JoeB131
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2011
- 171,875
- 32,933
In these discussions of Police misconduct and reform and "don't you dare criticize our police" vs. "all cops are bad", we are losing sight of how we got here. Perhaps a parallel case can offer ways forward.
Let's start with this as a baseline. Most cops are good guys. Even the bad cops joined the police with mostly good intention. 99% of them are doing what they are supposed to be doing. And 1% of them are the ones who are abusing suspects or using excessive force in cases that don't call for it.
By comparison, most Catholic Priests were not engaging in sex abuse. yes, there were some documented 700 priests out off some 42,000 ordained who were engaged in sexual misconduct with children in the US.
The problem with both is not that the majority engaged or even condoned the behavior, but what they did in response to it.
The Catholic Church didn't expell the bad priests. They paid off the families to keep the abuse quiet and often moved the offending priest to another parish without warning them. They got everyone involved to sign NDA's. In short, it was the coverup that was the problem, not just the crime.
Much the same, our Police Departments don't expel the bad cops. You take the most high-profile cases of police misconduct, you find officers who had long records of abusing suspects or civilians, but the police departments did very little to get rid of them. Police Departments investigated themselves, and in 99% of cases, found they had committed no wrongdoing.
I do think the Catholics finally admitted they had a problem, and have done something about it. The police, not so much. Reform is needed.
Let's start with this as a baseline. Most cops are good guys. Even the bad cops joined the police with mostly good intention. 99% of them are doing what they are supposed to be doing. And 1% of them are the ones who are abusing suspects or using excessive force in cases that don't call for it.
By comparison, most Catholic Priests were not engaging in sex abuse. yes, there were some documented 700 priests out off some 42,000 ordained who were engaged in sexual misconduct with children in the US.
The problem with both is not that the majority engaged or even condoned the behavior, but what they did in response to it.
The Catholic Church didn't expell the bad priests. They paid off the families to keep the abuse quiet and often moved the offending priest to another parish without warning them. They got everyone involved to sign NDA's. In short, it was the coverup that was the problem, not just the crime.
Much the same, our Police Departments don't expel the bad cops. You take the most high-profile cases of police misconduct, you find officers who had long records of abusing suspects or civilians, but the police departments did very little to get rid of them. Police Departments investigated themselves, and in 99% of cases, found they had committed no wrongdoing.
I do think the Catholics finally admitted they had a problem, and have done something about it. The police, not so much. Reform is needed.