Why are police so rude? (an interesting UK article)

[Dave_pro2a]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...RTSON-Why-police-rude-Because-trained-be.html

Police officers, the majority quite young – the average age of an operational PC is under 24 – have been trained to believe that they are continually under physical threat and must therefore be continually on their guard. It is clear that a significant minority of officers see the public as their enemy and as a potential hazard to be dealt with aggressively....

A concerned officer recently gave me this extract from a force training programme – the tone is chilling. It says: ‘What the public consider rude is usually just no-nonsense commands and attitude. Unfortunately, when you try to reason with people, they take advantage. Therefore, when you need immediate compliance, you must use stern, unambiguous commands that require no interpretation on the part of the person being talked to. Through experience you must learn to command and dominate ALL interactions.’ The emphatic block capitals were in the original training notes.

There's more in the linked story. Just an interesting article.

 

[PT111]

I think the article, although written in the UK, does point out some things that are true and very much apparent here in the US. Things have changed since the 80's or the 50's when I grew up. One is the insistence that all people be treated the same removing much of the judgement factor from police and another is the mindset of people that they are exempt from having to follow the rules. My wife commented many times about the children she taught in the 2nd grade that you could catch them doing something that they knew was wrong and their immediate response would either be "I didn't do nothing" or "What did I do".

The answers would almost always correlate to the socioeconomic class of the child where the one living in public housing would know that they did something wrong but deny it and try to get out of it as they were being taught by those around them. The moe middle-upper class student could not understand that the rules applied to them and they were supposed to be able to get away with it just like they could get away with most anything at home. I won't go into this any more.

There was a time whem a LEO could stop someone for being a little "tipsy" and carry them home if they knew who the person was and their background. Now that will be all over the news the next morning. Judgement on what to do and how to handle individuals is gone and all must be treated the same. This is not bad but the one wondering what he did is going to complain.

When you are on the witness stand in court you will be asked a question and only be allowed to answer the question but not explaing your answer. We want to explain our answers to police to justify our actions. We want to have conversations that are not facts but excuses. I often run into this type of thing in my job as I get a call about someone's PC is not working correctly. I as what were you doing when it quit and more than likely the answer I get will be "I didn't do anything" or "Just what I normally do". These answers do nothing to help and when I probe I am taken as being rude or judgemental many times.

I see both sides of this but the times are a'changing for LEO, criminals and the public.