[flippyhead]

Regardless of weather or not the search was warranted in this case it often seems like much of the hardship and resentment could be mitigated by the tiniest amount of curtesy on the part of the police. I don't understand why cops are often (not always) such total dicks about this stuff. Does treating people like shit really further their aims? Is the thinking that some how they'll "smoke out the guilty" when their anger get's the better of them or something?

[a3n]

Imagine you make an omelette every morning, or a grilled cheese sandwich every lunch. Imagine when you first start this habit, you make every meal with care. If you've seen the movie "Chef," remember the scene where he's making a grilled cheese sandwich; I've never seen such care.

But you're not Chef, you're just a guy making a routine breakfast or lunch. As time goes by you get used to the routine. It's just an omelette or sandwich, you'll never think of each particular one once it's consumed. If there's a hole in an omelette, or the bread in the sandwich is skewed, you won't even remember it later in the day. It's just a thing you do every day, and despite any earlier desire to be the best omelette or sandwich maker, the only really important thing is that you've eaten.

Those cops do that job every day, and the only important thing to them is that they've taken someone off the bus and searched them, and they can then report that. Discovery of contraband is just a bonus.

The do it every day, and unless they find something they will never see "you" ever again. In fact they don't even see "you" during the event. You're just a resource so that they can make a report.

You're just a resource.

Would it ever occur to you to apologize to your sandwich for being less than perfect?

Would it ever occur to those police to notice the individual, in a routine played out every day, and apologise or even acknowledge?

You're just a resource.

[guard-of-terra]

Hairdressers and doctors (and even more so baristas) have all the same situation, and yet they usually find means to be polite.

So no, it's not excuse, never was, never will be.

[a3n]

It's not an excuse. It's a description.

The difference between civilian occupations and law enforcement is that cops look for bad. They see everyone with suspicion. It's a conflict, where the occupations you list all participants have essentially the same goal. An interaction as described with cops is not voluntary and both sides have different motivations: to get away as quickly and non-disruptively as possible, vs trying to find evidence of any crime you might have committed.

[guard-of-terra]

When you buy something, you have very different motivation than seller does, there's a conflict of interests.

Most people aren't criminals so police should be polite by default. They should be providing an example first, looking for criminals second. Unless they're on the chase of a known criminal, of course. Unfortunately, these days it is not enforced by anything, so we should take steps to restore those affairs.

[lordnacho]

Right, next time the police are impolite I'll go to the competition.

[guard-of-terra]

That is neither excuse for them nor for you.

[T-hawk]

Hairdressers, doctors, and baristas operate in a market of free choice. Their motivation to be polite is that customers will go elsewhere if they don't.

Police officers have a monopoly in their industry. If you're being detained, you can't choose to take your business to another police jurisdiction. You're stuck with them no matter how rude they decide to be.

[slowmotiony]

Bavarian cops are known to be absolute pieces of shit. When I was younger I used to travel to Munich from Poland via bus (because it was the cheapest way), and we got stopped and frisked EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Imagine this for a second - I am a EU citizen of a country that signed the Schengen agreement, and yet I get my passport confiscated and my belongings searched every time I am in Germany. Not even a single "sorry" by the officers either.

[rostigerpudel]

Actually, having traveled a lot I have come to appreciate bavarian cops (and northern/central european cops in general) as being professional and downright civil when compared to some of their southern European counterparts (say from Spain, Italy or France). I've noticed, though, that it always helps to have at least some knowledge of the local language.

There are always A-holes around in the police but consistently getting the frisky treatment would make me wonder if something in my appearance could be seen as cop-bait. Maybe the dreads and the weed silhouette on your cap? Just kidding, but since we don't know what you looked like, it's hard to tell if what happened to you was plain bad luck or something in your looks and/or expressed attitude. Definitely not something that happens to everyone.

[slowmotiony]

I am just a regular normal white guy. You can book a night bus from Breslau/Kattowitz to Munich and I guarantee you will get stopped and searched too.

The cops never found anything, but they succeeded in making me hate their guts for the rest of my life.

[sgift]

So, you hate the guts of people who do their jobs.

[slowmotiony]

It's not the job of Police to single out people based on their ethnicity and search them for drugs without any probable cause.

[jdietrich]

Probable cause is an American legal concept, not a German one.

[sgift]

It's the job of the police to single out people based on their experience and search them for drugs/things they shouldn't have/other problems. There are always two sides, it's easy to pick one and then cry foul.

[vsl]

Nope, this really is well known. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it happens to lots of Czechs and Poles in Bavaria. To the point of causing diplomatic incidents on occasions.

[tormeh]

Bavarian bureaucrats too. What's up with Bavaria?

[biafra]

Bavaria is the Texas of Germany.

[cygx]

Bayern gehört zu Österreich... duda, duda.

[wolfgke]

Having a Austrian father and a sister who lives in Austria, I say: the Austrian cops are said to be more civil than their Bavarian counterpart (and I'd prefer to live in Austria than in Bavaria).

[crusso]

Some in law enforcement feel that it's better to subdue resistance right at the beginning of the interaction with decisive or even harsh treatment. They go for the "Shock and awe" approach.

[TazeTSchnitzel]

People treat you as guilty until proven innocent.