your opinion of law enforcement agencies?

[WalterMitty]

negative.

seems to me, most spend more time harassing people (ie minorities) than they do preventing crime and doing real police work.

[Bono]

Very negative.

[Peter]

Bono hasn't yet gotten over the fact that there are laws, let alone that they be enforced

[Tory]

Very positive. My father was a police officer.

[12th Doctor]

Possitive.

[Alcon]

Positive.

They are necessary and generally have good people. There are bad eggs that need to be weeded out (metaphor of the week, folks) but overall I have a positive view.

[Jake]

Positive

[nclib]

Negative--they often are too infringent on civil liberties.

[MHS2002]

Positive.

[Nym90]

Alcon put it well. There are always some bad ones, as there are in any profession, but overall, positive.

[David S]

Alcon put it well. There are always some bad ones, as there are in any profession, but overall, positive.

Ditto + they keep the donut shops in business.

[J. J.]

Positive.

They are necessary and generally have good people. There are bad eggs that need to be weeded out (metaphor of the week, folks) but overall I have a positive view.

Ultimately agree, but I will point out that there have been recent cases of police corruption, and the planting of evidence in Phila.  That is very disturbing.

[TeePee4Prez]

Lean negative.  There are some that do their job reasonably and others seem to look for minor infractions and nail you to the toughest extent possible.  Sorry NixonNow, but my opinion of NJ State troopers/Shore cops is extremely low.  I think they're thugs looking to start sh**t with people and take their money via speeding 2 miles over the speed limit or breaking up a harmless party in Wildwood.  This is how they get money and it's quite sickening. 

[John Dibble]

Varies. Law enforcement is good in some areas, bad in others. Law enforcement that concentrates more time on stopping victimless 'crime' is negative, ones that are corrupt are a definite negative, and those that do their jobs and try to protect us from people who actually want to hurt other people are positive.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Mixed.

There are agencies whose primary concern is with revenue enhancement and others that a primarily concerned with enforcing prohibitions against mala in se offenses

In my area the city police are really revenue agents while the sherrif"s office deals with real crimes

[The Man From G.O.P.]

negative.

seems to me, most spend more time harassing people (ie minorities) than they do preventing crime and doing real police work.

JESUS CHRIST WALTER JUST CHANGE YOUR DAMN AVATAR ALREADY

[The Man From G.O.P.]

positive, they do there best to keep me safe

[nini2287]

Positive

[Lunar]

negative.

seems to me, most spend more time harassing people (ie minorities) than they do preventing crime and doing real police work.

JESUS CHRIST WALTER JUST CHANGE YOUR DAMN AVATAR ALREADY

Yeah, because blue = conservative.  Oh wait.

Anyway, I also vote "mixed."  I have no problem with the concept of law enforcement agencies, and many do a fine job.  However, across the board there is mass inefficiency and a host of other problems that concern me.

Eh, I change my vote to negative.  The way that the current law enforcement structure is set up is enough to push it over.  There's potential for civil libertarian goodness though.

[Gabu]

Positive, for the most part.  I shudder to think of what it'd be like if we had no law enforcement, which leads to my positive view of them.

[dazzleman]

Positive.

Of course, the quality of police departments varies widely.  But even though the police are not perfect, I always ask the question - would I rather be at their mercy, or at the mercy of the criminal element?

The police do a thankless, and sometimes dangerous, job.  They're in the same position as President Bush with terrorists - whatever they do to prevent crime is criticized, but when crime occurs, those same people say they didn't do enough.  And success - the relative absence of crime - generally makes people appreciate them less, not more.

The hot new issue is police "profiling" of minorities.  The police are accused of focusing more attention on young black males, than on say, older white ladies.  Well, guess what - police work is by definition profiling.  The ratio of citizens to police is far too high for police to give equal attention to all citizens.  They must choose to focus on those most likely to commit crimes, and we all know what the statistics are.  This does not mean that I condone police harassment for no reason of minorities.  But this is not a pure black and white issue, if you pardon the pun. 

Residential patterns in the more densely populated and affluent sections of the country reinforce this, since there usually are wealthy, mostly white communities living right next to poorer, mostly minority, cities.  Most of the serious crime committed in the wealthier communities originates with people from the cities.  It is an unfortunate situation, but it's ludicrous to blame the police for it.

Several years ago, I saw several black teenagers hanging around my street.  Even though the situation didn't look right to me, I didn't call the police because I didn't want to base my reaction simply on their color.  But I later learned that they had stolen things from a house up the block.  Next time, I will follow my instincts, and that's what the police must do.

Most people beyond a certain age have had some negative experience with the police, even if it's just a traffic ticket.  Some people believe that traffic enforcement is solely to raise revenue, and certain law enforcement tactics toward speed enforcement (dictated by politicians, not the police) have been the primary motivator of anti-police feeling among basically law-abiding people who gotten snagged a few times by traffic enforcement.

I don't fully disagree with this point of view, but I think it must be kept in perspective.  There is always the option (which few of us take) to drive at the speed limit.  Also, some people just can't stand to get penalized in any way, even if they're wrong, and they look to blame the person who nailed them, rather than look at their own behavior.

Last time I got pulled over for speeding, it took the cop forever to write my ticket.  He must have had me sitting there for 20-25 minutes.  That's my biggest complaint with the police - if you're going to give me a ticket, make it quick.  Do you think I was speeding because I like to take a long time to get where I'm going?