Posted on Dec 6, 2019
Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but police often close ranks
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UCMJ Misconduct
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 3
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Not a fan of this particular website, but that was a fascinating read...
I’m not entirely sure where the difference lies...maybe it’s in the power structure itself? As a young private you know you are the lowest rung on the ladder and will be for several years. A young police officer, while paid less and with less experience than his or her long service peers, walks in on day one with the full authority and responsibility of their position. Maybe those “b*tch work” years are critical to the development of soldiers as generally moral beings.
I dunno. I think about this a lot. So much of it puzzles me, especially in light of how many of our police officers - and just to be clear I think the vast majority are good people trying to do a hard job for the right reasons - have a military background.
We need to fix it, wherever the problem originates and however we need to fix it. Our police officers are vital to our society and our way of life. They hold a position of special trust and great responsibility, and we have to demand they be worthy of the job.
I’m not entirely sure where the difference lies...maybe it’s in the power structure itself? As a young private you know you are the lowest rung on the ladder and will be for several years. A young police officer, while paid less and with less experience than his or her long service peers, walks in on day one with the full authority and responsibility of their position. Maybe those “b*tch work” years are critical to the development of soldiers as generally moral beings.
I dunno. I think about this a lot. So much of it puzzles me, especially in light of how many of our police officers - and just to be clear I think the vast majority are good people trying to do a hard job for the right reasons - have a military background.
We need to fix it, wherever the problem originates and however we need to fix it. Our police officers are vital to our society and our way of life. They hold a position of special trust and great responsibility, and we have to demand they be worthy of the job.
SSG Robert Mark Odom
Really appreciate your feedback and comments thanks.
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Personally, I think there's about 50% of the process in either entity that gets it dreadfully "wrong". I'm probably going to sound "idealistic" here, but I do think there needs to be "wiggle room". Consistency is essential, but there are often mitigating circumstances. I've seen otherwise great personnel lost to very minor offenses... and seen complete losers make it all the way simply because they kept the nose "clean". Of the many LE officers I've known, most were dedicated, hard-working people who get paid far too little for the risks they take, or the crap they're asked to endure. Then again, there's some who "mystically" get away with stuff that boggles the mind. In my opinion, we need more authority at all levels to deal with things according to the severity of the infraction.
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I have a neighbor 3 houses down from me who admits he was a "crooked cop". He was demoted and fired for his actions.
Most police in my area seem like great people. They help the community. They have CHOW drives every year and also have toy drop off areas that they hand deliver to poor members of the community.
The cops in my area do not fit the description of the "bad" cops that I see in the news. Nor do they fit the "close ranks" description that I see other departments being described as.
Most police in my area seem like great people. They help the community. They have CHOW drives every year and also have toy drop off areas that they hand deliver to poor members of the community.
The cops in my area do not fit the description of the "bad" cops that I see in the news. Nor do they fit the "close ranks" description that I see other departments being described as.
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I’d like to see some of those reformed crooked cops out in front of this discussion honestly. It’s a chance to redeem themselves and save others from going down that same road.
SPC Stewart Smith
SFC Thomas Foreman - I'm not sure my neighbor is "reformed", however he takes full responsibility and doesn't place blame on anyone else.
I feel taking responsibility for ones actions speaks volumes for their character.
I feel taking responsibility for ones actions speaks volumes for their character.
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SPC Stewart Smith
SSgt Ray Stone - A low income county "melting pot". We have black people, laotian, chinese, japanese, korean, iraqi, jews, italians, every mixed 'race' you can think of... pretty much everyone you could think of, and a quickly fading group of racist old white guys.
We are located between buffalo, syracuse, and NYC. We've drawn them from all locations due to the low cost of living and relative close location to "major" locations and binghamton university.
What's bad about where I live: jobs pay between 20% and 50% less than everywhere else in the country, heroine epidemic, and the weird weather.
What's good about where I live: low cost of living, no life threatening natural disasters, we spawned IBM(which also spawned a chemical spill and left), diversity, and FOOOOOOOOOD.
Due to the diversity, we have every kind food you could imagine and the competition has weeded out the bad food and we're left with excellence around every corner. Incidentally, the amount of food we eat also made us the 1st fattest county in the US about 10 years ago, but then people started taking a hard look at themselves. We are no longer even in the top 30 :D
In my personal neighborhood, Endwell, the demographic is more south east asian, then white people(lumping jews into here as well because we're all part jewish), then black guys.
Oh, we also spawned jon 'bones' jones.
EDIT: When I say south east Asian I mean mostly laotian, then chinese, some koreans and some japanese. Most of them are "mixed".
We are located between buffalo, syracuse, and NYC. We've drawn them from all locations due to the low cost of living and relative close location to "major" locations and binghamton university.
What's bad about where I live: jobs pay between 20% and 50% less than everywhere else in the country, heroine epidemic, and the weird weather.
What's good about where I live: low cost of living, no life threatening natural disasters, we spawned IBM(which also spawned a chemical spill and left), diversity, and FOOOOOOOOOD.
Due to the diversity, we have every kind food you could imagine and the competition has weeded out the bad food and we're left with excellence around every corner. Incidentally, the amount of food we eat also made us the 1st fattest county in the US about 10 years ago, but then people started taking a hard look at themselves. We are no longer even in the top 30 :D
In my personal neighborhood, Endwell, the demographic is more south east asian, then white people(lumping jews into here as well because we're all part jewish), then black guys.
Oh, we also spawned jon 'bones' jones.
EDIT: When I say south east Asian I mean mostly laotian, then chinese, some koreans and some japanese. Most of them are "mixed".
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