r/nextfuckinglevel • u/bendubberley_ • 1d ago

A police officer in Mexico prevents someone's suicide attempt, on a bridge, with no safety equipment.

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u/Ellusive1 1d ago

One bad apple is all it takes

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u/PMMEURPYRAMIDSCHEME 1d ago

The saying is one bad apple ruins the bunch, not one bad apple makes the bunch smell bad. Because if you don't take out the bad apple the rot spreads. Any long time cop is guilty of tolerating the bad cops, and that makes them a bad cop too.

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u/StevenStevensonIII 1d ago

Correct take. It’s not that people are mad at all cops bc there’s an occasional bad cop. People are mad that cops protect that bad cop instead of (ironically) self policing. And further, the system protects them and to a certain extent the media does too.

If the apples are capable of calling out a bad cop when they see it, then do it. Otherwise all the apples are implicated in bad apple stuff.

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u/brontosaurusguy 1d ago

Many police precincts are more like mafia, but their target is tax dollars and in many cases, participation in criminal activity.  If members have their doubts, they know the penalty for being a rat.  How many police die in mysterious ambushes?

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u/gorgewall 1d ago

Of course.

Any "good cop" surrounded by "bad cops" either becomes a bad cop themselves or becomes not a cop. The latter can result from them being harassed into quitting, forced out of the job, forced out of life by coworkers, or "mysteriously abandoned in a dangerous situation".

It's why the system can't be reformed from within. There's no amount of good cops we can dump into precincts that'll somehow overpower what's there. We need people outside of the system who have oversight and control over that system.

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u/keostyriaru 1d ago

You can be mad at unions for giving Police Officers such legal protections.

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u/Nesymafdet 13h ago

The system inherently supports its own abuse by those in power, and if anyone does the right thing, they’re often shamed or sanctioned by others who don’t, and forced out of the system, or forced to join the others in abusing the system. I know people who are working to become police in the US and it’s scary because I’d hate for them to be corrupted by the system, especially if their whole purpose is to help people and prevent the trauma they experienced happen to others.

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u/Bladesnake_______ 1d ago

I fully agree with this take but "correct take" is such an arrogant way of thinking. You think you decide what is correct?

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u/honuworld 1d ago

This. I put it this way: If you are a good cop and you see a bad cop do something bad, and you don't report it, now YOU are a bad cop too.

This has got me banned all over reddit.

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u/More_food_please_77 1d ago

Not necessarily true, let's assume the force is corrupt and you will get fired for reporting them, then if you do it there's one less good cop on the force, likely to be replaced by a bad cop.

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u/PeaceCertain2929 1d ago

And the good cop is also replaced by a bad cop by staying: themselves.

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u/K1NGMOJO 16h ago

So don't report the bad cops? I don't understand the logic.

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u/More_food_please_77 11h ago

If you know for a fact that you'll be fired and nothing will happen to him, ultimately nothing positive will come of it, yes of course don't report.

If anything you can see what really goes on and document it.

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u/More_food_please_77 1d ago

You're not responsible to fix problems you ultimately can't fix, you're not a bad person for walking past homeless people, sure they should receive help and their problem shouldn't be a thing to begin with, but this is the situation.

If you can become a cop and do good for your community, you're absolutely a good cop, especially considering that it's not really an option to go against the department if it means you getting fired, you can't do as much good then.

Heck you're probably taking up a spot of a potential bad cop. Win/Win.

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u/onFIREbutnotsoFLY 19h ago

idk man, if i see my co-worker abuse their power over our patient and i dont do anything about it im a bad person. hell, i had a co-worker verbally scream at a patient in front of me some while back and i feel like i failed the pt by not reporting it. cops are known to do way worse shit and their co-workers become complicit.

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u/More_food_please_77 11h ago

I understand the feeling of course, it's a basic human response. But if you know for a fact that nothing will change and you will be punished, then what's the point? If you manage to stay you can document things for real change, as well as being a positive influence.

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u/Complex_Condition828 19m ago

this is absolute bs.

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u/More_food_please_77 19m ago

Explain your argument, or where I'm incorrect.

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u/Complex_Condition828 12m ago

I’m not going to fight you on your weird take. You seem to feel some sort of moral superiority in it. But not reporting a coworker so that you can take up space to be a good guy is crap. The police system is wildly screwed up and instead of taking an honest inventory of all the opportunity for a corruption, you make excuses for them to continue to allow hiding bad cops. This is a such a cop out answer. Actually,this is a COP answer and a weak one at that.

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u/HCSOThrowaway 22h ago

You are so close to getting it I can't decide whether to laugh or cry.

If the only way to prevent rot is to remove the bad apple, why do people like you label the entire bunch rotten instead of digging through them to get rid of the bad apples?

Meanwhile the bad apples are working diligently day and night to get rid of the good apples. They also work to recruit more bad apples, showing those recruits that it doesn't matter what they do, people like you will hate them either way.

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u/onFIREbutnotsoFLY 19h ago

because if left to itself the police wont police themselves. i mean do you not remember Derek Chauvin only got prosecuted because of the public outcry despite the department heads watching the video? without public scrutiny the police wont be held accountable.

And nobody is talking about how the police as a profession has a long history of constantly being on the wrong side of history.

Who were the ones breaking up woman's suffrage protests?: The Police

Who were the people breaking up and antagonizing The Civil rights protesters?: The Police

Who are known to antagonize and break up union strikes?: The Police

Who are currently working with the feds to find random immigrants to deport to a dehumanizing south American prison?: The police

You got to remember that up until recently did police perception started to change in their favor. historically police have always been shown in a negative light.

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u/landon0605 1d ago

But these are people not apples. People that have families to feed and bills to pay. Cops, unlike most jobs would require you to completely relocate your family to find a new job. You can't just go grab a job with the XYZ competitor down the road if you see something you don't like. I'd also argue you don't go blow up your entire work place every time you see something that you would deem unethical. I'd also bet that if you have any work experience, you know how difficult it is to get someone fired even if you decide to be the squeeky wheel and you're actually in a position to fire someone.

Shitty cops should be punished (arrested, jailed given death penalties. Idgaf to be clear), but to lump every cop together based on the shittiest outlier is what children with no experience in the real world do.

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u/Ellusive1 1d ago

Except in America you can literally murder people and get desk duty or transferred to another department with your record sealed. If it’s so easy to protect dirty cops the same protections could easily be afforded to the good ones.

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u/landon0605 1d ago

They do. That's unions for you. Always making sure the lowest denominator has the same rights as the highest.

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u/PeaceCertain2929 1d ago

The police union is not a union anymore than the nazis were socialists. It’s a name for a group of thugs trying to pretend they’re anything but.

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u/brontosaurusguy 1d ago

Bullshit.  Some of us have been repeatedly victimized by police

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u/landon0605 1d ago

You should probably sue your PD for a nice payout if you can prove this at all.

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u/brontosaurusguy 1d ago

No offense guy but you're really living in fantasy land

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u/Arachles 1d ago

Even if they get the payout.

Do you think this is a solution? It will repeat and maybe on time the police abuse is stopping you and keep you behind bars for a few hours but the next is a fucking gun to the head because reasons.

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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka 1d ago

If they were doing a lot of good all the time you'd hear about it.

There's entire towns full of shit cops and they do a lot more bad than an entire city of good cops.

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u/Ellusive1 1d ago

When’s the last time the fire department showed up and made the fire worse?

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u/SummertimeThrowaway2 1d ago

The only issue is the gardener (government/lawmakers) keeps killing the apple trees and doesn’t pick up the rotten fruit on the ground.

So even if you’re a good apple, the gardener makes it hard to stay fresh and ripe.