[2Wycked]

Admittedly, I have a complicated relationship with the police. I love to rail against them as symbols, but respect them in person. Not surprising for a person with narcissistic issues.

Still, I am a big fan of what is termed "community policing." I think police officers should cultivate better relations with the citizens in their district. It helps officers to see people as humans instead of perps or witnesses and helps people become better acquainted with their local force.

Personally, I talk about how country folk approach life better than city folk, but I see this on display with policing. Sure, small-town cops are dicks to outsiders - that much is true. However, with known people, the situation is much smoother. In my thread on the country, I mentioned by friend's neighbor getting busted by the Feds.

One officer was savvy about country folk, because he approached my friend's family after busting the next-door meth lab. He shook hands and asked my friend's big and burly dad about his Harley. Fed had game. But he nailed it when my friend's mom invited him in for a "hot plate" (dinner). The cop was "ah, shucks" and came in for dinner. Although he didn't get much out of my friend's family that he didn't already know (they were pretty oblivious) he built a solid relationship with the family. He would stop in and talk to them whenever he had some leads about drugs in the town.

You could say that is about lowering people's defenses against government intervention. A fair point.

However, cops -- especially at the local level -- exert great discretion in their job. I know a cop who let a guy off on DUI just because the cop knew once he phoned that guy's Dad the guy was going to get some serious shit. I knew a guy busted with a joint and the cop simply drove him home and his mom was waiting to give homeboy a lecture.

What are your opinions about American policing? Should cops emphasize social relations as a way of bettering people's behavior? What changes should or need to be in our system to advance justice or rehabilitation?

As long as it is about policing, this seems to be a pretty wide open thread.