How is someone that gets out of breath eating a donut going to protect and serve anyone?

  • BossDj@lemm.ee
    0·
    9 days ago

    Cities in pretty much the entire country are running with an understaffed police force. They’ll take what they can get. I’m 100% pro Union, but another problem is that police unions help protect unfit (literally and figuratively) police from being forced to try harder by abusing protected status health claims. I’ve seen in both police and military, they are handed paperwork if they are not meeting fitness expectations, but nothing ever comes of it.

    • octobob@lemmy.ml
      0·
      9 days ago

      I live in Pittsburgh and there are literally no cops on duty from like 3-5 AM or something. We haven’t had a police chief in years, and I never see cops unless there’s a violent crime or a car accident or overdose. You can kinda do whatever you want in terms of traffic laws. I’ve never even heard of someone getting a traffic ticket in the city, and most times if you’re actually goin the speed limit you’re a hazard that isn’t following the flow of traffic. Completely different story in the suburbs outside the city.

      It kinda rules not gonna lie.

      • grue@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 days ago

        All labor unions are good. Police unions are not.

        This is because police unions are not labor unions, since police are not labor but rather the enforcers for the owner class.

        • Lembot_0003@lemmy.zipEnglish
          0·
          9 days ago

          Yes, unions are too democratic, too humane. Police should have only one goal – to protect the government from peons. You can’t risk the police having any resemblance to humans. This might lead to failure in the main goal achievement.

          • ohulancutash@feddit.ukEnglish
            0·
            9 days ago

            They have representation in other ways. For instance in Britain, where it is illegal for police to unionise, there is instead a government-funded Police Federation, which independently advocates for police working conditions and supplies advice and representation for police in disciplinary affairs. The main difference from a union is that it is free to members and that police are not allowed to go on strike. This removes a lot of the worst abuses of power.

          • floo@retrolemmy.comEnglish
            0·
            9 days ago

            Cops aren’t exploited workers, they are armed agents of the state. They are not your friends, allies, etc. And whether or not they are human is entirely debatable. I’ve never seen any evidence to suggest it.

      • kobra@lemmy.zip
        0·
        9 days ago

        So bad in fact, they’ve often made me wonder if any union is worth it if that’s the risk of what they could become.

        • ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml
          0·
          9 days ago

          With that mindset, why bother living or leaving the bed? Imagine the worst day you could have, why risk it?

          • kobra@lemmy.zip
            0·
            9 days ago

            Sure, take it 100% literally. Don’t relate to the thought process at all.

            You all can’t be serious in that you haven’t thought the same thing. I didn’t say it 100% makes all unions bad I just shared a thought I occasionally have because of how bad the police union is in America.

            But yeah let’s fight with each other about it instead of eating the rich, good plan.

            🙄

            • ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml
              0·
              9 days ago

              Your though process is wrong. You need to backpedal it. One bad apple doesn’t mean we should burn the orchard. And you can perverse anything good into an abomination.

              eat the rich

              How you want to do that without unions? Dude, saying out loud

              [I wonder] if any union is worth it if that’s the risk of what they could become.

              Is not helping anyone.

              Take an L and do better.

              • kobra@lemmy.zip
                0·
                9 days ago

                Again, you’re either not understanding what I’m actually saying or taking it literally on purpose to troll me. Either way, I’m not gonna waste my time 😘 👋

    • grue@lemmy.world
      0·
      9 days ago

      Cities in pretty much the entire country are running with an understaffed police force.

      Counterpoint: Americans are already overpoliced and the “understaffing” is only relative to the authoritarians’ desire to make us even more so.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Additionally, cities that want physically fit officers have unions that demand that they are paid to work out. Cities don’t want to pay for that.

      So, usually the fitness requirements are only used when applying but aren’t used when you are in the force.

      • Damage@feddit.it
        0·
        9 days ago

        cities that want physically fit officers have unions that demand that they are paid to work out

        Seems fairly reasonable to me

    • Zenith@lemm.ee
      0·
      9 days ago

      France doesn’t let the police unionize, it’s the only group in the country explicitly and expressly forbade from unionizing. Police should never be allowed to unionize

  • PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world
    0·
    9 days ago

    Reminds me of my favorite Simpson’s quote.

    Marge (to Bart): “Your father wanted to be a police officer but they said he was too heavy.”

    Homer: “No the army said I was too heavy, the police said I was too dumb.”

      • UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 days ago

        I think NPR or PBS can’t lie on the news or over the air public local news. The over the air news usually will have a PSA opinion piece and it’s usually by the owners and mostly sways right. Cable news is free for all and one sided.

    • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      This is a common misconception in the U.S., it’s not even the car’s job… that crappy sticker has the shittiest union.

      • ohulancutash@feddit.ukEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        That sticker was exclusive to the LAPD, but it kept turning up in films made in Hollywood set elsewhere, so other regions adopted it eventually too.

        • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          9 days ago

          Man, that kind of figures… I bet it was a PR campaign that they paid for. So in a way we all got value out of that lie… nope. No satisfying conclusion to be found here 😒

  • Arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    Cops don’t exist to protect you and they don’t have to be physically fit to serve their purpose: using the threat of violence and the prison industrial complex to protect the interests of capital.

  • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    Police departments in general have severe problems, but I encounter police often in my work and can honestly say I’ve never encountered an officer for my city’s dept who’d qualify as morbidly obese

  • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
    0·
    9 days ago

    Non joke answer: A bunch of reasons. Many precincts are understaffed, so they need all the hands they can get. The police union is huge and makes it extremely difficult to fire even the most homer-simpsonian individuals. Many of the hugely obese cops are assigned to “light duty” meaning the most exertion they face is paperwork, manning the public information desk and or doing things like serving writs (in some cases you’re allowed to wear the uniformn even if you’re not a bonded officer, which is absurd). Additionally, fitness requirements are actually fairly rare across the whole spectrum of law enforcement - It’s surprisingly rare to see them for any positions besides uniformed patrol officer, even detectives or etc. aren’t always required to pass them - and even when you do, they’re usually pathetically easy to pass.

    • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
      0·
      9 days ago

      Fatasses can punish just fine.

      Not when everybody can run circles around them and run away at the same time…

      • dbx12@programming.dev
        0·
        9 days ago

        That’s why they are armed like they go to a war zone. Don’t need to be fast off you have weaponry which has more reach than even the fittest guy can run before they pull the trigger. Survival of the suspect is optional.

  • Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
    0·
    9 days ago

    I totally agree with your thought here, I’ve thought the same thing many times. I’ve see many very overweight cops stopping at gas stations and whatnot.

    How can these guys chase down an assailant? Cops should be required to be fit. I’d say they need to prove weekly they can run a mile in like 8mins? Faster? Then, once per month they need to prove they can do a 5 mile, like 45-50 mins? Seems fair.