How is someone that gets out of breath eating a donut going to protect and serve anyone?
Cops with guns don’t have to run… 🤷♂️
Why are American cops allowed to be morbidly obese?
Submitted 2 weeks ago by snausagesinablanket@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Comments
over_clox@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
FenrirIII@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You better run, better run outrun my gunjagged_circle@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
Why are people upvoting you for supporting school shooters?
BossDj@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Cities in pretty much the entire country are running with an understaffed police force. They’ll take what they can get. I’m 100% pro Union, but another problem is that police unions help protect unfit (literally and figuratively) police from being forced to try harder by abusing protected status health claims. I’ve seen in both police and military, they are handed paperwork if they are not meeting fitness expectations, but nothing ever comes of it.
verdigris@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Police unions are the only bad union.
grue@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
All labor unions are good. Police unions are not.
This is because police unions are not labor unions, since police are not labor but rather the enforcers for the owner class.
floo@retrolemmy.com 2 weeks ago
They’re illegal in many other countries
kobra@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
So bad in fact, they’ve often made me wonder if any union is worth it if that’s the risk of what they could become.
derry@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
“They’ll take what they can get.” Except for the smart ones. abcnews.go.com/US/…/story?id=95836
BossDj@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
…well shit. Too smart to be an officer is a thing.
grue@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Cities in pretty much the entire country are running with an understaffed police force.
Counterpoint: Americans are already overpoliced and the “understaffing” is only relative to the authoritarians’ desire to make us even more so.
BossDj@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Makes sense. Maybe they wouldn’t be understaffed if they were utilized in places that actually mattered to people
sprite0@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
understaffed my asshole
Sprinks@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I…i didnt realize this needed staffing…
Zenith@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
France doesn’t let the police unionize, it’s the only group in the country try explicitly and expressly forbade from unionizing. Police should never be to unionize
kaki@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
The only group that can’t unionize is the military, there’s plenty of police unions in France.
octobob@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I live in Pittsburgh and there are literally no cops on duty from like 3-5 AM or something. We haven’t had a police chief in years, and I never see cops unless there’s a violent crime or a car accident or overdose. You can kinda do whatever you want in terms of traffic laws. I’ve never even heard of someone getting a traffic ticket in the city, and most times if you’re actually goin the speed limit you’re a hazard that isn’t following the flow of traffic. Completely different story in the suburbs outside the city.
It kinda rules not gonna lie.
CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Additionally, cities that want physically fit officers have unions that demand that they are paid to work out. Cities don’t want to pay for that.
So, usually the fitness requirements are only used when applying but aren’t used when you are in the force.
Damage@feddit.it 2 weeks ago
cities that want physically fit officers have unions that demand that they are paid to work out
Seems fairly reasonable to me
LordGimp@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
You misunderstand. Cops in the US have no legal obligation to protect OR serve anyone. Check out the NY subway guy that was attacked with a knife while cops watched from 10 feet away behind bulletproof glass. They literally hid in the conductor booth and watched this guy get stabbed in the fucking face repeatedly.
Not only did the guy survive, he actually overpowered and subdued the attacker. Guy brought a suit against the NYPD for failing to protect him when their motto at the time was literally “Protect and serve”. Long story short, the end result is that he got a real live judge to say out loud that police have no actual duty to protect you when it could endanger themselves. Coupled with your observation on the obesity of American cops, it could be argued that walking down the street to issue a ticket could be lethal for the cop in question and therefore they have no obligation to do it, they simply choose to do it out of spite.
PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Reminds me of my favorite Simpson’s quote.
_Marge (to Bart): “Your father wanted to be a police officer but they said he was too heavy.”
Homer: “No the army said I was too heavy, the police said I was too dumb.”_
grue@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
Considering how dumb the police chief is on that show, I think it was an intentional joke
OceanSoap@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I think once you pass the physical strength/endurance exam to become a cop, you don’t have to take any to remain one. I definitely think that should change, though. Make them pass once a year to retain their job.
madcaesar@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Fuck the physical part, they should take yearly psychological exams and have continuous education on conflict resolution.
ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
They don’t even have to pass those if they don’t want to. In portions of America it is just: win an election, appoint your friends and lackies.
A lot of departments use the admission tests to screen out candidates who might be overqualified: they specifically won’t want the best. An overwight blob is preferable to an in shape individual that might think before acting.
waggz@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
There are definitely agencies that do exactly what you described. The one I’m most familiar with has a sliding scale based on age and they are required to pass annually.
Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Never met anyone who was too fat to shoot minorities. 🤷🏻♂️
Jhex@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
How is someone that gets out of breath eating a donut going to protect and serve anyone?
They don’t serve anyone
jagged_circle@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
What? They definitely serve rich people. Why do you think they were created?
doingthestuff@lemy.lol 2 weeks ago
Or protect. They might protect those donuts tho.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Our law enforcement is a huge joke and the meh pay, high turnover rate, and low bar of entry attracts the type of people you wouldn’t want to be associated with to begin with.
But also, why are small framed 5’3 women allowed to be police?
Fact is, most cops can’t outrun or overpower a lot of criminals who chose to resist or flee. In actuality that’s a pretty tiny part of the job. The rest is tickets, reports, paperwork, arrests with no resistance, investigations, etc. you don’t have to be an athlete or even very physically fit to do any of that. Id rather deal with a fat cop that isn’t a dick more than a slim one who’s a dumbass.
richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 2 weeks ago
They are not required to serve and protect. US courts say so.
silentjohn@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Many departments don’t require physical tests once hired.
Most of the work cops do is domestic disturbance calls and traffic stops. There’s no reason to be physically fit for either of those jobs. Also, most people see the day shift and in nicer neighborhoods; again there’s really no need for physicality. Getting on day shift and good area means you’ve been on the police a while and “earned it” (or you have some clout), so usually olderish cops.
The young jacked mfers usually are on the night shift and in rougher neighborhoods.
Additionally, a bullet resistant vest and all the gear will make you look bigger/fatter than you really are.
So it’s kind of a combo of all that.
Also, ACAB
thermal_shock@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Plus they’re not going to run you down, they’re going to taser you in the back and watch you face plant into the asphalt. They don’t give a fuck. They’re going to dog pile and twist your arm until you “comply”, no need to communicate more than that. Comply or die. Bullet will outrun you every time. Fuck cops.
andros_rex@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And when they show up on a domestic dispute, they’ll take the abusers side so that they don’t have to risk any form of conflict. The battered spouse isn’t going to fight you if you try to arrest them! (2 and half years now - no answers or report on why “your husband wants to move in a prostitute - time for you to leave” happened)
Bloomcole@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
to protect and serve is not their job.
bss03@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
“protect and serve” is copaganda, since SCOTUS ruled on en.wikipedia.org/…/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia in late 1981. “Fun” animated video to describe same: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAfUI_hETy0
NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Lookup Philip Brailsford. History of brutality, executed a pest control worker for doing his job with his own personal AR-15 engraved with “you’re fucked” on the side, there is full video evidence of the man crying and begging for his life on his knees with his hands on his head, Brailsford was rewarded for it with a full pension and an early retirement.
Bloomcole@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And this:
reason.com/…/man-gets-stabbed-on-subway-guess-how…Also used successfully as a precedent when the cowards waited in the hall while a shooter was on a rampage in a school a few years ago.
D_C@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
xav@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
To protect and serve the rich
kreskin@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Why are they also so clearly low iq, and hyper violent?
and why are they paid so well?Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That’s by design.
thermal_shock@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Paid to keep the poor in place between wars.
barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Police forces deliberately filter out intelligent people because A) the job is mostly really boring, and smart people don’t like boring jobs, and 2) Smart people won’t put up with the open racism, corruption, and general bullshit of cops.
Ever notice on the news, that the local police chief always sounds like a swaggering, arrogant dumbass? It’s because he was promoted from a professional gene pool that was compromised from the start. He’s was just the biggest arrogant swaggering dumbass out of big pool of arrogant swaggering dumbasses.
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Non joke answer: A bunch of reasons. Many precincts are understaffed, so they need all the hands they can get. The police union is huge and makes it extremely difficult to fire even the most homer-simpsonian individuals. Many of the hugely obese cops are assigned to “light duty” meaning the most exertion they face is paperwork, manning the public information desk and or doing things like serving writs (in some cases you’re even allowed to wear the uniformneven if you’re not a bonded officer). Additionally, fitness requirements are actually fairly rare across the whole spectrum of law enforcement - It’s surprisingly rare to see them for any positions besides uniformed patrol officer, even detectives or etc. aren’t always required to pass them - and even when you do, they’re usually pathetically easy to pass.
Echo5@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Heard from a local cop that it had something to do with the union. If the department wants to implement a standard the union would require something or other. Something about an incentive? I didn’t get the whole picture obviously. I know police need unions in case somebody sues them but does seem kind of dumb that it’s so difficult to enforce a physical standard.
Delphia@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Now I dont work in the law enforcement industry but I do work in an industry that has supposed fitness requirements although they arent enforced.
For us, the union told them “If they have to maintain a weight of X to remain employed. You have to pay them to hit the gym on company time or pay their gym fees and an allowance.” So the company filed that away under “fuck that”. Now if you get too fat for the equipment they just move you to a different duty, often one with a shitload of walking around.
theblips@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
It’s a fair enough requirement from the union
Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Guns.
LordWiggle@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
From what I’ve seen, they don’t even learn about the law and often break the law by illegal detainment, searches and confiscation. Cops who served for over 20 years but don’t know people their rights. They often get minimal training while having to serve alone where everyone carries a gun. That’s asking for problems. And now cops in the US are militarized with heavy combat gear, while the majority is white and racist. So obesity is the least of the problems with US police.
PurpleGameBoy@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Cops serve capital, not us.
undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 2 weeks ago
Everyone’s so fucking obese here that most people don’t even notice.
abbadon420@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Blend in with the crowd
lechekaflan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In my part of the world, cops are near on top of the food chain in any town and city, sometimes literally getting a free pass as long as they do something for a politician, a celebrity, or a business personality. So some of them, especially senior officers, do eventually get obese because not only they get to choose what duties they want to carry out, but also either they have three full square meals plus two snacks a day, or maybe a drinking party two to four times a month.
Of course they’re a government agency, but also they’re a fraternity: “you scratch my back as long as I scratch yours”.
LonstedBrowryBased@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
They just need to be able to drive a car and pull the trigger on their gun
Lembot_0003@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I believe that they are not allowed. Some of them just are.
Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 2 weeks ago
Cops don’t exist to protect you and they don’t have to be physically fit to serve their purpose: using the threat of violence and the prison industrial complex to protect the interests of capital.
FreakinSteve@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
NYPD is an army with offices around the world and pays as much as $600,000/year to individuals for pension.
They are not a police force; they are a Mafia.
Most small town.police forces are the same.
Their job is not to stop crime; it is to serve the wealthy and crush their opponents.
This is why every American should be armed at all times and ready to defend each other immediately.
Etterra@discuss.online 2 weeks ago
Chicago is the same. The CPD union is basically a shadow government.
absolutejank@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
to give an answer to a rhetorical question: because firing people based on weight is a can of worms being opened. while it’s still technically not illegal to fire someone because their weight makes them “unfit,” the ada can be invoked if said obesity is caused by a disorder (e.g., type 1 diabetes). this ignores the fact that it’s hard to prove that someone would be unfit just for their weight; it just opens up employers to lawsuits. a simpler way to think about it would be to ask yourself if the guy handing out speeding tickets is “unfit for duty” solely because he’s obese.
moody@lemmings.world 2 weeks ago
The easy way around this is to require passing regular fitness tests. If your obesity isn’t an impediment to the fitness test, then it shouldn’t be an impediment to your job.
MTK@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Kind of an over amplification. Yeah, cops should ideally be fit-ish but even an obese person with a gun or a tazer can protect people, maybe not as well but still, and that doesn’t take into account the fact that a lot of cops are not actually on the streets but rather in an office doing paperwork etc. The problems are:
- There are maybe not enough cops that are fit for actual fights?
- Cops are ridiculously undertrained and unfiltered, giving us all if these assholes that really just like power.
FuckFascism@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
By being racist?
SassyRamen@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Don’t live there, but I think something to do with Dunkin Donuts
theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Just as well as any other cop
some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
The point is to punish, not to protect. Fatasses can punish just fine.
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Fatasses can punish just fine.
Not when everybody can run circles around them and run away at the same time…
dbx12@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
That’s why they are armed like they go to a war zone. Don’t need to be fast off you have weaponry which has more reach than even the fittest guy can run before they pull the trigger. Survival of the suspect is optional.
Bgugi@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Neither protecting or serving are actual job requirements.
LemmyIsReddit2Point0@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I think NPR or PBS can’t lie on the news or over the air public local news. The over the air news usually will have a PSA opinion piece and it’s usually by the owners and mostly sways right. Cable news is free for all and one sided.
andros_rex@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Rest in piss Ronnie Raygun!
sramder@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is a common misconception in the U.S., it’s not even the car’s job… that crappy sticker has the shittiest union.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
That sticker was exclusive to the LAPD, but it kept turning up in films made in Hollywood set elsewhere, so other regions adopted it eventually too.