Which law enforcement agencies do you trust?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Since it's always a topic on this board.  Feel free to be specific, especially as it relates to your own local department.

[user12345]

I trust Federal and State more because I feel there is more accountability there than on the local level where officers know each other better and are more likely to cover for their coworkers if they break the law. Plus local cops probably have to meet lower standards than state and feds do in understanding racial issues ect.

[Mr. Reactionary]

State only.

[angus]

I'm pretty cynical.  So far in 2015, about 800 people have been killed by police in the United States, and about 200 of them were completely unarmed.  Corruption and other misconduct is also widely reported, including police brutality, dishonesty, fraud, coercion, torture to force confessions, abuse of authority, and sexual assault, including the demand for sexual favors in exchange for leniency.  Every once in a whistle-blower comes along and makes the news.  Within days, we read reports of retaliation.  Chiefs ordering other cops not to provide backup for the treacherous, whistle-blowing cop.  Sure, many of these stories are unconfirmed by credible sources, but where there is smoke, there must be a fire.  

County officials have their share of corruption as well.  Kickbacks to commissioners from contractors make headlines regularly.  About five years ago, Luzerne County judges accepted more than $2.6 million in a greased palm scheme to send juveniles to private detention facilities.  County prosecutors and county sheriffs are also elected, and are therefore for sale.  The job of a county attorney, for example, is to see that justice is done, but for most elected officials that means juking the stats.

State agencies are just as suspect.  The NCLS keeps good public records on state agency corruption, and there's no shortage of cases.  Our own state attorney general has lost her license to practice law and is facing a battery of criminal charges.  

Federal law enforcement has run completely amok, with turf wars, overlapping jurisdictions, spurious tactics, and agencies spying on other agencies.  Ethics scandals have been widely reported as well.  for example, 125 US Border guards have been convicted of smuggling drugs in the past ten years alone.  In one year, the Office of Inspector General received over 12 thousand reports of alleged fraud from the Department of Homeland Security.  How many of those were actually investigated I don't know.  

I'd have to say that they all rank pretty low on my list of trustworthies.  

Then again, probably only a small percentage of cops (local, federal, or state) are really corrupt in that way.  Those give the whole lot a bad name.  Still, the question was about perception, right?  And mine is one of suspicion and cynicism, so I have to vote for no for all three.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The feds  have wayyyyyyy too much power and aren't afraid to wield their mighty sword so I'm not real trusting there.   Even our own local police don't like and trust the State.   In PA, like other states, an out of state plate is going to get you a welcome light up by the state police eventually.  Ugh.  The locals where I live and the locals where I work are fine and I do trust them, but not locals where you're a stranger in their town.

(I actually did encounter a decent NY State Police trooper one day....but he might be the exception)

[bagelman]

Surprised to see the local police so much less trusted than state and fed police.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Surprised to see the local police so much less trusted than state and fed police.

I think angus covered that nicely in his post. but I'll be honest, I thought the Feds would come in dead last in trustworthiness.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Locals get cocky local corruption... the feds have too much power against individuals... I sort of trust the Minnesota state patrol. 

That said... I don't think there's widespread local police corruption in MN so generally you'll just have to deal with the bad eggs and if you actually fight them you'll win.

[Maxwell]

No trust in any, particularly local and fed.

[Crumpets]

I trust them all to some extent, but I certainly trust local law enforcement the least of the three.

[DemPGH]

It's probably going to vary person to person, but in my experience university police are the worst. They only exist to make a buck and nothing more. You parked 7 inches from the curb instead of 6, so ticket! And so on. I have a couple stories about how bad those pricks are. Of course a lot of it has to do with the university in question, but they're pricks nonetheless.

Local community police where I live are actually overall pretty good, although I've heard a story or two. Overall they let people alone, though. So I have to say I trust.

State police are overzealous. I was pulled over by a state cop one time out of state, and the guy was a jerk, but he let me go after he was convinced that I wasn't a villain. I had just purchased a new car and when he ran the plate (I wasn't speeding, so the only reason why he ran the plate was that it was a PA plate) he found that it wasn't in the system or didn't match or whatever. So he ran everything and after 15 minutes all was good. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. DemPGH, have a good day." Yeah, you too. Go have a doughnut.

[courts]

i don't. but i find the cop block crowd and #blm to be more annoying (normal)

[Mercenary]

I dont trust any. Least of all fed level.

[publicunofficial]

State > Fed > Local

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Feds & local, state isn't doing what it suppose to be doing.

[RFayette]

Local > State > Fed, though I trust and have a high degree of respect for all 3.

[tallguy23]

Feds have the most oversight and if a scandal hit the national media would be all over that. I'm not saying I trust them, but they definitely have the most to worry about.

CA Highway Patrol are really hated (even by local police). They're looked at as glorified hallway monitors.

I've never had an issue with the LAPD (again, lots of oversight and media attention). My city's police tend to overreact and go crazy with tickets and fines. I chalk this up to boredom as I live in a very low-crime city.

[Penelope]

I dont trust any. Least of all fed level.

[courts]

Local > State > Fed, though I trust and have a high degree of respect for all 3.

ok, you're white. we get it. jeez, tone it down a little bud

[Free Bird]

I knew that the Atlas hive mind had a woody for the Feds, but jeez

[Badger]

Trust. Reality dictates it. Bluntly put, I have worked professionally with 100x as many cops as the rest of the Forum combined, and with 100x closer contact than the victims of traffic stops and the occassional uncle/friend of the family who is a cop, including during several years i was a defense attorney.

Are all cops trustworthy? of course not, and i've both prosecuted and represented cops (former and current). There are litterally hundreds of thousands of law enforcement in the country, so there are bound to be bad people. But they are statistically very rare.

The worst problem some individual cops have isn't overzealousness, or overly testosterone-fueled actions. There are a small minority of cops who are guilty of laziness and not following up. The end result is much MUCH more likely to result in the guilty going free rather than then innocent being convicted.

FTR, i can't swear there aren't ANY jurisdictions in the country which are an exception, but having worked with many departments of varying sizes, cops having a "ticket quota" is a total myth.

[Murica!]

I trust cops like I trust an executioner.

[traininthedistance]

As a general rule, the more local a jurisdiction is, the less I trust it to use its power for good, and the more I expect it to be brutal, venal, and self-serving.  The entire history of the USA bears this generalization out.

Not that I trust the feds per se, but I'll certainly take them over state or– especially these days– local cops.

[courts]

The worst problem some individual cops have isn't overzealousness, or overly testosterone-fueled actions. There are a small minority of cops who are guilty of laziness and not following up. The end result is much MUCH more likely to result in the guilty going free rather than then innocent being convicted.

that's actually not that far off from my opinion. its more generic corruption or incompetence basically

[Stranger in a strange land]

It varies, but in general, I trust the Feds much more than the State, and the State much more than Local.

As a general rule, the more local a jurisdiction is, the less I trust it to use its power for good, and the more I expect it to be brutal, venal, and self-serving.  The entire history of the USA bears this generalization out.

Not that I trust the feds per se, but I'll certainly take them over state or– especially these days– local cops.

I wish we were on AAD so I could like this post.