• superkret@feddit.org
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    13 days ago

    Cops suck at their job, and they hate it if you explain it to them.
    I can’t remember a single time in my 40-years-long life when a cop genuinely helped me in any way,
    apart from writing a report (full of errors and spelling mistakes) that my insurance demanded.
    And I really don’t believe they “make the streets safer” either.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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      13 days ago

      kids stole my car

      cops gave chase

      they crashed the car

      ran on foot

      cops gave chase

      they ran into an abandoned house

      cops stopped outside

      they walked nonchalantly out of the house

      cops did not arrest as they could not be sure it was the same people

      literal skyrim npc behavior.

    • In Montreal, I was riding my bike drunk and crashed pretty badly. I broke a tooth and was bleeding out of my mouth. I got up and kept riding home when a cop stopped me who was sitting next to his car monitoring pedestrian traffic. They took out their first aid kit, gave me some gauze, asked if I needed to go to the ER, then let me be on my way.

      I feel like that wouldn’t happen in the US. I was still very drunk.

      • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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        13 days ago

        And Montreal cops don’t have that great a reputation, at least from what I’ve heard.

        Only interaction I had with one was when they were handing out pamphlets about hiding your (white) headphone cords on the metro. I guess people were stealing iphones

      • bluewing@lemm.ee
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        13 days ago

        Yeah, it probably would. They would be interested in just how and why you got a bloody face. And even US cops carry basic medical supplies like a band-aid.

        US cops aren’t the best, but they can and do help with such things.

    • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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      13 days ago

      Got rear ended on the highway. Recorded make and model, rough driver description, and plate number with state, and direction they were heading. Told dispatcher and cops on scene everything, they couldn’t have given less of a fuck.

      “We’ll keep a lookout, but really there’s nothing we can do.”

      So why am I paying taxes for you welfare queens then? My insurance hotline was far more helpful at next steps and what needs to happen vs ‘shit sucks bro, here’s your case number, you gotta smash F5 on our website until the report gets uploaded. lol no, we wolnt reach out to you’

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      My family was victimized in a home invasion that went “get therapy” badly and the cops in their defense did get us in touch with resources and gave us the report of insurance, but they also all but accused me of being a drug addict because I have scars on my arms and had a bowl in my apartment (weed is legal here). They also refused to look at the cut window screen or the footprint on the other side of the window insisting that because the front door was unlocked after the burglar left through it we must’ve left it unlocked and that’s how he entered.

      We didn’t like the cops before we were victims of violent crime, but it’s much more pronounced of a dislike afterwards. I’ve heard my entire life that “when you’re victimized by criminals you’ll come to appreciate the cops” and I can’t help but laugh at that sentiment.

      Hell in a different instance I got robbed by a guy, got his license plate, phone number, and confession (buying something off the internet, guy took both things and ran, then later messaged asking for sex), and want to know what I’ve never seen since? That money. Like I’m not happy with the guy, but unlike my home invader I don’t even think he needs to be kept away from society, I just wanted my fucking money back.

    • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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      13 days ago

      I was pushing a cart full groceries home when two white guys walked right up and started looking in my shopping cart. Exactly at that moment a cop car pulled up beside us.

      That’s all they had to do. It was pretty good timing.

      Probably nothing would have happened either way, but still. It also occurs to me that the presence of anyone else would have likely had the same effect. Like a prof rolling up on a unicycle, or someone walking their cat, or even a lone horse. Perhaps even a bold raccoon.

      • stinky@redlemmy.com
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        13 days ago

        Excellent point, it’s not the presence of a cop that stopped them, it’s the presence of another person.

    • stinky@redlemmy.com
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      13 days ago

      Same here. They show up after you get hurt, not before. They are supposed to make us safer, but we have more cops than any country in the world and we are not safer.

    • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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      13 days ago

      In the U.S., cops statistically do nothing. They don’t prevent crime, they don’t solve crimes, they’re just a publically funded security firm for local businesses to contract. It would honestly be more surprising if you had a useful interaction with the police.

      Even though this is all colloquially known and accepted, don’t think of arguing to lower the police budget in any way. Gotta make sure those buffoons have their surplus army equipment so they can feel safe while they rob and oppress citizens.

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      13 days ago

      I sold a trailer to a cop once. It wasn’t related to his police activities but I needed to get rid of it and he didn’t haggle.

    • dan@upvote.au
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      13 days ago

      Depends on the country. Aussie cops are a lot nicer and more useful than many American cops.