Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop

'We used to have informal contests for who could cite or arrest someone for the weirdest law. DUI on a bicycle, non-regulation number of brooms on your tow truck (27700(a)(1) of the California Vehicle Code)… shit like that. For me, police work was a logic puzzle for arresting people, regardless of their actual threat to the community. As ashamed as I am to admit it, it needs to be said: stripping people of their freedom felt like a game to me for many years.'

'In fact, let me tell you about an extremely formative experience: in my police academy class, we had a clique of around six trainees who routinely bullied and harassed other students: intentionally scuffing another trainee’s shoes to get them in trouble during inspection, sexually harassing female trainees, cracking racist jokes, and so on. Every quarter, we were to write anonymous evaluations of our squadmates. I wrote scathing accounts of their behavior, thinking I was helping keep bad apples out of law enforcement and believing I would be protected. Instead, the academy staff read my complaints to them out loud and outed me to them and never punished them, causing me to get harassed for the rest of my academy class. That’s how I learned that even police leadership hates rats. That’s why no one is “changing things from the inside.” They can’t, the structure won’t allow it.'

I think once we have our revolution, all those ACABs should be assigned to black people as their personal assistant wink wink.

I don't even care if they were "good" ACABs.

If you cannot accept contrition when it comes, even if too late for your tastes, you're just as bad as those you detest, and complicit in perpetuating the same cycle of sin.

If you want to lay claim to the moral high ground, you still have to actually act as one that must that inhabits it. Not merely abstain from the extrema of behavior of those you deem lessers through their actions.

It's refreshing to at least have one admit it, and you should be thrilled to see that even now, sentiment amongst those you consider guilty is turning them toward the path of redemption.

Unless, again, you're just as bad as they are, and you're just looking to change the subjects of suffering in the world instead of reducing the overall amount.

It isn't exactly an uncommon personality trait. So at least you're in good company if that is the case.

My critique is mostly tactical, as in, I am literally saying ‘we don’t need you in this discussion anymore, even to provide insight’.

This is something that can happen after egregious patterns over time. It is a valid consequence.

There’s almost nothing they have to lend to the debate anymore, those opportunities existed for ages.

We’ll fix this without them. My stance on this is as valid as their need to have a say.

If this stance is a problem that ails the world, that’s fine, it a better problem than what comes with whatever police have to express at this point.

It’s a better problem.

Edit: I just want to add, the cop is also admitting to crimes. Is the modern blog post ornamentation? Where you can dress yourself up in absolution? Wonderful you put it in blog form. We have no time for it, plus your guilty of crimes. How poetic.

I find the post hard to believe. There's zero evidence any of this is real.