General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you or would you call the cops? [View all]hunter
(38,339 posts)... I kid you not.
In King City, California, the police were stealing cars, mostly from undocumented workers who were afraid of the police.
Cops, including the police chief, were also stealing cars from the police department itself.
http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/blogs/news_blog/facing-a-hung-jury-retired-king-city-police-chief-pleads/article_922181bc-365a-11e5-833e-a72b0ef45c0b.html
Back in the 'nineties we had a car stolen by another police department. It was first stolen by a gang and used in a drive-by shooting. The police caught the gangsters and said they had to check out the car for evidence.
Then they "lost" it. We made such a fuss that they did "find" it again, after about a month, but then they wanted us to pay storage fees that exceeded the value of the car!!! We did get the car back eventually, without paying the fees, but that sort of thing doesn't make a person respect the police in general.
In most of the U.S.A. the police treat nice affluent white people professionally, even when they call with trivial complaints. Those are the communities where people have a good impression of the police.
In the grittier communities of the U.S.A., the sort I've lived in most of my life now, people *always* think twice about calling the police, knowing how the police can turn trivial altercations into major tragedies.