in Europe. Depending on who you ask, that’s pretty bad.
That doesn’t mean that everyone becomes a cop for nefarious reasons though.
I don’t think their primary purpose is to uphold the interests of capital.
It’s more accurate to say they enforce laws supporting the interests of the populace, which align with the interests of capital.
I think its: Uphold Status Quo
Cops in the days of the USSR and Mao-Era PRC were not really protecting “capital”, but protecting its Vanguardist Dictators.
I think we’re dealing in generalisations.
Sure police forces have been used at various times to protect capitalist interests, and to protect vanguardist dictators.
Just thinking about my (indirect) interactions with police here in Western Australia in the last few decades.
- A friend of mine was charged with driving while intoxicated.
- They showed up to my neighbours house to resolve a domestic dispute.
- They charged an acquaintance with theft.
- I reported a theft at my home which they investigated.
I guess theft could be related to “protecting capitalist interests” but we’re not talking about the theft of someone’s million dollar yacht or gold bullion or something. My acquaintance stole some tools from a construction site, and some nice shoes were stolen from my front verandah.
IMO all of these things are just social harmony type things.
ACAB means ACAB.
