<story><title>My family saw a police car hit a kid, then I learned how NYPD impunity works</title><url>https://www.propublica.org/article/my-family-saw-a-police-car-hit-a-kid-on-halloween-then-i-learned-how-nypd-impunity-works</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kleiba</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s crazy but from a European perspective, stories like this sound more like what I imagine police forces to behave like in dictatorships, not in a democracy.&lt;p&gt;After living in Europe for six years now, my wife is still puzzled sometimes by the differences between Europe and North-America when it comes to the police: how they are experienced by the population and how they see and present themselves and which role they think they&amp;#x27;re playing in society. Big difference. I&amp;#x27;m certainly over-generalizing but here, we see cops as approachable and helpful in general (with exceptions) while in North-America, at least my wife&amp;#x27;s impression is that of cops being mostly intimidating (again, with exceptions).&lt;p&gt;Of course, this is all complex and different social and societal aspects play a big role, such as e.g., the odds for a cop of running into an armed person. But when I read how the police handled the situation with the group of black trick-or-treaters, it seems so foreign to me now from a more European perspective.&lt;p&gt;I suppose accountability is always going to be an issue - who watches the watchmen? But it should not be - in a democracy especially, there should be functioning mechanism to prevent abuse of power, and that of course applies to police actions, too.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>usrusr</author><text>I think the central difference is that in much of Europe, the the ideal of the perfect police officer would be someone who actively helps people to stay out of trouble, e.g. calming down a brewing pub fight situation before it gets out of hand, or warn you &lt;i&gt;before&lt;/i&gt; doing something wrong. I guess this ideal also exists in the US, but there it is counteracted by the opposite ideal in which the police is no position to bother anyone who isn&amp;#x27;t clearly and undeniably in the wrong, but then cracking down hard. &amp;quot;Don&amp;#x27;t mess with Freedom unless it&amp;#x27;s of gunpoint-grade importance.&amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>My family saw a police car hit a kid, then I learned how NYPD impunity works</title><url>https://www.propublica.org/article/my-family-saw-a-police-car-hit-a-kid-on-halloween-then-i-learned-how-nypd-impunity-works</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kleiba</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s crazy but from a European perspective, stories like this sound more like what I imagine police forces to behave like in dictatorships, not in a democracy.&lt;p&gt;After living in Europe for six years now, my wife is still puzzled sometimes by the differences between Europe and North-America when it comes to the police: how they are experienced by the population and how they see and present themselves and which role they think they&amp;#x27;re playing in society. Big difference. I&amp;#x27;m certainly over-generalizing but here, we see cops as approachable and helpful in general (with exceptions) while in North-America, at least my wife&amp;#x27;s impression is that of cops being mostly intimidating (again, with exceptions).&lt;p&gt;Of course, this is all complex and different social and societal aspects play a big role, such as e.g., the odds for a cop of running into an armed person. But when I read how the police handled the situation with the group of black trick-or-treaters, it seems so foreign to me now from a more European perspective.&lt;p&gt;I suppose accountability is always going to be an issue - who watches the watchmen? But it should not be - in a democracy especially, there should be functioning mechanism to prevent abuse of power, and that of course applies to police actions, too.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hef19898</author><text>Usually police in dictatorships, at least the more successful ones, tend to be much more professional, polite and non-brutal. Until they are very professional, very cruel and very brutal. The latter usually against very well defined groups, in very well defined ways.&lt;p&gt;Simple reason being, that random police violence just results, ultimately, in the kind of uproar and civil unrest the US experience now. Basically the last thing dictatorships want.</text></comment>