I had a cop search my car once and he “found” drug paraphernalia. I don’t do any drugs, ever in my life. I’ve seen what it does to people from a young age and I had never seen that paraphernalia ever before in my life; also, this car was brand new and I had only driven it less than two miles from the dealership. My only crime was speeding on an empty road in a brand new car, but this cop taught me they are all crooked fucks.
So, there’s probably missing information here, but I also believe it at face value.
I do not think one bad experience means they are all bad. This trope is perpetuated so often that even mentioning it gets massive downvotes. Popular opinion doesn't always mean they're "right".
I think we all need to learn that there are different ways of interpreting things that influence people's opinions, and we should be open to the possibility that we might be "wrong" in someone else's context, myself included.
Why were they searching your car in the first place? Did you consent to it? Was there probable cause? Did you fight it in court?
I think we all have to do our part to expose any possible corruption if we ever want it to change... if that's even what happened. Just shrugging and saying "yea that happens" is not the answer IMO, and one could argue you're both wrong at that point.
> I do not think one bad experience means they are all bad. This trope is perpetuated so often that even mentioning it gets massive downvotes. Popular opinion doesn't always mean they're "right".
"Good" cops that stand up for bad cops are also bad. And if there are enough bad apples it doesn't matter if there are good ones as you need to assume whoever you are interacting with is gong to fuck you over.
Those good cops could also be scared of retaliation just like us, and quitting your job over it doesn't help the problem either, so I'm not sure what the right solution is. But I don't think one should automatically assume ill intent.
I have had overwhelmingly positive experiences with police in general and I know many others have as well, and of course I know some with bad experiences too, it's a spectrum of course.
So, there’s probably missing information here, but I also believe it at face value.