[Knockwurst]

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The good ones (98%)...

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Do you really consider 98% of cops to be "good cops"?

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Yes.

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Have to disagree with this. I worked 7 years as a prosecutor in NYC D.A.'s Office and am now in private practice. No where close to 98% of the cops are good cops. Maybe 60-75%.

Here are some of the problems:

1) Cops who started out good but turned cynical, because of poor relations with the community they serve (as many communities in NYC have a distrust or antipathy toward the police), they've soured on the whole job.

2) Cops who started out good, but turned cynical based on their frequent interactions with the justice system (ahole judges, demanding prosecutors and badgering defense attorneys). This leads them to the phenomena of testilying, where they color testimony to help the chances of a conviction (especially in a search resulting in drugs being found). I believe it happens often, but for some it might be consolation that the accused is often guilty. Flaking (ie. planting evidence is much more rare).

3) Cops starting out good but get off on the power trip of having complete authority in the field.

4) Then there are the bad ones to begin with, who lie cheat and steal just like in any other profession.

5) Then there's the good ones who are honest and hard working and remain so.

60-75% are in category 5. There are a lot of temptations for cops, and yes even the bad ones put their bacon on the line every day and you can't take that away from them.

But saying 98% are good is ridiculous. BTW, the worst cops by far are the ones who work narcotics. Over all, worst attitude, lazy, often could care less once they've made the arrest, and many times dishonest. Something about it, maybe it's seeing some thug walking around with 10k in his pocket, brings out the worst in these cops.

Finally, the vast majority of cops have no respect for defense attorneys and little more for prosecutors. Ultimately, they feel like the only ones they can trust are their fellow brothers and sisters in blue.