Why are cops the only job where police dies and a) You get to hear Amazing Grace

[Sequoia]

on bagpipes.

b) Everyone gets off work to ride their bitching motorcycles to the funeral.

c) Everyone vows to catch the killer.

d) Everone comes out to say what a swell guy Joey was, even though he beat up homeless teenage boys and the guys at work thought he was a schumuck.

e) Why the "bad guys" don't rob banks and other such stuff during said funeral

f) You, the haplesss taxpayer gets to pay for it all.


WHY! What's all this fasination for aa over-the-top funeral?

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Considering all the risk and work that policeman do, and all the abuse they take

from shmucks, especially liberal police-hating shmucks (cf., the blanket accusation that policeman all beat up the homeless), the low pay, and the intense pressure they are under, I think the least they deserve is a funeral with some pomp when they die in the line of duty protecting our asses.

[MrSlayer]

2. Hear Hear!

Dead on.

[porphyrian]

11. Right. And I think they would like to think people would do the same for them.

Like some other jobs, they face death every time they go to work. Do that for ten years and keep your sanity. I'd want bagpipes, a twenty-one gun salute and fucking fireworks.

[Richard Steele]

19. Yes.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

38. How about cab drivers?

They take more risk, and more abuse.

[Rabrrrrrr]

57. Nothing's fucking stopping you - if you wanna go play pipes for cab drivers,

then fucking go ahead.

Go play 'em for bridge builders, skyscraper construction dudes, astronauts, firefighters, race car drivers, bus drivers, FBI, stuntmen, miners, mountain climbers, rescue workers, and so on.

Play 'em for whoever the fuck you want.

Cops have them because someone, long ago, took the initiative to start the tradition. Any other group, profession, race, whatever, can do the same.

[Missy M]

3. Because every day they put their life on the line while doing...

their job. Of the millions of police in this country, I don't think many beat up homeless teenage boys. As far as your point e) it is just plain silly.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Oh, and as to the bagpipes - used to be that the police were almost all Irish.

It was the one job that the Irish were allowed to have because a) the Irish were hated, and b) being a policeman was a job that society looked down upon.

It was the Irish who started the bagpipe tradition, and over the years it's just stuck.

[benddem]

13. bag pipes have nothing to do with the Irish

they are Scot's invention.

[spoony]

14. Yes, they do

www.straightdope.com/classics/a980911b.html

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Really?

I'd say something sarcastic, but that would be rude.

Bagpipes are as equally Irish as they are Scottish (Scot? I can never remember the preferred adjective for things of Scotland).

You might not know that - I didn't know it until I was well into my twenties.

[LostinVA]

21. Nope, not true

The Irish pipes are very different from the Scots version. And, I like 'em both.

[AngryAmish]

39. I heard a joke once

A bagpipe player does a gig in a bar. After his set, he puts the pipes in the backseat of his car in front of the joint and goes back in for a few pints.

After a while he slaps his forehead and exclaims "Dammit, I left my car unlocked!" and runs out.

He is crushed to discover three more bagpipes in the back seat.

[xultar]

25. I play the bagpipes...and yes they do.

[H2O Man]

51. thank you. n/t

[hlthe2b]

5. WOW..... sort of uni-dimensional in your thinking, aren't you?

Yes, there are some real creeps that abuse their power as cops. But, there are also terrific men and women who truly do wish to "protect and SERVE." When they give their lives on the job, it is a very sad thing. They gave their life in service to US-- i.e., for YOU and ME. What part of that do you find dishonorable?


And, yes, I can not hear Amazing Grace on bagpipes without tearing up.... When I see the send offs for a fireman or policeman or EMT who dies on the job, I find it extremely touching and..... appropriate, whether it uses my tax dollars or not.

[Solo_in_MD]

6. Bagpipes are always played at my family funerals...have been for generations

and most of us wear plaid skirts to the event...

[Nabia2004]

36. same here, but without the plaid

Although, my family is mostly a mix of Irish and Scottish.

Love the bagpipes.

[Solo_in_MD]

56. I have the full kit, and wear it as appropriate, including formals

makes for a helluva an entrance...

[demosincebirth]

7. I ask the same question and I get the same answer.

"They risk their lives." Not in my town they don't. The most they do is write traffic tickets.

[T Wolf]

30. In my town, they write lots of tickets and then meet the defendent before the

court hearing to "make arrangements" to drop the charges. Corrupt gang of thugs is more like it.


I have NEVER had an interaction with a cop in which they acted professional and impartial. Their pals get off and other "pay" the price.

[Sapere aude]

8. Two people who will take a bullet for you are a cop and a marine

also an army, navy or air force member.

They can get all the credit they deserve as far as I am concerned.

[FiveGoodMen]

10. A cop will take a bullet for you?

Really?

If he's Secret Service and you're the President, maybe.

[The Straight Story]

9. Unions asked for it for their members, neogitated, and got it :)

Seems pretty straight forward.

[tularetom]

12. At one point my son and son in law were both cops

and I don't think grandma got a good night's sleep the entire time from worrying. As far as I'm concerned they can have any kind of funeral they want.

[Downtown Hound]

16. As I am currently in dispute with some folks over my cop bashing

Let me just say that I really, really, fucking hate cops. But I don't wish them dead. I don't celebrate when they get killed (I'm not saying you do, but I know some people that do) and I deplore that kind of violence. Anyone who gets killed in a violent manner like that deserves a decent funeral, cop or not.

[karlrschneider]

40. I worked my way through college as a cop. Yes it was many years ago

but I don't think it's really different now...there were a few bad ones but mostly decent people.
We generally get about what we're willing to pay for, which ain't much, unfortunately.

[Downtown Hound]

55. To that, all I can say is

many of the cops in my town make over $100,000 per year. That's a hell of a lot more than I make, yet I have seen cops in this town do some incredibly atrocious things. If all it took for cops to be better people was more pay I'd gladly support pay increases. To cops that still aren't making a good salary I still support pay increases. But I don't think that's really it. I think there's a bully mentality among today's police that goes unchallenged, primarily because whenever anybody criticizes them people jump down their throat and try and say that it's just a few bad apples and we should always remember the good things they do and yadda, yadda, ya.

Sorry, but cops today have a generally thuggish attitude. You can say I'm painting a broad brush, but I stand by my statement because I've seen too much shit by them to feel any different. Yeah, there's good ones thrown in the mix, but the police force as a whole in this country has become an oppressive militarized force. I still don't wish any harm on them, I just wish they would stand up against abuses more instead of trying to protect their own and I wish more of them would speak out against this insane drug war we're fighting that has created a multi-billion dollar prison industry and a violent crime underworld. Oh, and stop spraying anti-war protesters down with pepper spray and wooden bullets. Until I see more of that my attitude towards them won't change.

[karlrschneider]

60. $100K a year is truly astonishing to me. I'm not doubting you, not knowing

much about your area but that's 4 times what cops make around here. But you're right inasmuch as you observe the profession does appeal to an unsavory element...many of which do manage to get through the vetting process, unfortunately, and IMO is largely because police dept's aren't able to offer enough compensation to attract better people. (I think public school teachers are obscenely underpaid also but that's another thread.)

A lot (I mean a LOT) of low-level law enforcement in the "drug war" is, as I imagine you know, little more than a hypocritical effort to get "a bust" in hopes of promotion or raise. It often works, pretty much to everyone's detriment. Most regular cops are in the same position as plain vanilla soldiers, they tend to do whatever they're told and lack the education or insight to properly assign realistic priorities to their duties.

One thing I did learn while I worked as a cop was that it IS eminently possible to challenge them when they get crazy...usually. But it's a fine line between what might be called constitutional civil disobedience and actual violation of the law (which varies from one jurisdiction to another) I can
get away with arguing with a cop in ways that someone who hasn't been in their shoes than many people can't, for example.

It is a complicated problem, I fully grasp that and I hope you understand I'm not automatically defending every cop but after all they really are fairly representative of society - maybe that's not
such a good thing but it's what we have.

ks

[Marrah_G]

17. People like you make me sick

Police and fire put thier lives on the line everyday. They risk their own to help others. YOU may think they are all bad, but that is a very twisted view of the world.

My uncle died of cancer, probably due to all the chemicals he inhaled over the years as he bravely risked his own life to carry people out of burning buildings. He was a Boston City Fireman and we are very proud of him. If the men and women he served with want to honor his memory who the fuck are you to complain about it?

You obviously have NO idea what it is like to have a knock on the door or a phone ring in the middle of the night and panic because your first thought is that your husband/wife has been shot or struck by a car, from personal experience I can tell you that it is not fun. That is what the families of police officers go through. Sure there are a few bad cops, but you don't here about the vast majority of good ones.

Fortunately for you, when the chips are down and you need assistance, they won't care if you despise them, they will help you anyway.

Know what?

They won't even ask for you to pay for it.

[T Wolf]

23. Not sure what cops you have interacted with, but my experience

is that they are arrogant, abusive bullies who love to control others. Add in the guns they so frequently use and you have a dangerous situation.

To deny that there is a terrible situation possible every time a cop comes around is just naive.

[Cobalt Violet]

33. Some people love arrogant, abusive bullies. I really believe that.

My experience with cops is 80% bully-20% decent. Or maybe 90%-10%.

[T Wolf]

32. Firefighters are a different kind of person.

They really are in the profession to save lives and help people.

To group the two is like mixing oil and water. Not the same.

[mentalsolstice]

18. What planet are you from?

Yes, there are a few bad cops, just like there are few bad doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs. My dad was a cop before I was born, and I'm proud of the way he put his life on the line daily. He was also in the Nat'l Guard at the time, but it was his day job that put him in the most danger. For a couple of years I worked with cops on domestic violence issues. Yes, I encountered a couple of asshole cops during that time who always blamed the female victim and took up for the male. When the tables were turned, and it was obvious the male was the victim, well, according to them, he was weak.

However, I worked with many more brave souls who got a call to come to a house, where they had not idea what the floor-plan was, where the abuser was hiding, possibly armed, and they managed to get the victim out and to safety. Additionally, I was working in our county's Family Court the day four cops were gunned down and three were killed while trying to serve a warrant on domestic violence charges. I can't even begin to describe the heartsick feeling and fear we all felt.

Ask any cop, and they'll tell you that DV calls are the worst and most dangerous.

[T Wolf]

26. My wife is a guidance counselor and she has decades of experience in

dealing with cops and the family member that they (the cops) abuse on a regular basis. Dare to report it (to who?) and the abuse worsens. So do not tell me about the few good apples. That barrel is full of rotten fruit that destroys the entire barrel - and everything around it.

[mentalsolstice]

31. As I said...

...there are some bad cops. However, what about the ones, like my dad, that don't abuse they're families, and they go, daily, into totally unknown and dangerous situations to save another human being(s). Or other situations (not coming from my dad, but others that knew him)...I've heard about how my dad, with his mere high school education...after several hours of discussion talked a woman down from a bridge, where she was contemplating suicide, or how he sat there for several hours holding a guy's ear to his head (car accident), hanging by a thread, while waiting for the ambulance...or the murder investigations he was in on, and so many more stories.

Yes, it is a tough career, and it brings out the worst in those that are not suited for it, but somehow manage to get in anyway. However, the OP questioned heroes funerals for those that may be truly heroes.

[T Wolf]

20. The attacks on you Sequoia are another example of so-called

Democrats who are afraid to speak the truth about the many "bad apples" that spoil the barrel from which they dredge police. In defending brutality and racism that is so common among cops because they are afraid of being labeled anti-cop (remind you of anything else?).

So sad.

Not every cop is a pig. But many are. And the unchecked power of life and death they have over normal people is one that should not be entrusted with so little control. How many incidents and atrocities do we have to witness before something is done about them?

But power is corrupting, and the type of person who is drawn to the job is more apt to be corrupted because of their desire to lord it over others.

[LoZoccolo]

28. "...before something is done about them?"

What, specifically, do you propose doing about them?

[T Wolf]

29. How about prosecuting abusive and murderous cops? Kinda hard to do

when the criminal justice system kowtows to cops at every turn.

[Cobalt Violet]

43. You got it! 100% agree.

The attacks on grammar and spelling will be coming. Group think Jackles.

[achtung_circus]

22. Your broad brush makes me ill.

My Dad was a cop, I work with very many of them.

There are pricks, but the psychological testing weeds most of them out. They knock on doors every day when the response might be a shotgun blast through the door.

They are almost entirely in the job because they want to serve.

If you have had a bad experience get help.

[T Wolf]

27. I would say that the psychological testing brings forth exactly the kind of

individual who loves to bully those with less power, and less armament.

The many people here who are using anecdotal "evidence" to defend cops is sad. Just because your dad was not a creep does not mean that most of his buddies were not.

[mondo joe]

37. Your smear of cops is just as anecdotal.

Maybe moreso.

[achtung_circus]

41. I'm calling bullshit.

If you are basing your belief that the testing selects for pathology, you're :silly: .

And how are a few people's horror stories NOT anecdotal evidence?

I'll stand with my opinion, having dealt with police officers from both perspectives.

[Cobalt Violet]

53. Never been falsely accused and charged with a crime I take it.

Must be nice. But it's not everyone reality.

[achtung_circus]

61. No it's not

any more than the perception that every cop is dirty based on TV and anecdotal crap from the amazing number of cop-haters there seem to be in this world.

[mentalsolstice]

48. So maybe we should get rid of all of the cops...

That's what's happening in Iraq now (with a lot of help from Chimpy). Is that the kind of society we Americans want? No police force whatsoever. Ive had my home broken into, and I've been carjacked with a gun to my head...but we should have no one to call when those kind of things happen. :sarcasm:

[cynatnite]

24. Are you saying all cops or focusing on one cop in particular...

who beat up homeless teenage boys?

Sounds like you've got some serious issues to malign police offiers in general like this. Oh, and I didn't know that cops cornered the market for bagpipes at funerals with the song 'Amazing Grace'. :eyes:

Dumb post.

[mondo joe]

34. Your post deserves to be shat on.

For the crap police put up with, and for what they risk, they can have whatever the fuck kind of funeral they want.

Damn right the taxpayer pays for it -- the cops serve the taxpayer.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

44. Damn Well Said Too, Mondo Joe.

[Cobalt Violet]

35. Watch out Sequoia..

You opinion isn't popular with the grammar/spelling police. Their gonna start bullying you for that next.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

42. Because They're Fucking Heroes, That's Why. n/t

[Cobalt Violet]

45. Even when they cross their boundries?

Lying on the stand and sending innocent people to jail and death row. That's fucking so heroic ain't it?

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

49. So because "some" cops are bad, NO cops are heroes?

That makes no fucking sense and is a slap in the face to the cops who are true heroes, and yes they do exist. Hell, I know one that GAVE his life saving people. He was a hero and he deserved the FULL funeral he recieved.

[Cobalt Violet]

50. Umm... Where did I say that?

I said up thread 80% bully 20% decent.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

52. I didn't read all of your posts in the thread. I was replying to that specific post.

[mtnester]

46. When my mother died, she got the Amazing Grace bagpipes...

and that "service" is a volunteer one by the pipers. The piper does not get a fee...a donation by the family is usually made to the Benevolent fund or some other police organization as a courtesy and repayment for the volunteer service of the piper. At least in Columbus, Ohio.

So, no, your tax dollars did not do toward the piper at my mother's funeral.

God, I cannot even believe I replied to this post.

[devilgrrl]

47. That is a rather broad brush you have there.

I'm just saying.

[bling bling]

54. What a lovely thread.

Thank for spraying us from your fountain of compassion. Do you spread such kindness and beauty of expression around your real family too or is your DU family just super lucky?

[Cobalt Violet]

58. 7 Cops Charged In Post-Katrina Shootings

New Orleans DA: Police Who Killed 2 Men Were 'Like Rabid Dogs'


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/28/national/main2307851.shtml


The victims were Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally retarded man, and James Brissette, 19

[NNN0LHI]

59. Last police officers funeral I attended we all sang Danny Boy

It was nice.

Don

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

[pinto]

62. Locking.

As stated, this seems inflammatory.

Thanks for your consideration.