What are the police REALLY for?

Next they'll be ordering for us in restaurants ( FAT POLICE),checking the MPG on our cars ( FUEL POLICE ),leading us in morning exercise ( FITNESS POLICE ) and checking what we read or watch on TV ( THOUGHT POLICE ).

Where are they going to get all those police?

They'll give Criminals honest work as POLICE.

How liberal can you get?

Remember one thing, the police CAN NOT protect you from crime. In order for the police to protect you you would have to have an officer on every corner 24 hrs aday, and that's not gonna happen. The only thing they can do is respond to a crime in progress and hopefully catch someone, or just make a "report" after the fact. They can stop petty crime by giving out tickets or citations for such things as tail light out or throwing a candy bar wrapper on the sidewalk. Do get me wrong we need the police and its not there fault for not being able to stop crime, this country is so overcrowded and full of delinquents they are not able to keep up.

It's not the cops that pass the BS laws, They just have to enforce them, Most of them will just let the stupid stuff go but their is always one that is strictly by the book. If you want someone to blame look at the politicians and the people who vote for them, They are the ones that are passing all the crap laws. If you want change get involved, Don't waste your time complaining on-line it won't get any thing resolved

Support your local police, With out them there would be chaos on the streets the bad guy's would have no reason to be afraid

The police are present to protect the safety of the general public, cite offenders that break the law and collect information on crimes that have already been committed.

There is no mandate for the police to protect your personal safety or catch the criminal who robbed your house. They take the information and if (big IF) they happen to come across the perpetrator, they can arrest them, but really that's it.

You are responsible for your own (and your family's) personal safety on a day to day basis. The police will not help you do that; in fact, they will refuse to do that - its not their job.

First off there is both criminal and civil law. Police are to enforce criminal law. They are there to enforce ALL of the criminal law, not just the little nit pick things you mentioned, however they can't leave it out. You break the law, any part of it, your a criminal. And really, have you worked side by side with an officer to actually know what he/she is doing all day? Or are you just basing this on what you see on your way to work or something?

unfortunately, the police do have to enforce a lot of silly laws that you didn't vote for... but wait a minute... somebody wrote and passed those laws, right??

And why would they do that.... oh that's right... because they think they are acting in the best interests of SOCIETY... so this is one of those "for the greater good" kinda things.

I think there are a lot of dumb laws that have been passed by elected officials that are enforced by police officers. Then again, aren't glad that there is "no glass" on the beach rules or "no public nudity" when the fat, drunk, ugly guy wants to impress you and your friends with his "big stick"? Sometimes those same rules are good to have around... and sometimes they are inconvenient. The "greater good"....

Best of Luck

What bugs me most about the police are not the police themselves, but rather how society (mainly encouraged through the media and government) tends to always imply that they are somehow superior to others in terms of importance.

Several years back an officer was killed in my hometown. There were helicoptors in the air and a general atmosphere of emergency in the city that day. He was mentioned in one way or another in the local paper every day for weeks. There was gun salute, some kind of an air show (that I didn't see,) and even a street was named after him. Not to mention the dramatic trial that ensued with lots of media coverage.

Compare this with some black kid in a poor neighborhood getting gunned down, or some middle-aged person dying of cancer. You barely hear anything. No air show for them.

politics politics politics. It all revolves around politics and of course the definition of politics is of course a person who has the ability to lie,cheat,care less for the general public and a good politician has the ability to hide all of this.A good politician will convince the public of one thing and then turn around and do just the opposite which result in the rich getting richer and the poor or middle class getting poorer which all revolves around one thing.money

Now the police are actually politicians for thecity.Most of these people are wanting to be police and help protect but then they are stuck.in order to survive and make a crappy living,they are stuck with all these laws that the upper politicians are making to help make them richer and of course just like any other job,you either follow their rules or you find yourself unemployed.Either way you look at it we are all owned by the governments and we either follow thir rules or we get punished.We get fines that we cant pay which results in us ending up in a government facility where we work for absolutly nothing.

We all screwed no matter how ya look at it

I think you are right, they are not having to enforce stupid crap. Think about this when you vote for your State politicians. They are the ones forcing the police to babysit. The police are lazy nowday, Someone threatened to kill me and left a note on my door saying this, and the cops came out and told me "we can't do anything till he hurts you".....This is why people buy guns I guess....

Police enforce the laws passed by the people of your state through their elected representatives in the state legislature. If you don’t like the laws, work to change them, that’s our form of democracy. You can always try another country, but all the other developed countries (Europe, Australia, New Zealand, ect) have MUCH MORE INTRUSIVE LAWS!

So good luck with your representatives, try for the topless sunbathing, that’s one you should start with, yep.

If you're saying there are a lot of B.S. laws cops have to enforce, I agree. You should add tickets for car inspections, taillights out and other nonsense. Its not the cops fault though, even though I don't think that's what you mean. A lot of it is because towns need revenue and its much harder and dangerous to go after crack dealers.