Cops Are Still Bad

American policing has come under fire time and time again, but why is that? People are accusing them of things left and right. Yet, what have the police actually do? Are any of the accusations based on reality? That’s what this article is here to explore. People say that the cops have been infiltrated by white supremacists, they shoot dogs, that they disproportionately kill people of color, and many more accusations. However many of these claims have evidence behind them.

Cops Are Racist

One of the most popular claims is that American cops kill Black people at a disproportionate rate compared to white people. According to many sources, this is true. The reason why can range from bias to white supremacist beliefs. However, the fact remains the same, American cops kill Black people disproportionately. There are many arguments against this and all of them are bad.

One of the more popular ones is that Black people simply do more crime which is why the cops have to be in those neighborhoods. There is historical precedence for city officials pushing people into specific areas with condensed poverty. Since there is a direct correlation between poverty and crime, it makes sense that there would be more crime in Black neighborhoods. It isn’t that crime is inherent to Black people, it is inherent to bad situations. The argument is racist because it proposes that crime and violence are inherent to Black people as if they were in their “culture.” However, the cops do much more than just disproportionately kill Black people.

Cops Are Liars

American police officers have a problem with lying in general. In many different ways, American cops prove themselves to be liars. During interrogations, when being held accountable, and even in court. Cops tend to just lie about things because they can and no one holds them accountable for anything. So, the claim that cops lie all the time is true. They lie so much in court that there is a name for it at this point. It is called “testilying.” Cops have incentives to lie, if they lie about the evidence on the stand, people will believe them. Similarly to George Bush lying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, cops do the same things in poor Black and brown communities. The truth is only revealed after mass efforts and cameras.

The police are a standing army that patrols poor Black and brown neighborhoods. They protect private property and enforce laws. They don’t protect or serve anyone but themselves or the interests of rich people. When a landlord wants to kick out a tenant and put them on the streets because they can’t pay for a home, they call the cops. In the situation where a union is fighting against a large corporation, when the battle gets intense that corporation will rely on the police to protect its corporate interest.

Cops Are Tools for the Powerful

If there is a large protest in a city, what usually happens is that the city doesn’t even pay attention to the reason why they are protesting in the first place and they just focus on containment. If the city does notice why they are protesting in the first place they’ll give lip service and maybe a symbolic peace offering like painting the road. They claim that they don’t protect and serve anyone is true.

The police are a tool of force, one of many like it. They aren’t special, and they aren’t warriors. Cops are human beings that are terrible at the one job they are supposed to do. They don’t get to places in time, and they rarely ever save anyone. The American police are much more like a street gang protecting their turf than superheroes.

They don’t even have the legal obligation to save anyone. All of the propaganda and media around the cops portray them as these ultimate saviors and protectors of humanity and yet, they are nothing like that. The FBI said back in the early 2000s that white supremacists have invaded and infiltrated police organizations. American policing is broken, and there isn’t any real way to fix it instead of getting rid of it. One bad apple spoils the bunch.

Written by Kenneth Mazerat
Edited by Sheena Robertson

Sources

Slate: The Police Lie. All the Time. Can Anything Stop Them? by MARK JOSEPH STERN

Vox: No, really, George W. Bush lied about WMDs by Dylan Matthews

Overtoncountynews: Don’t shoot the dogs: The growing epidemic of cops shooting family dogs

YaleNews: Racial disparity in police shootings unchanged over 5 years by Brita Belli

NewYorkTimes: Justices Rule Police Do Not Have a Constitutional Duty to Protect Someone by Linda Greenhouse

Inthesetimes: The Police Were Created to Control Working Class and Poor People, Not ‘Serve and Protect’ by Sam Mitrani

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Dan Dickinson’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

First Inset Image Courtesy of Jay Tamboli’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License