Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
I dare say none of this would have happened here as the role of the police and the mentality is very much that they are a service to the people. With that comes a different mentality (I believe) and they don't carry guns or tasers. I realize that things are different in the US and having that kind of force available may be necessary, but from the videos I see and how they for example tase people who don't comply (who wouldn't run from a taser?), it makes me think american police are a bit too willing to use excessive force.
What do you think?
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I understand that, from an outside perspective, it's easy to view police in the US as one monolithic thing but an important thing to keep in mind is that police vary a lot from region to region here. Different municipalities and different states train their police differently from each other and have different standards for who they hire. The city I live in, Philadelphia, no doubt 100% conforms to your view of American police. Here they are often corrupt, out of shape, power-tripping beneficiaries of nepotism. In other parts of the country, however, that is not the case. My wife, for example, used to live in Raleigh where, apparently, the police are required to have a certain level of education, to stay physically fit and overall are the kinds of community servants that you describe.