Happier Abroad Forum Community

Question to people living abroad in this forum: Are cops as bad as American/Anglo/Western cops overseas? I hope not. I did notice British cops behaving just as badly as American cops when I was stationed in England. Asian cops are the best in my opinion. What's your experience overseas?

In most of the world a government uniform is a license to steal from the unprotected lower classes and many times minority ethnic and/or religious groups. Sometimes they are called police, other cases they are called soldiers

zboy1 wrote: Question to people living abroad in this forum: Are cops as bad as American/Anglo/Western cops overseas? I hope not. I did notice British cops behaving just as badly as American cops when I was stationed in England. Asian cops are the best in my opinion. What's your experience overseas?

Yes, some American cops suck. But really, you must not get out much. Do you have any idea as to how cops behave in much of the "developing" world? Have you ever had dealings with cops in Mexico? LOL
Or here in the Philippines? Or Argentina? Where nearly every single transaction with them is seen only as an opportunity to shake you down? With my Mexican friends in Monterrey, they always tell me that no one bothers to report robberies and burglaries? Why? If the cops find the robbers, they tell them they will take them to jail unless they share the loot with them. That is routine. If you protest, the cops will threaten you...beat the crap out of some member of your family.
If you are a straight cop in many places, your life is in grave danger. You must participate or you might have an "accident". A friend in Argentina (Mendoza) had his car stolen last year. He checked with the local cops. They laughed at him. Why? Well as it turned out, they were the ones that stole it. Chile is one of the few places in Latin American where the cops are pretty straight.

US cops, like the US Postal Service, really have their problems. Experience the default version of both in much of the world and some redneck cop in the US starts to seem downright decent...LOL which shows just where much of the world is when it comes to law enforcement. Kind of like the postal service in much of the world- its wages plus all you can steal.
I remember organized theft rooms in the back of a couple of Costa Rica post offices. They were using brilliant slide projector light bulbs to scan the contents of all foreign origin mail so that they could steal anything that looked like cash or other valuables.

Recall that recent gang-rape in India? The still surviving women went to the police for help. The cops raped her again.

On an average day with an average cop in the US, you can have a pretty straight transaction.


Live in some third-world dump for a year and then come back and give a full report.

And yes, even though I live in the Philippines, it certainly qualifies as a third world dump for most of its people.
The local cops right here are as corrupt as it gets. I know of a local police chief near here involved in rape, robbery and extortion. Oh, I forgot about the "Salvage" job too. A local poor landowner refused to sell to a friend of the chief.
Big mistake. he was dead within a month.

Some years back in Manila, about $250,000 was budgeted for an anti-police corruption drive. But of course, the money was all stolen by the police agencies involved.

Japan? One of the bright spots within Asia. Generally I think the cops are quite straight. The mail carriers and taxis are pretty straight too...there is a lot to like in Japan.

On the bright side, with living in a third world dump like the Philippines, cops can sometimes be paid off to do the right thing. Everything has a price.


But British cops and cops in Japan? Likely some of the best to be found...

outwest

I agree with Outwest, when I was in Peru. There was times the police wanted bribes, especially checkpoints. Here in Ethiopia, the cops seem kinda straight, but I wonder if anything has to do with the military also patrolling the streets. I got a vibe sometimes when the police talk to me, they are trying to hustle me.

Right now, I have to go to court cause of a thief. The police keep on pushing the date back, wonder if it has to do with them keeping my money as evidence. When I caught him, the people who saw it, grabbed him. Took him to the soldiers first and they slapped him around a bit. Than the soldiers took him to the police, that's when one person warned me to only say he stole 200 birr, instead of the 2000 birr.

I rather deal with cops in the US, even though they have that small man syndrome.

These links will show how f***ed up American cops are:

http://www.copblock.org/

http://www.policemisconduct.net/

British cops are pretty good, in my limited experience. They show admirable restraint when dealing with drunken lads and ladettes at chucking out time when the streets are flowing with beer, blood and vomit.

The quality and behavior of cops in the US is highly dependent on the city that they work in. However, since the job attracts a certain type of people, every department has its stereotype A-hole who is rumored to have written his own mother a speeding ticket for doing 5 mph over the speed limit.

I have no experience with foreign cops. American cops, one thing I will say that is an issue with them in particular compared to foreign cops is steroid abuse. The FBI's even written reports about this basically saying "Hey look, we're getting too many unreasonable use of force complaints because your cops are all on roids." Obviously since they're cops, there's no chance of them getting in trouble for using illicit roids, and it's not hard to get some stuff from a doctor here. One doctor in NYC got in trouble awhile back for that and shot himself/got killed in a mob hit, supplying roids to cops. People were really pissed at cops using their cushy PD health insurance to get $1000 a month HGH prescriptions. But I notice many cops who seem very "hair trigger" like, tend to display signs of steroid use. One cop who really messed with me was a bodybuilder who almost undoubtedly was juiced to the gills. The massive doses of drugs make them more impulsive in things they do.

And it's encouraged, the cops becoming big and gigantic and drugged up, because they want to intimidate people. We're one of the few countries that has law enforcement divisions in strength sports, for example. Most other countries, even if the cops are corrupt don't seem to have this same sort of culture going on. Even the size of American cops. Very rarely you'll see a really jacked up British cop for example (and steroids are legal there) but all the time you'll see huge American cops. Besides even steroids, though, I know for our state police, they won't recruit anyone under 6 feet I think, just because they don't look intimidating enough. So that's an interesting culture.

Are American cops the worst? Well, we've got the highest incarceration rate. So that would mean they're good at arresting people. I mean compared to literal third world countries, maybe they're in general better. But I guess America is "The Second World."

onethousandknives wrote:I have no experience with foreign cops. American cops, one thing I will say that is an issue with them in particular compared to foreign cops is steroid abuse. The FBI's even written reports about this basically saying "Hey look, we're getting too many unreasonable use of force complaints because your cops are all on roids."

Yep. But many of the pigs take roids because they are just plain lazy. They sit around in cars all day eating donuts and becoming fat swine, but want to seem fit and want to pass their fitness tests. The hard way is to exercise, so they take the easy way and do roids. And many other drugs. Freaking monsters.

onethousandknives wrote:Besides even steroids, though, I know for our state police, they won't recruit anyone under 6 feet I think, just because they don't look intimidating enough. So that's an interesting culture

Or anyone over a certain IQ score according to various reports.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/ ... -good-cop/

Cornfed wrote:

onethousandknives wrote:I have no experience with foreign cops. American cops, one thing I will say that is an issue with them in particular compared to foreign cops is steroid abuse. The FBI's even written reports about this basically saying "Hey look, we're getting too many unreasonable use of force complaints because your cops are all on roids."

Yep. But many of the pigs take roids because they are just plain lazy. They sit around in cars all day eating donuts and becoming fat swine, but want to seem fit and want to pass their fitness tests. The hard way is to exercise, so they take the easy way and do roids. And many other drugs. Freaking monsters.

Yep.

American cops are like Alter boys when compared to some cops in foreign countries. While I was in a west African country, I was in a taxi that was stopped at a police checkpoint for no reason. As the cop stood in front of the car, the driver pulled out his papers along with a few notes of the local currency and handed them to the officer. I guess this was an expected tax that the driver was expecting to pay.

I have also heard from other frequent travelers that they have witnessed police killing theives in plain view for all to see. You must remember that in many countries, the people have little to no rights.

Array9 wrote:American cops are like Alter boys when compared to some cops in foreign countries. While I was in a west African country, I was in a taxi that was stopped at a police checkpoint for no reason. As the cop stood in front of the car, the driver pulled out his papers along with a few notes of the local currency and handed them to the officer. I guess this was an expected tax that the driver was expecting to pay.

I have also heard from other frequent travelers that they have witnessed police killing theives in plain view for all to see. You must remember that in many countries, the people have little to no rights.

I met this guy when I was in Haiti last year. Listen to what he says happened to most of Haitian deportees after being dumped in Port Au Prince and assumed things would work as it does with USA cops and legal system. They behaved the same way as they did growing up on streets of say Brooklyn or Miami (stealing and robbing) but got very different treatment down there. All but one of the guys who got sent back with him are already dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMsfxgTeIbM

He talks about the differences starting from 3:58

Rock wrote:

Array9 wrote:American cops are like Alter boys when compared to some cops in foreign countries. While I was in a west African country, I was in a taxi that was stopped at a police checkpoint for no reason. As the cop stood in front of the car, the driver pulled out his papers along with a few notes of the local currency and handed them to the officer. I guess this was an expected tax that the driver was expecting to pay.

I have also heard from other frequent travelers that they have witnessed police killing theives in plain view for all to see. You must remember that in many countries, the people have little to no rights.

I met this guy when I was in Haiti last year. Listen to what he says happened to most of Haitian deportees after being dumped in Port Au Prince and assumed things would work as it does with USA cops and legal system. They behaved the same way as they did growing up on streets of say Brooklyn or Miami (stealing and robbing) but got very different treatment down there. All but one of the guys who got sent back with him are already dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMsfxgTeIbM

He talks about the differences starting from 3:58

Well, in this case, the Blacks can't blame 'Whitey,' for the actions of those foolish Haitians in their own country. Why is it Blacks--even in their home countries--unable to maintain a decorum of respect and behavior in their own societies.

Not to sound racist, but...why is every Black country in the world violent and criminal-filled cesspools? I can't think of any Black majority country that is as safe, peaceful and respectful as any Asian country in the world. Can anyone explain this for me....