They get no respect.
In the US they do, usually.
I would suggest that what the US police get isn't, in the greatest part, respect, but fear.
Having been pulled over by the Police in the UK, probably about 6 to 8 times in 30 years of driving. I know I am not in any danger of being murdered by a trigger happy idiot on a bad day. It brings Police and citizen closer together. So no bowing and scraping, yes sir no sir. Having seen videos of a 12 year old Tamir Rice shot in a playground and a 23yr old Noel Aguilar on a bike murdered by police who then planted a gun on him, all for the wanton act of not stopping when ordered. This is a list that could go on and on. This doesn't garner the respect that decent law enforcement should have. Having a gun present at all chats, discussions, warnings, arrests (whether guilty or innocent).... basically any interaction whether you are bystander, perpetrator or victim does *NOT* breed respect, but fear, fear of being shot for saying or doing the wrong thing. Every UK cop show has some dumb thread that says "If the cop had been armed this would have been over in seconds". A far too simplistic approach. Look at the first scenes of Happy Valley where an idiot was talked out of self immolation, some idiots were even suggesting that he should have been shot. It isn't the answer to everything.
It's no different than a gang member banging on about respect just because he is the one with the Uzi or AK47. That isn't respect either.
Ultimately I think UK police get far more real *respect* for the difficult, nay almost impossible, job that they do. They do it without the back-up threat of "Do what I say or I will shoot you and then charge YOU with assault, if you survive", the UK Police are forced to think that little bit more and work things out rather than "shoot first talk later", that's why there is a bit more *real* respect.
'tler
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papyrus beetle
8 years ago
Quite true---there is a "frisson" to dealing with US cops that is absent elsewhere.
The main thing (and I am not a car-driver, or an African-American) is that dealing with Police is SERIOUS.
iT just is.
When they speak to you, you say "sir"
If they tell you to jump, you say "how high?"
That's just custom.
People that want to deny that, or can't behave correctly in a police interaction are to be pitied.
It is SHOCKING to American audiences to hear how British people in tv-dramas SPEAK to policemen.
Guns or not, that is just not the way Americans act.
Again, in a wild, huge, frontier sort of setting (America), the Police represent order and civilization.
In England, they seem to represent door-to-door salesmen!
"We will bury you"-NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV
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missfrost-214-92332
8 years ago
Being a policeman in the UK isn't seen as being lower class, but I think they can be looked down on because the police are paid for out of our taxes so some people think they're superior to them because of that. "I pay your wages" is a pretty common response to the police (Google the phrase!)
When it comes to girlfriends, a policeman might just seem like someone a woman might be wary of opening up to, and in the 1960s, someone that male friends, brothers and fathers might not approve of.
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saskia520
8 years ago
You're so right about police in the US. There is no respect, only fear. We watch black citizens including children, murdered in front of our eyes, often captured on video and with zero accountability. Blue lies matter more than truth. It's highly disturbing and most of us are walking around with a heightened sense of fear and dread and probably suffering something close to PTSD. And I'm white and female. I cannot not imagine what it's like for the black community but my heart hurts for them. I am afraid for all of us.
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