Comment by jomamaxx | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jomamaxx | Hacker News Reader

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I am not a cop, I don't know any cops, and none are in my family.

I just don't hate cops.

But I do know that 99.999% of being a cop is boring, difficult and they put up with idiots and crazy people - and often 'actual mentally ill people' all day, every day, in often complex situations, and they almost overwhelmingly do a good job.

If you 'have a concern about free speech' - you should be far more concerned about the vast number of people who are 'banned form campus' for having relatively normal views, but which are inconsistent with those of the 'safe zone' generation of totalitarians.

The 'totalitarianism' is not in some random guy getting ejected - maybe on wrongful terms - out of a discussion for making frankly offensive statements - but the limits on who can speak and why, largely driven by zealot students and faculty on campus, who usually represent a tiny minority of students and yet get their way anyhow.

When there is agitation and confrontation - a cops natural response is to 'can it' - and I don't mind this at all - though I would hope that if there is no crime committed that no charges are validated. A judge will eventually look at this, and if there's no validity to the charges, then they will likely be tossed.

I'm not concerned about college students, who have always been a mess, or their fleeting obsessions and hackneyed philosophies. I am worried about agents of the state who are armed and almost universally trusted by our courts, and have a rich history of abuses and corruption. That's not hatred, it's a study of our own history.

'a rich history of corruption'.

I agree cops can be corrupt, but they are just people.

There are a lot of police officers in America, I suggest they are a lot less corrupt than almost any other institution. The problem I guess is oversight, and trying to really assess the degree of the problem.

For example, when we see headlines of cops abusing Black potential criminals, we get upset, but the study by African America prof at Harvard revealed that cops were less likely to use weapons when dealing with Black people, though more likely to physically touch.

It's hard to take the headlines and put them into context.

Though they have a 'special place' in the sense that they are the front-line of the law and obviously a much higher standard of comportment that others ... I still believe that abuse is pretty rare.

Even if this cop was 'out of hand' ... I still don't see it as hugely problematic: a guy got kicked out of a session for doing some fairly controversial things - he was not asking a question so much as making a directly challenging political statement ... and it was likely his confrontation with the cop that got him the boot. It seems like he should not have gotten the boot. Fine. But it can be a confusing situation for security involved as well - and when it's like that, they're going to remove people from the situation. I seriously doubt the guy will be charged with anything. In the end - you have an individual antagonist / rabble-rouser who got kicked out of a lecture - when probably he shouldn't have. Big ff-ing deal. This is not high on the spectrum of 'problems'.

Cops rough-handling otherwise peaceful assailants etc., possibly being racist - this is possibly a very serious problem. But again, hard to put into context.

In terms of demonstrating 'police abuse' - this case simply doesn't register.

I think issues like police departments that get paid through their issuance of traffic tickets and seizures is probably a bigger problem than most other things.

I've never in my life witness a cop do anything that he really shouldn't and as far as I'm aware - nobody I know really has either, at least to the point wherein they feel it's important enough to share with me.

Anyhow - when it comes to this kind of stuff we need studies that can put things into context - not confusing anecdotal examples.

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