Should Police Officers be Treated Differently when the Break the Law?

[redmarvel]

Here's what led to the question, a cop was off duty and struck a pedestrian with his car and took off... he "was sentenced yesterday to two years less a day, to be served in the community, for leaving the scene of an accident causing bodily harm"

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/170442

Should cops get an easier or harder time of it when they commit a crime?

 

[black_dust]

No they should get the same or worse and set an example.

Was a case here a police man was caught doing 150mph on the motorway (free way) for no reason but to see how fast his car would go, he got off with a ligth sentence as well i think.

 

[BRUTAL]

FIRST VOTE! t:

Cops should be treated the same as everyone else when breaking the law.

 

[blind_fury]

They should be set to higher standard because they have more authority and power. In other words they get tougher sentances like military men and women who break the law while serving

 

[Darthphere]

Um no. Dumb question.

 

[jimmy]

Harsher; The Wire is my evidence to support this claim.

 

[redmarvel]

Hey, I agree they should be treated the same as everyone else or get a harsher sentence because they are supposed to be setting an example for the public. However, if there are people out there who believe they should get an easier sentence, I'ld like to know what their logic is. I want to understand WHY this officer got such a light sentence.

 

[terry78]

The officer had pull. Every person in the line of government work will have some type of tenure and ability to get off in some way or another. You flash your badge at any public place, people will treat you very differently.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

Should cops get an easier or harder time of it when they commit a crime?

stricter, because they should be more aware of the laws, seeing as how they enforce them and all.

 

[Iceman]

They should be treated more harshly. They need to set an example.

 

[BRUTAL]

Hey, I agree they should be treated the same as everyone else or get a harsher sentence because they are supposed to be setting an example for the public. However, if there are people out there who believe they should get an easier sentence, I'ld like to know what their logic is. I want to understand WHY this officer got such a light sentence.

Police officers are NOT employed to set examples for the public. That's what PARENTS are for. If police officers were hired to set examples for the rest of the public then why doesn't everyone prevent crime? Why doesn't everyone run down people in high speed chases. Why not just call you neighbor when you're getting beat up at home? Police officers are hired to enforce the law, that's the job. If they break the law off duty then should be treated the same as anyone else. If they break the law while on duty then the should be treated as someone who broke the law while AT WORK.

As far as the light sentence, he has friends. Just as in every other occupation on the planet, in law enforcement, it's not what you do but who you know. There are no Super-Cop/Commissioner Gordon types in real life. I have been involved in law enforcement for quite some time now and the fact of the matter is that if you know the right people you can actually get out of most things. The system is flawed and in some parts corrupt and it sucks but that's the way it is.

 

[redmarvel]

At no time in my life did I ever take an oath to "uphold the law". When a police officer breaks the law he is also breaking that oath. He should get a harsher penalty. Also, police officers are more aware of what the different laws are and what the penalties could be than your average member of the public.

 

[NHawk19]

Depends on the crime and circumstances.

Generally I think they should recieve longer sentences but I may be against putting them in the general prison population.

 

[Ben Urich]

They should be treated the same.

 

[Super Kal]

no, they shouldn't... they should be treated just like everyone else.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

If they're off duty and not using their police-powers to commit the crime, then they should be treated exactly as everyone else.

If they're on-duty or using their police-powers to commit the crime, it should be much harder on them...seeing as how, you get into a lot more trouble for hitting a cop than you do for hitting a civilian.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Harsher sentence. They deserve it if they are there to uphold the law and go around breaking it.

 

[StorminNorman]

The same. There should be no government imposed punishments to being a police officer, if one makes a mistake (even if it is horrible) they should not be more penalized than someone else for being human.

 

[Darthphere]

The same. There should be no government imposed punishments to being a police officer, if one makes a mistake (even if it is horrible) they should not be more penalized than someone else for being human.

Thats assuming it was a mistake.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

The same. There should be no government imposed punishments to being a police officer, if one makes a mistake (even if it is horrible) they should not be more penalized than someone else for being human.

That's not fair though.
If you punch a guy during a barroom brawl, you can get 6 months in jail.
If you punch a cop, you can get 20 years.
'Cause cops aren't "just humans".
They're entrusted with a ton of authority over the rest of us, even the power to kill.

 

[StorminNorman]

That's not fair though.
If you punch a guy during a barroom brawl, you can get 6 months in jail.
If you punch a cop, you can get 20 years.
'Cause cops aren't "just humans".
They're entrusted with a ton of authority over the rest of us, even the power to kill.

You make a very good point. I would say that a cop in uniform should suffer a greater penalty, but that should come in the form of a seperate charge (a cop breaking the law should be one penalty, a person breaking hte law together - so you face both if you are a law breaking cop), but if an off duty cop breaks the law, they should be treated as anyone else.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Then we agree.
This reminds me of the insanity of how if you stab a guy, you get one sentence, but if you call him a n***** or a f***** before stabbing him, suddenly it's a "Hate Crime" and you get a tougher sentence.

 

[Gonking]

No.

 

[ReTrO JuNkIe 42]

Yes

 

[Kyalesyin]

They're only human, and their job isn't exactly easy. Unless the crime was an abuse of police power [hiding a drug smuggling ring behind the uniform, for example] they should be treated just the same.