As already stated, there are jerks in every profession. In my experience, percentage wise I’ve encountered far fewer lawmen that fall in that category. Exactly two in my lifetime. Encountering a law officer who is across the line is problematic though. You can not check them in a fitting manner which in my opinion is how men should deal with other men.

I have a LEO in the family and am proud of it. He's a jewel. As far as complaints against a bad one, turn in a complaint. His comment was "Turn it in, get IA involved, they hate everyone!!!"

Every experience I’ve had with highway patrol, I’ve been wrong. They were always professional.

How? I thought there weren’t that many?

I appreciate all the comments. Just to be clear I very clearly put the word “some” in the title. I don’t hate cops, heck my dad was a deputy sheriff for about ten years.

I know there is a very rigorous process in hiring them it just seems they would do a better job of weeding out hot heads and people who are stubborn and unwilling to listen to the situation.

As Smokey Bear stated the real problem is when cops act like this there really isn’t anything you can do about it. Yeah if it is super bad you can file a complaint but i seriously doubt much of anything would ever happen to them unless it was something major and you had proof.

If you have difficulty controlling your emotions and take your bad day out on other people who has nothing to do with it you should not be doing this job.

Working in internal affairs will do it because they are all officer involved complaints. I arrested thousands of people and only one ended up being an officer. Oilfield workers however...all the time.

I thought all the jerks worked in the Human Resources department.

There are jerks in every profession. Just like there are good people in every profession.

Oh, I believe it.

Not even close to the Audit Department. They also have zero sense of humor.

Yep I find it interesting that in my 71 years I have never run across an LEO that treated me in any way that was disrespectful.

I have said this many times before on this forum - to those of you who have issues with LEO's - I challenge you to call your local department and ask to go on a ride out with an officer. I have been on many of them with my son and it is hard to describe what these officers deal with day to day - once you see it with you own eyes then it may well give you a different view of what it is to be an officer. It is most likely the most stressful job there is - when they leave their home each day they truly know that there is a chance they may not come back home - so instead of posting on a forum get off your butt and go do a ride out and then come back here and report your experience

I am 78 years old and have never had any reason to complain about how I was treated by any type of LEO. Oh, maybe it is because I try to be a law-abiding citizen.

A deputy sheriff once cuffed and layed out one of my son-in-laws, briefly. 'Knowing that son-in-law, he probably deserved it. He works in politics and I think did a variation of the "Do you know who I am?" approach.

Like I said before, some people can’t handle the tiniest amount of authority. Whether it’s a cop or a different sort of authority, like a position of leadership or managerial position in a professional setting. You can vet people all you want, and you had better vet them.

At the end of the day, some people just can’t handle any kind of authority. It goes straight to the head and manifests in a toxic way. Some of them also learn from a toxic leader that flew under the radar. If you have lived more than a day you probably know exactly what I am talking about.

Power corrupts, absolute power absolutely corrupts. Being a cop, you carry a lot of authority. I think most people can’t handle that. It is the reason for the vetting process.

I doubt if many d-bag cops start out that way. They are corrupted by the authority that they carry. Just like every douchebag you ever dealt with in a professional setting. They like to flex it.

Some people are just buttholes, unfortunately you remember every butthole in the cop profession.

I was held at gun point and subsequently written a speeding ticket by a trooper for not stopping while taking my wife to the ER after her water broke. There is more to the story regarding my wife’s health…..but it shouldn’t have mattered.
He was mad because I didn’t stop when he lit me up. Midnight, and I could see the hospital from where we were.
I’ve never hated anyone until that day.

Ego is a dangerous thing.

Biggest dickheads are Doctors n Lawyers not the popos. 😏🥃

I have been allowed more favors than I have encountered jerk cops but the jerks are so much jerkier than the nice ones are nice it all kinda evens out...like the rest of life. Went to the station to file a report when my debit card info was stolen and used without consent and the officer threatened me with jail and accused me and my family of using the card for the phony purchases. Tell me how that has to do with 70 or 80 years obeying the law!

They’re on power trips. Seen it many times.

I have said the same thing here on the forum, and I was rebellious and full of myself when I was younger. Lots of interactions but no complaints. (Just some embarrassment for being an idiot when I was younger)

Same here. Have always been treated right even when I was wrong.

I've had three instances where the cop was a complete jerk. However, when I was young, I was not the innocent angel that I am now, so, I've had MANY interactions with police. All of the other encounters, I was treated with respect, even when I may not have really deserved it. There are jerks in all professions. Hell, one or two of those jerk moments may have been due to the cop just having a bad day, and they were usually great guys. I don't know.

If treated poorly by a police officer, then why not file a formal complaint?

It’s probably just as easy as making a post on an Internet forum.


I wonder what would’ve happened if the officer had written a citation and impounded the vehicle that was doing work for the state. That would be a hoot.

I have seen police officers on the TFF and THF comment about how DPS can be a bit overzealous at times.

I have seen that "I am old and never had a problem" before about other issues too. To assume the rest of the world has never run into a problem because you haven’t, just doesn't make sense.