background: staying in a roadside motel in the US. Man and Woman in the next room are screaming at each other. 1:30 in the morning. Not my problem.
But I did get voyeuristic and plant my ear on the wall. Most I could comprehend was “your daughter, but what about MY daughter?” from the woman. That’s what I thought I heard.
I was like, if I am certain I can tell that someone is beating on someone, and trying to kill them, or you know just violence is happening, then I’ll call 911. but I was far from certain. all i could discern was crying and screaming.
Hour later, someone is pounding on my door. is it someone in distress? I am in the least accessible and least desirable room in the place. It’s probably one of those two neighbors, but which one?
Anyways, I’m in the US, so I have one or more guns, but I don’t keep them loaded or accessible. by the time I had something ready, I think the neighbors were about to pass out. they currently are quiet after hours of screaming.
So I’m not a fan of cops, but not entirely against them. Situations in which I did call the cops:
-Neighbors were screaming at each other, 3 a.m.; their 6-year-old girl was out in the street crying.
-I heard broken glass and looked out the window, and saw a pair of big man’s boots going into what I thought was a single woman’s apartment.
I was once calling the police because there was a guy screaming loudly in front of my apartment building.
He was not threatening, just really confused, was obviously looking for his home, I had the impression he was autistic or on some kind of spectrum and it was below -5C - cold enough that it’s really dangerous to fall asleep outside.
I called the police because I thought he just needed help and someone to look after him to take him home.
Yes, I do trust police in my country.
there are police in the US who would respond in this way. they’re actually prevalent. we just have some way fucked up laws and precedents and a lot of dickheads.
From what I can see from an EU perspective: The training you get to become an officer in the US seems to vary a lot between places. That explains lot of differences.
Also it’s quite short IMO. Here in Germany it takes 2 1/2 years to become a policeman, 6 Months of these as a trainee. And still we have a number of problems.
edit: not sure why i went there, but german cops are less bad than US cops. maybe
yeah not relevant, but I ran into trouble with the transit cops in Berlin or Munich in the late hours once. I forget. I hadn’t bought a ticket, but I just got on the train. it took at least three cops to sternly issue me a ticket.