How does police presence make you feel?

[Japher]

[DanS]

Ask yourself, would Jesus put a cap in his ass?

[St Leo]

Keep that filthy mujahideen away from me.

[Solver]

Most people I know feel guilty when police drive behind them, regardless if they've done anything wrong.

Actually there are so many traffic rules and rules about what your car must/must not be/have, that most people are likely to be in violation of at least some rule, even if they are conscious and good drivers.

Our police, though, doesn't have that much funding, so you rarely see them drive here . If they're driving in the city, it's usually with a specific goal, and on highways, they are more likely standing on the roadside and waiting rather than driving.

[Dis]

authority figures make me uncomfortable (though most people do).

But I like to see police patrols. Far too often you see cops talking to each other in some empty parking lot, and no patrolling like they are supposed to be doing.

As long as the police aren't scrutinizing me, I'm happy to see them around. but I can never be comfortable when they are behind me when I'm driving.

[Timexwatch]

Originally posted by DanS
It depends on the equipment they carry and how they carry it.

The Capitol Police have started to carry automatic rifles, which I dislike. It has been very atypical in the US for police to display such firepower. They only flash automatic rifles in other countries, not the US, right?

On the other hand, there are secret service snipers that go around this city to protect government officials. They try to keep their equipment out of sight, and I don't mind them doing their thing at all, even though I can guess (and hope) they're carrying some powerful equipment.

Pistols don't bother me at all and generally I feel safer when police are around and armed with pistols.

The Capital Police that carry M4 Carbines are on the Capital grounds itself; they don't carry them in the House office buildings. The Secret Service, IIRC, only brings out M4's in emergencies.

The snipers aren't so threatening, if only becuase you never see the rifles. All you see are guys with binoculars.

I've seen heavier guns in European countries. I've seen the Carabineri in Italy and other countries carrying SMGs.

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by DanS
Ask yourself, would Jesus put a cap in his ass?

No - he'd put five in his head.

[Theben]

In Indianapolis, the best that you can hope for is that criminals feel uneasy enough by police to leave you alone. Otherwise they are at best useless, at worst abusive and corrupt.

[mrmitchell]

It depends.

Some cops are friendly, living in a small city you get to know all of them pretty fast. I like it when a "friendly" cop is around.

I'd rather cops be chasing criminals instead of just sitting around twiddling their thumbs but sometimes that's just all they have to do, and I guess it does have a preventative effect on crimes in that immediate area.

I don't get to be around a lot of arrests, but I remember in school there was always at least one cop on duty somewhere in the building, and 99% of the time he was just sitting around talking with the other staff or walking around, but once every two or three weeks you'd see him cuffing a kid down on the ground. OzzyKP, don't worry, I think most of the kids actually did something to get arrested (most likely possession of drugs, attempted assault, or something.)

[Zkribbler]

Depends. Most of the time, they're nice to have around.

Like rah, I don't like them following me when I drive. I figure they might know something I don't.

I started a blistering thread during the 2000 Democratic Covention here in LA. The cops were just looking to mix it up with any demonstrators, peaceful or not. There were groups of cops on every corning in downtown, and a helicopter constantly overhead. About every fifteen minutes, a siren would go off -- just their way of trying to intimidate people. Peaceful demonstrators were fired on with rubber bullets, including an observer group from the ACLU. Surprise, instant lawsuit & more taxpayer money flushed down the drain. A group of bicyclers were arrested for loitering when they stopped to rest and dring water.

On the flip side, Chief Gates pulled his officers back to their headquarters during the Rodney King riots, and let the rioters run amock. They even burned the parking kiosk in front of police headquarters downtown, with no reaction. And Fredericks of Hollywood -- it was looted and burned with no police reaction!

[OzzyKP]

Police are scary.

[:) Smiley]

Depends on the situation.

If I'm in a sketchy part of town it's nice to see some police presence, especially if the streets are empty.

In other situations though, cops, especially if there's more than one, make me uneasy.

As for when driving, seeing cops is always unpleasant.

[BlackCat]

Police as such doesn't worry me, but if I see them where they usually don't be, I might worry a little - they have a reason to be there and I don't wan't to be mixed up in this reason.

On the road, well, once I got passed by a police car when I was doing 120 on a 110 highway in a snow blizzard - admitted, I slowed down to 110 - no reason to get cocky .

Though, I just hate these photo traps they have set up - no warning an in the next moment they have a nice pic of you speeding .

[Zkribbler]

Hmm, that reminds me.

Once upon a time, I was driving along a virtually deserted stretch of freeway. I was going at least 120 mph, but slowed down to 110 for a series of gentle curves. That's when the cop managed to sneak up behind me. (You tend not to look behind you when you're going that fast.)

He was a nice guy, though. He only wrote me up for doing 85. He explained that, if he wrote me up for doing more than that, he'd have to take me to jail for reckless driving.

[BlackCat]

Damn, forgot about you nonstandard bastards - I of course meant 120 km/h. Doing 120 mph in a snowstorm, even I would consider that reckless