What do you want the police to do on your behalf?

This is a very profound question…I think I’m an idealist and altruist so I would tend to want the police to prevent or punish evildoing and injustice. But then you get into a discussion about what actually constitutes “evil” or “injust”...so I think having laws in place is our way of putting labels on such things.

Punishment is for the judicial system, so choices 3 and 4 are out. I suppose preventing law breaking would be my choice, for evil or “injustice,” may not actually be illegal, thus not for law enforcement to enforce.

Don’t misunderstand me on this one. I have a whole lot of respect for police officers at every level and it must be proven to me that the respect isn’t deserved on my part otherwise. But for the most part, they are investigators and their duty is to preserve the peace and arrest law breakers for the protection of the general public. They don’t prevent law breaking in so much as they investigate when the law has been broken. They don’t prevent evil or injustice. The justice is done by the judicial system as is the punishment of lawbreakers and evil doers.

“Evil” and “injustice” are oftentimes subjective.

Like @12Oaks emphasized, it is up to the judicial system to distribute punishment.

There are a lot of laws I don’t agree with, and some that I believe are outright immoral.

That said, If I had to choose, I’d pick the first option.

That word “evil” always makes me think that George Bush is in the room somewhere.
The police have failed me on a few different occasions, and I am sure they have failed others also. I think the job of a police officer is not one to be conflicted with feelings of power and authority, or the officer’s ego will cause him to make decisions or do things he would not normally do. Therefore, I think checks and balances should be put into place, and I am more concerned with someone policing the police officers. That should be a priority. And if an officer does something illegal, he should be treated exactly the same as an ordinary citizen.

The police’s primary function should be to protect citizens’s rights by detecting those who infringe them and attempting, where possible and within the bounds of a free society, to prevent such infringements.

@ladymia69 I think police officers who break the law should actually be treated slightly harsher than the rest if us owing to the betrayal of trust in addition to the crime.

Of the choices – the first, for reasons already stated.

@meiosis – in a way I agree with you regarding harsher punishments for cops who break the law, but because in many cases crimes against police officers are punished more harshly than similar crimes against another citizen (assaulting an officer for instance). If given additional protections under the law, penalties for breaking it should be enhanced for them as well.

1) Preventing HARM to others
2) Resolving disputes in peaceful ways

“Evil” is too loaded and possibly connected to morality which can be arbitrary and disputed.
I feel the laws should be constructed so that the police can prevent harm to people.

I do not want the police enforcing laws that actually mainly do harm to people, and for no good reason. I want them warning and threatening to take driver’s licenses from people who are actually driving recklessly, and not messing with people who are braking the letter or traffic laws but not actually endangering anyone, and those things are NOT synonymous, and it is disgraceful that the traffic courts and officers insist that it is, etc.

(If I have to choose one of the four, the closest is “Preventing evil or injustice”.)

@ladymia69 I think what you brought up is a central issue. If a cop sees another cop slanting things one way or another, do you want that cop to “just enforce the law” or try to redress any slanting?

Protect and defend.

Your question categories are all the same. Think about it.

wow. I think I’m the only person that hasn’t had a bad experience with police. and this is coming from someone that has been arrested and put in jail.

I was thinking the same as @YARNLADY and @john65pennington when I read this question.

I expect them to protect me.

The police are usually too far away to arrive on the scene before the damage is done. So I can reasonably expect them to investigate and apprehend. I’ll take care of the prevention myself.

how about not being crooked.. just sayin

@CaptainHarley has a point. A lot of the time, the Police arrive after a crime has already been committed. They investigate and clean up the mess after the damage has been done.

@CaptainHarley If I see a situation developing in my neighborhood, I can count on my local police to come over and put a stop to it.

@YARNLADY

If I see a situation developing in my neighborhood, I make sure my CZ 75 Compact’s magazine is fully loaded, that there’s a round in the chamber, and that I have at least one other magazine handy… then I call the cops. [ Since I have a concealed carry permit, chances are I’ll already be packin’ ]

It’s well said, “Don’t mess with Texas!” ; ))

I ust want them to do their job whether it be protecting citizens and apprehending criminals or a strip tease at a bachelorette party.XD