It is important to distinguish between cautious and combative attitudes.
Joel Send a noteboard - 09/11/2011 02:24:43 PM
I am very ambivalent about that, 'cos the fact is: You very well might, and the cop has no way to know beforehand. I am actually more surprised cops here are not more cautious in that respect, because every time they pull over a speeder they roll the dice, plain and simple: They could get to the window and find a little gray haired old lady who can barely see the road through her cataracts, or the Hells Angel who has that little old ladys dismembered body in the trunk: Luck of the draw.
I dunno, I suppose cops here just don't have much reason to be cautious beyond the regular level. You make an extreme example with the Hells Angel, but even someone with a corpse in their trunk are less likely to have a gun ready here than just the axe they used. To leave the extreme cases: in every day situations where cops stop someone speeding who just had the worst day of his life, is now about to lose his license and all common sense, he is less likely to reach for a gun over here, so the cops have no reasons to have their hands on their's either.
True and so, but I would expect a cop encountering the axe murderer (a question whose answer is impossible to know beforehand) to go for their gun rather than trying to overcome an axe with a baton. It certainly does not help that guns are more common in the US (or so I believe; I do not know the German regs on private citizen gun ownership, but would expect them to be more strict) and killing is far easier with a gun, but the same principle applies generally. Cops cannot afford to "leave the extreme cases," because, however uncommon and unlikely in a particular instance, they do exist, so a cop who disregards them puts his life at risk, especially patrolmen without partners.
So I may not blame the US cops for the "better safe than sorry" attitude, but the bossy image they have is not easily excused anyway.
That is pretty much my view of it: Like I say, I am very ambivalent, because I appreciate the priority they MUST place on caution, but know too well that many cops act aggressively rather than cautiously, which is never excusable. Some cops think their badge and gun make them unaccountable gods, but that is a wholly separate issue from cops exercising due caution when approaching an uncertain encounter. I think part of the reason small town cops and rural sheriffs are more prone to aggression is that such behavior is unwelcome in big city police forces; sometimes it is the REASON former metropolitan officers find themselves writing speeding tickets to motorists in the middle of nowhere, and knowing that only makes them more bitter and vindictive.
You may recall me citing this notorious case a few times, but I cannot help thinking there was a reason Jimmy Fennell went to police academy in Dallas but wound up an officer in tiny towns like Giddings and Georgetown that lack the revenue for police academies of their own. Maybe that police academy graduated him because they were unaware of him telling a classmate that if a woman cheated on him he would strangle her with his belt to avoid leaving finger prints, but there were surely other red flags that encouraged places like Dallas and Houston to reject him. Georgetown, on the other hand, is the place where city police (twice) found the Williamson County sheriff drunk and urinating on the side of the road but simply picked him up and drove him home, so I can see why Fennell might be more acceptable there. However, even Georgetown was not willing to overlook him responding to a domestic disturbance call where he subsequently kidnapped a woman at gunpoint and sexually assualted her. Take away his gun, however, and he probably does the same thing with his baton, confident his badge will deflect any negative consequences (after all, it let him get away with murder.)
In general, I think it depends on your location and circumstances, and often on which law enforcement agency is involved. On one of our many road trips from WI to TX and back, moondog and I found ourselves in the foothills of the TN mountains around 3AM on a clear night, and took advantage of the opportunity for some stargazing at relatively high altitude away from light pollution. While we were parked beside the road a TN state trooper drove by and noticed two guys parked by the road in the middle of nowhere staring at the sky at 3AM, so he pulled over to ask why. He ran our ID through the computer, saw we were not behaving erratically, then told us to have a nice night and drove off to catch criminals.
Had it been a rural county sheriff or small town peace officer things it might have gone more like the night when my parents were driving home from Houston at 3AM and a cop turned on his flashing lights as he pulled onto the highway, then wrote my father a ticket for failing to dim his lights to oncoming traffic (i.e. the cop.) My father had not received a ticket for about 20 years, which the TX Dept. of Public Safety rewarded by MAILING him renewed licenses without even the need to come in and retake the eyetest. The cop responded to that by informing him "that's not a license" to which my father replied, "well, it's what DPS gave me." Since we were in a rental, the cop then demanded the rental companys phone number so he could call and verify the car was not stolen. At 3AM. On Saturday night. In the end, my father was cited for failing to dim his lights (carrying a fine of nearly $200 in the late eighties, which was still the second least expensive citation they had) and my mother and I drive an alternate route between Houston and Austin to this very day; they got their pound of flesh, and it is the last they will ever see from us.
Whether US cops are aggressive depends on the police force and circumstances; most of them match courtesy with courtesy, but the farther you get from the cities the less oversight they get, and the more incestuous their relationship with it becomes. That opens the door for bad apples, but the inherent danger of law enforcement in a nation of 310 million is always present. Say there is a one in a million chance of running into the axe-wielding Hells Angel: That means there are 310 of them roaming America at any given time, and they rarely slow to 20 mph for school zones, so the odds a cop pulls one over for speeding are greater than the odds of meeting one any other time. In places where a liquor store robbery is the crime of the century, a lot of cops have a more cavalier attitude; in places that average several dozen murders annually cops are less inclined to look for trouble. The one constant is that caution is advisable everywhere but, once again, it is critical to distinguish between a cop exercising due caution because he is entering an unknown situation in an inherently dangerous job versus a cop behaving with aggressive disregard because he thinks his office entitles him to do so.
Honorbound and honored to be Bonded to Mahtaliel Sedai
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!
LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!
LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
America's Quirks noticed by Non-Americans
07/11/2011 06:55:22 PM
- 2300 Views
Wait, in Europe they leave soap on dishes to dry?
07/11/2011 08:25:33 PM
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It's very regional. They always do that in that other country where they are insane. Like denmark. *NM*
07/11/2011 09:18:26 PM
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I had to ask one of the Brits I worked with about that one
08/11/2011 04:48:11 PM
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I can't even imagine not rinsing them. Like you, I didn't realize anyone did that? *NM*
08/11/2011 04:55:33 PM
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Depends on how much washing-up liquid you put in the water.
09/11/2011 08:13:51 AM
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I don't think it's different.
09/11/2011 04:30:58 PM
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It isn't. I was going to say exactly the same thing about the laziness and "soap."
09/11/2011 05:42:44 PM
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We are talking about washing dishes by hand, right?
09/11/2011 06:50:09 PM
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Yes. And here's the difference between what you do and what I do:
09/11/2011 07:08:06 PM
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EWIE!!! I can't imagine eating soap with every meal... That can't be good for you. *NM*
10/11/2011 01:48:16 AM
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Who are these weirdos who say Americans write checks to pay for things?
07/11/2011 08:27:24 PM
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The problem with these things is that you always get the entire US answering them
07/11/2011 09:32:07 PM
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I'm guessing everybody who's been to the US outside NYC, then.
07/11/2011 09:42:10 PM
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No pretty much everywhere in the US people use plastic 99% of the time *NM*
08/11/2011 12:31:49 AM
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This totally depends where you are.
08/11/2011 12:57:11 AM
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Once again, that isn't what they were talking about
08/11/2011 01:29:19 PM
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You know I worked in a store, right?
08/11/2011 01:49:36 PM
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I repeat: I have NEVER seen someone pay by check in a store since 1989. *NM*
08/11/2011 01:56:59 PM
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I know you travel quite frequently, but I'll refer you to Paul's comment above re: New York. *NM*
08/11/2011 02:10:36 PM
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I spent 1990-1999 in the South, you know. *NM*
08/11/2011 02:46:19 PM
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I knew you'd gotten around.
08/11/2011 03:06:20 PM
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I would call one to two checks a week pretty rare
08/11/2011 06:28:59 PM
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Which is still more often than places that never use them.
08/11/2011 06:58:30 PM
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Oops. This is Jen. Don't start attacking! Eep. *NM*
08/11/2011 06:59:09 PM
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Always good to see couples know each other's passwords
08/11/2011 07:19:18 PM
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I think I know it, but I actually was accidentally in his account. He put the computer down.
08/11/2011 08:08:45 PM
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*I* at least was mostly thinking about rent checks. But yes, I've seen it in stores too.
08/11/2011 09:47:58 PM
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so paper checks are history in ???
08/11/2011 10:51:01 PM
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Belgium. *NM*
08/11/2011 11:13:22 PM
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Rent checks. Utility checks. *NM*
07/11/2011 10:47:58 PM
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Exactly - instead of automated bank transfers. *NM*
07/11/2011 10:50:39 PM
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They still do this in Britain too.
08/11/2011 01:13:52 AM
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What's weirdest about British rent...
08/11/2011 09:48:43 PM
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Re: Who are these weirdos who say Americans write checks to pay for things?
08/11/2011 05:52:19 PM
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I pay the chiropractor with a check. He doesn't have a card reader and I never have cash.
08/11/2011 10:56:47 PM
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Can you buy alcohol in the US at any time?
07/11/2011 08:41:41 PM
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In most countries of Europe you can too, to my knowledge... as long as the store is open.
07/11/2011 09:43:47 PM
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I t varies ste to state or even county to county and city to city
08/11/2011 12:35:27 AM
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We can turn right on a red light too
07/11/2011 09:48:38 PM
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Really? I thought that was unique to the US.
08/11/2011 12:34:14 PM
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The French can do it too.
08/11/2011 03:34:39 PM
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The French are shameless; first they stole our national colors, now this.
09/11/2011 01:19:47 PM
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That's mostly Italy, France is not so bad.
09/11/2011 08:02:51 PM
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That makes sense, but I have heard horrible tales about French farmers in trucks.
09/11/2011 10:24:01 PM
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Cops
08/11/2011 06:31:08 PM
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It is important to distinguish between cautious and combative attitudes.
09/11/2011 02:24:43 PM
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If there's a green right-turn filter light, then you aren't turning right on a red at all . *NM*
08/11/2011 03:33:36 PM
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It's not a light. It's a sign of a green arrow
08/11/2011 03:47:22 PM
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But it's a light that goes on and off.
08/11/2011 06:02:48 PM
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Yes, a permanent sign.
08/11/2011 06:18:26 PM
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Ah, I see. We don't have those, so I thought you meant something different.
08/11/2011 06:47:23 PM
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For me, the strangest thing is the phrase "could care less"
07/11/2011 10:43:54 PM
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In fairness...
07/11/2011 10:50:13 PM
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I think that's just a case of it being said too quickly and slurred too much
08/11/2011 02:14:14 AM
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"you have another thing coming" and "it all goes well" grrrrrrrrrrr
08/11/2011 10:19:27 AM
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Your last question, and a variation of it, was my recurrent thought while reading the list.
08/11/2011 12:38:53 PM
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that is really what stood out to you the most going from Australia to the US?
08/11/2011 04:45:21 PM
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It's "couldn't care less" in America, or at least it is in the part where I live. *NM*
08/11/2011 06:01:50 PM
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It's couldn't care less everywhere- some people just say it incorrectly. *NM*
08/11/2011 06:09:08 PM
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Interesting about the flag.
08/11/2011 04:16:12 AM
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I wonder how much of that is American and how much is European culture.
08/11/2011 12:53:15 PM
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More like "we tend to equate respecting a flag with liking a country"
08/11/2011 01:57:26 PM
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Part of it is, as Joel notes, a general European trauma that isn't shared by some.
08/11/2011 09:56:22 PM
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Because my husband lived in England and has family there, I knew some of these. BUT...
08/11/2011 12:42:07 PM
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It varies here, it's certainly not unusual to have a space between.
08/11/2011 10:00:38 PM
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Huh. Only ever saw those holes in the ground in Belgium. and had to pay to use them.
09/11/2011 03:28:35 PM
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I've never seen them in Belgium - nor in France outside highway parkings, to be fair.
09/11/2011 08:05:09 PM
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When I was in England we saw way more flags than we typically see in the US.
08/11/2011 01:32:47 PM
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So many fat people.
09/11/2011 01:19:24 AM
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We do have high calorie intake and low inclination to exercise. *NM*
09/11/2011 01:26:40 AM
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That's half-true
09/11/2011 02:09:48 AM
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I think there was a Family Guy episode about this.
09/11/2011 02:27:07 PM
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Re: I think there was a Family Guy episode about this.
09/11/2011 02:33:18 PM
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Ah, that makes a difference.
09/11/2011 03:05:44 PM
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