Incredibly Honest Yet, Disheartening and Infuriating, Confession from a Cop
"Don't think the police are here to protect you. We are here to put money back into the system."
May 9, 2014
In a post on reddit, the op asked the following question:
A man going by the name of Throwaway, as in throwaway account, left an honest reply of why he had to quit being a cop.
Here it is:
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Former cop here. Throw away for obvious reasons.
Yeah, we have "quotas". They are 'unoffical' but you get shit duties if you dont pull in so much money for the department per month. So, what that means is, say it's the 30th of the month and you havent met your quota.. That means you pull over someone (preferably black, since they are less likely to fight it or sue) who is 'doing 55 in a 54' and give them a ticket.
Also, I'm lucky enough to work in a 'shall arrest' DV state. Which basically means that, if we get a domestic violence call against you for any reason what so ever, we are required to arrest SOMEONE. It doesn't matter if a neighbor who hates you calls, and when we show up you are the only person home, we are still supposed to arrest you. I've literally been yelled at by a superior because some asshole called in a DV against his neighbor who he had a land dispute with, and I refused to arrest the guy because his wife wasn't even in town when we got there (she had been out of town on business for a week...). It doesn't matter to the higher up's, because once you are arrested for even a bullshit reason, it's money getting pumped into the system. You are GOING to pay bail if you can (which doesn't get refunded under any circumstances), you are going to spend 12 hours in jail minimum, and unless you luck up and get a decent public defender (which happens occasionally if they aren't already over worked), you are going to pay for a lawyer. Even a bullshit arrest can easily turn into multiple thousands of dollars. Oh, let's not forget the expungment paper work you have to file (which is another 5-600 bucks), just to get the arrest removed from your record (the arrest will stay there even if you are found innocent or the DA refuses to press charges). Let's not forget the money being pumped into parole officers, probation officers, etc.
Oh, and in my county in particular, 'evidence' that is confiscated, gets auctioned off, and the money goes back into the PD. So, if you are arrested for spotlighting or hunting out of season (or even some BS charge as mentioned above), we are going to take your car, your firearms, and possibly any other firearms you own that we 'suspect' you may have used for other illicit activity....and unless you can afford a good lawyer to get them back, we are going to auction all that off and the money is going to go back into buying us new squad cars and laptops to look at facebook while we sit in those squad cars.
So yeah, don't think the police are here to protect you. We are here to put money back into the system. When I started out I was a starry eyed kid, thinking I was going to be helping out people and 'protecting and serving'.....after a few months, I realized that it was all bullshit, and we are here to use anything you say against you, and twist any facts we can against you. It was so bad (at least where I live) that I had to quit, I didn't have the moral 'ambiguity' to keep on. I know not all PD's are like this, and my hat's off to the people who could keep on trying to change the system from the inside, but yeah, at least around here, and as far as I'm concerned for the most part, 'justice' is a racket.
