The Damned Cops Are Out Of Control

[Vixen]

If 500 grocery clerks commit rapes every year nobody goes maybe we should get rid of grocery clerks. But if 10 police officers commit rape in a year, people act like it's a police problem and not a rapist problem.

This is an inapt comparison, because grocery clerks do not have the duty -- duty -- to uphold the law of the land. Nor do clerks use vested authority in committing those rapes. Nor do clerks wield the power of life and death over other citizens.

Police are held to a higher standard because they are sworn to uphold the law, are vested with the authority to do so, and wield deadly force. I expect police to be more law-abiding than clerks or other civilians.  And even more importantly, I expect every police officer to speak up when he or she sees a fellow officer committing a crime.

This is a false equivalence.

You're right, but I was only putting it out there to make the point that police come from the same pool as the rest of us. I don't have actual stats to say if they're more law abiding than other groups, but my hope would be that they are. There are bad people in all walks of life. No profession is immune from some bad apples. Doctors, lawyers, construction workers, clergy and even cops, we see it everywhere. Rapists, abusers, molesters, thieves.