Law Enforcement in your area
 

The fuzz, the cops, the pigs, the filth, Police, Guardians of the law, call them what you will: what is your general impression of law enforcement in your town/city/state/country? Do you feel they are fair and unbiased (towards you or others) or do you feel hassled every time you hear a siren or see a patrolman? Have you ever been in trouble with the police, and if so, how did it go? Did it/does it affect your relationship with them/their relationship with you now?

Here in backwards old Ireland I've had little need of the cops, Garda as they're called here. I can only recall twice I found myself inside a cop station, the first being when I received a very scary threatening note through my door, warning I could be killed. It was addressed to the wrong house, but I was hardly going to go and re-deliver it! So I had to bring it down to the Guards and explain what happened. They took care of it and I heard no more back.

The other time was - is, kind of ongoing though I don't expect to hear anything back - when I was scammed out of ten grand two years ago. I had to make a report but they wanted me to go down later for a full interview, which they said could take up to three hours! I couldn't leave Karen alone for that amount of time so I never got around to it. On the occasion I was there though they seemed quite helpful and friendly.

I know even our little toy police have corruption in their ranks; some are affiliated with/on the payroll of the local criminal gangs, and most of them are certainly not above using their position to gain favourable treatment, sort out problems outside the normal channels, or line their pockets. I'm sure every police force is the same. But overall I'd say, while we have little of the day-to-day incidents that go on in, say, America or even England, the Guards don't have a reputation of being biased or racist, though of course they very well may be.

And you?

I don't think the LEO's in my area are corrupt but rather psychologically damaged to the point where they think their sh*t don't stink and we owe them some sort of gratitude just for existing. They're also lazy and disinterested in doing any actual work to help out. I've had issues but the one thing that really set me off was when I was thrown down a flight of stairs by some toothless yokel carpet installer in the house I was renting an apartment in. He had began working at 5AM, two hours before the sun came up, ripping up floorboards and was right under my bedroom. He didn't like that I told him to shut the f*ck up and assaulted me. The cops effectively did nothing and left me with him after basically forcing me to shake the dudes hand. I was bleeding and everything. They didn't even write a report and I had called it in to 911 as an assault.

Useless f*cks. There are DEFINITELY good cops though.

Police in "Texas" ....nuff said just down right *******s jerks and bullys

Here in NC the cops are a bit more laid back than they were in Florida, where there was a lot more crime. They weren't more militaristic down there and in certain neighborhoods would hassle you just for walking down the street at night.

But the cops up here actually pulled me over just for not wearing a seat belt.

The cops in rhode island were *******s too. Most cops I've met were *******s. Don't even have the energy to get into all the examples and interactions I've had.

Well, would have been worse if you had actually been driving a car! :laughing:

lol

I was actually driving a ****in U haul. I was like **** what did I do now. And he gets out and is like you're not wearing a seat belt. And I was like oh sorry. So was I speeding or....?? No, just the seat belt. I was ****in pissed lol. ****ing small town redneck cops with nothing better to do.

Houston PD are generally OK. I have issues with cops on principle but I've really never had a bad interaction within city limits. The suburbs or rural parts of greater houston, though, seem to fully staff their departments with bored sociopaths

Here in M'sia, people routinely die in lock up, the police can search your house without a warrant, any complaints or videos of abuse are prosecuted, anyone currently in the opposition is prosecuted for the most fantastical trumped up charges (a perennial favorite is sexual intercourse against the order of nature i.e. anal). If you are foreign and you complain about mistreatment, you get deported.

The developing world, y'know. :/

Do they treat you better as a western transplant or do they look at you like a likely pedo who came over for the child prostitutes?

Most of the civil servants here are Malay Muslims (who form the majority at around 60% of the population, then Chinese at 15% and Indians at 7%). They treat everybody who is not a Malay Muslim with contempt and would prefer it if we all left.

Wow. That's tough. Makes being stopped for a DUI or expired licence or breaking a traffic light seem pretty reasonable in comparison. Did you ever have personal experience of this treatment, or is it anecdotal? Or widely known?

Widely known and reported, but unfortunately I had a personal run-in with some immigration police when I (unbeknownst to me) breached a regulation: I changed my passport so had to transfer my visa to the new one, NO ONE told me I couldn't go out of the country until I did that and I had a business trip coming up which I went ahead with. When I came back to Malaysia they sent me to immigration where the officers proceeded to harangue and threaten me with deportation for about 10-15 minutes, repeatedly asking me why I had done this and if I wanted to ruin my life and be kicked out of the country, either to put the fear of God in me, or out of pure sadism. I was bewildered. I never experienced such helplessness in the face of power before. All I could do was listen and be extra contrite in the hopes they would show mercy. I understood there how dangerous it was to have ignorant and uneducated people in positions of authority. And also how unprotected I was.

I had this awareness also when I was living in Dubai, where the slightest transgression will get you deported.

It gave me a new appreciation of countries whose civil servants, police etc, may not be perfect, but are not beyond reproach and where you know exactly what your rights are.

If you don't mind me asking... Why do you live there? You couldn't pay me enough to live in a strict Muslim country, especially you're an openly gay man.

Yeah well, I guess I'm not principled enough to say no. And the money is good. And this kind of money I can only make living and working in these kinds of countries. So.

I mean it's not Saudi Arabia. I'd say no to that. Not because I think I'd be stoned to death but because my partner couldn't get a visa and we couldn't be together. Here he can come and go on a tourist visa so that's something. And the life is good, if you ignore all the bad things. It's actually much more relaxed than Dubai.

Anyway, sometimes you have to take a little crap to get what you want. And I want to retire as soon as possible...;)

I hear that. Its not a matter of principle just.... I dunno I wouldn't feel like I could really live my life.

But I could see doing it for a couple years and racking up and then getting the **** out. Can you even date and **** without worrying about the police or is homosexuality just straight up banned?

Well actually, there is plenty of very flaming gay people around, lots of trans people also and as far as I can tell, the police generally leave you alone as long as you're not doing something outrageous like an orgy. Apart from the politically motivated ones, those are the only cases I've heard about of people being prosecuted for gay sex. There is a gay club in the center of town which is generally allowed to operate, but then every now and then (mostly before or right after the election) they make a raid and arrest a bunch of people (either trans or muslim) and then let them off with a misdemeanor or something.

I personally don't date since I have a partner and we are monogamous, but when I was in Dubai it was a little tricky since I had a paranoia that someone might use the dating apps to trap and blackmail you or that maybe even the police could use them to track down gay people (I haven't heard of that happening but it was going through my mind).

On the other hand when I was in the Middle east I saw that even in Iran and Saudi their dating (app) scenes are thriving so...gay people adapt. What can you do?

For me the biggest impact on my life is that I don't go around touching or kissing my partner in public. But I rarely do that in the west anyway, for fear of a violent homophobic attack. At least in Croatia. I'm less concerned in Spain.

And also I don't criticize the government, judicial system or police in any public way since freedom of speech is absolutely not guaranteed.

BUT ASIDE FROM THAT...:D

In my experience, the police where I live are, at best, apathetic. At worst, they're corrupt, violent, or both.

Every time I see a cop they never where a mask. Today I saw three cops all standing next to each other for like an hour. No masks. Why the **** are we lorded over by mother****ing morons?

The owner of a local coffee shop is a known KKK member who stormed the capital.

Guess which farm animal I always see in the shop when I walk by.

A chicken?

Is this going to be a bad George Orwell joke?

The one that goes oink?

Law enforcement here has laaaargely been helpful. When someone tried stealing my bike one night in our backyard, I gave them a call. Po-po showed up in like 5-10 minutes. They brought a dog and went on the chase.. came back some 30 minutes later to tell me the crooks were apprehended, down at the station, and that at my convenience, I could come collect a bike computer they'd taken off with.

I view a police officer as someone who's in service to the general law-abiding citizen. Let's say I'm in a different town and wonder where something is, I might ask a cop if there's one available.

But I'm talking about Norway where police generally don't carry guns (they're kept in the cars) and police are trained to de-escalate conflicts and situations. They tend to be young and friendly.

Brazilian police kill 25 suspects allegedly part of bank robbery gang

I don't live there anymore, but just to highlight what happens in the rest of the world. This didn't even make the front page of Brazilian newspapers.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/2...apons-off-duty
would that be the same in the USA?

Today, more than 30,000 officers in France bring their firearms home.

“We’re not setting the world on fire,” Darmanin said of Article 25.

French gun ownership among highest in the world

France is in 12th place in the world in the rankings of gun ownership, according to the Small Arms Survey. The estimated total number of guns held by civilians – both legally and illegally – in France is around 10 million, according to figures published last year by Gun Policy, a project run by the University of Sydney.

But other studies say that there may be as many 20 million weapons owned by civilians in the nation of 65 million people.

That sounds about right, Dianne. Police generally have carte blanche when it comes to carrying weapons even though Maryland has some of the toughest gun control laws in the US. Police can generally carry their weapons as much as they deem necessary off duty and they certainly take their weapons home with them. Now, how much often they actually use the weapons off duty, well, I'm not much of an expert on that.

ok that was interesting to know..just really only looked up French laws because ot the thread...I had a neighbour who always said most people have guns and stuff in there homes...goes far back, so may French Wars for sure, so guess that is likely right...I have a water pistol that is all..lol