r/GlobalTalk • u/TakeOffYourMask US • 19d ago
[Question] Do police in your country tend to be aligned with a political party? Do people assume that police have certain views? Question
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u/jakeygotbandz 19d ago
Thailand. I would say some things but it's illegal to say anything negative about the government!
You can check out the recent protests calling for democracy and the most recent addition to the shitshow is 'Jo Ferrari' (police chief who tried to extort money out of a suspect by suffocating him with a plastic bag over the head as other officers watched and aided in restraining the guy as well as handing him another bag. Now he's apologizing and trying to 'save face' with the logic of a 5 year old who got in trouble. He will probably be pardoned by the gov and the story will fit some bullshit narrative which doesn't tarnish the image of police/gov). Craziness.
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u/venuswasaflytrap 18d ago
Is it illegal to say that you would say negative things about the government if it weren't illegal to do so?
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u/962throwaway 19d ago
[India]
Which ever is the ruling party.
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u/Luutamo 🇫🇮 Finland 18d ago edited 18d ago
No.
Police in general are respected here and they also do they job properly. All the ACAB stuff seemed so weird to me until I learned about how horrid the situation is in USA. Being a police here has nothing political connected to it.
One other reason for the difference might be that Finland, like most countries, has more than 2 political parties. 2 parties leads to "them versus us" mentality that is not healthy.
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u/Lazzen Mexico 19d ago
No, political affiliation is more with rural/urban and state origin rather than that.
Police in general isn't really respected
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u/henriquegarcia Portugal 18d ago
Aren't they feared/corrupt like the rest of the Americas?
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u/Lazzen Mexico 18d ago edited 18d ago
I mean yeah, but they do not have a political affiliation beyond who pays their bills in their city, neither does the army have affiliation as a whole, which i heard in Brazil they do have or something like that?
Most people are scared of both and find them corrupt though
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u/henriquegarcia Portugal 18d ago
Yeah, they usually align with the right, some heritage from the military dictatorship we had in the 60s
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u/Lazzen Mexico 18d ago
Mexico did not have a coup in the cold war so we do not have that kind of hold over, i know in Argentina they basically neutered their own Army for that reason and in Chile the Carabineros are basically military police with a shaky track record.
Most in Mexico specially lower classes(therefore the average member) are socially conservative and left leaning economically if we had to give them a general affiliation beyond money and power.
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u/Wild_Marker Argentina 18d ago
Yep, our army is practically non-existent due to how much the people hated them after the last dictatorship, and they usually lean right for obvious reasons. Police though are kinda like in mexico, political-neutral with corruption of varying local flavors.
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u/mmmaddox 19d ago
In the South US (Alabama) I usually assume cops are Republicans.
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u/TakeOffYourMask US 19d ago
I think that’s a safe assumption anywhere in the US.
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u/GoAskAli 18d ago
I've read some statistics that put police at somewhere between 80-92% Republican (aks right wing).
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u/venuswasaflytrap 18d ago
That seems wrong (same if they were 90% left or 90% green or whatever). I feel like government employees should be representative, but I'm not sure why I feel that way exactly or what rules I'd put in place to accomplish that.
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u/GoAskAli 18d ago
Unfortunately in the US they use psychological testing to weed out applicants with certain traits like empathy. They also reject applicants with above average intelligence. So, you end up getting a cadre of easily malleable police bros just like what we have.
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u/gaelen33 18d ago
That doesn't sound like a real thing at all. To answer the main question, I have a few cops in the family (NY and CT) and I'd say they're moderate to liberal politically, which isn't TOO surprising in urban new England but probably still unusual. But in regards to your comment specifically, I have never heard of any screenings like those you're claiming exist.
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u/GoAskAli 16d ago
A simple Google search can settle that but here is just one example of someone who sued over being denied for being "too intelligent."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836
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u/NotTRYINGtobeLame USA 🇺🇸 18d ago edited 18d ago
That doesn't sound like a real thing at all.
It is the Reddit narrative, though. Posting those exact lines is like posting a picture of a unicorn in r/freekarma.
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u/TakeOffYourMask US 18d ago
Well plenty of other government employee groups are lopsided the other way. I agree it’s not good.
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u/venuswasaflytrap 18d ago
Yeah, I think that's probably bad too. I think that often a profession draws people to it for the wrong reasons.
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u/fujifilm96 19d ago
singapore: i'd think the PAP. anyway they've been running the country (the PAP, not the police lmao) more or less since we've become independent.
but in general i think most people here don't hate the cops. i feel like they're also fairly reasonable as well
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u/fucknazis101 18d ago
India.
It heavily depends. Police are usually aligned with the ruling party. But the army, police and all paramilitary forces have frighteningly less power.
In Bengal, my state, for over 30 years the police were aligned with the communists. They did their dirty work, covered up crimes committed by the commies and arrested opposition leaders frequently without reason. However, in 2011, the commies were finally voted out and the police did a convenient 180 to avoid any repercussions for the last 30+ years.
They have been working, basically, for our new ruling party ever since. With the complete support of the people, I should add. They have even gone against BJP, the ruling party of India as a big fuck you to the fascists.
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u/okaymoose Canada 19d ago
I don't personally get that impression but I think in some cities the police may seem to align more with the CPC than any other. The RCMP probably also have certain views as a whole becauE who the fuck even becomes RCMP anymore?
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u/sleepyintoronto 19d ago
I would agree. Cops in Canada are more right wing authoritarian. The number of them I see with thin-blue-line badges on is terrifying.
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u/allieggs 18d ago
Damn, I thought that was just a US thing.
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u/OneSidedPolygon Black Canadian 18d ago
We're kind of a Diet USA when it comes to social issues. We mostly consume American media, and since the decline of cable that has become increasingly worse.
Canada is also largely rural. Despite living in the town with the Provincial Headquarters, we still had small town bully cops.
My sister is from the city, and has recanted stories of racially charged police brutality. In said city cops also enabled a Yellow Vest (Canadian Proud Boys) 'demonstration'. So that's fun.
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u/Zero22xx 18d ago
South Africa. After the recent riots showed us that when it really comes down to it the police are nowhere to be found and we're on our own, I'm thinking that they're probably split between supporting an increasingly terrorist-like faction of the ANC and being in it for themselves and no one else. Either way, it's clear that they're not there to protect and serve the people.
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u/Venerius Germany 19d ago
I cant say that police in Germany are partial to any party in particular. They are just as diverse as the general public me thinks.
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u/ChillBlunton 18d ago
i know some in the police force and deem this to be true. there is a problem with clusters of racism and general right wing views though.
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u/Loko_Pepe 18d ago
As a swiss person. Not really. As a chilean person. Definitely with the far right spectrum
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u/TrainingNail Brazil 19d ago
Not generally, no. Some policemen might be right wing/in favor of the current president who is very pro-gun, but that is in no way a rule. The police force as an institution isn’t party aligned. (Brazil)
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u/Dionysus24779 18d ago
Yeah, I think they are required as part of their job to uphold democratic values and pretty much align with what the government says.
The same is true for pretty much everyone who is employed by the state itself, like judges or some teachers and so on.
Though since we had essentially the same ruling party or ideology for decades now it's not a problem as most people follow along anyway, people with different points of view don't get much of a platform or are taken too serious and if they are it's usually in a negative way.
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u/Nothingmakessenseboi India 18d ago
In India, the police are usually aligned with the ruling party.
People assume that cops are ultra conservative and do a lot of moral policing. For example, if you're in a public park with your girlfriend and if there's a cop there, then he is gonna shoot you with a lot of personal questions and he might also ask you and your girlfriend's parents' contact details, etc (if you're a college/school student) and will abuse you if you don't co-operate.
Personal questions as in questions like:
Why are you wearing that dress?
Do your parents know about your relationship?
Do you guys belong to the same caste/religion?
Exceptions exists, but this is the general stereotype.
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u/floating-point- usa 17d ago
Has this always been the case, or is this a new (Modi-era) development?
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u/DJ_Beardsquirt 18d ago
In the UK the Tories (Conservative Party) are the law and order party, so the police are generally aligned with them.
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u/Prohibitorum Netherlands 18d ago
Netherlands: Hell no! That sounds like a great way to fuck over a country. Trias politica, or seperation of power, is key in good government. The people that make the laws are different from the people that judge/check the laws are different from the ones enforcing the laws.
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u/NinjahBob 19d ago
New Zealand. Not as far as I'm aware, ours are pretty reasonable in general. Nothings perfect though