Cops Quotes

“My main problem with cops is that they do what they're told. They say 'Sorry mate, I'm just doing my job' all the fucking time.”
― Banksy, Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall

“When I was twelve, my parents had two talks with me.

One was the usual birds and bees. Well, I didn't really get the usual version. My mom, Lisa, is a registered nurse, and she told me what went where, and what didn't need to go here, there, or any damn where till I'm grown. Back then, I doubted anything was going anywhere anyway. While all the other girls sprouted breasts between sixth and seventh grade, my chest was as flat as my back.

The other talk was about what to do if a cop stopped me.

Momma fussed and told Daddy I was too young for that. He argued that I wasn't too young to get arrested or shot.

"Starr-Starr, you do whatever they tell you to do," he said. "Keep your hands visible. Don't make any sudden moves. Only speak when they speak to you."

I knew it must've been serious. Daddy has the biggest mouth of anybody I know, and if he said to be quiet, I needed to be quiet.

I hope somebody had the talk with Khalil.”
― Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

“But then something happened, Ray, something amazing. Something...

"That white cop sitting next to me? He took a long look at my mother when she came in, just like, absorbed her, and then without even turning to me, he just put his hand on my back, up between my neck and shoulder...

"And all he did was squeeze. Give me a little squeeze of sympathy, then rubbed that same spot with his palm for maybe two, three seconds, and that was it.

"But I swear to you, nobody, in my entire life up to that point had ever touched me with that kind of tenderness. I had never experienced a sympathetic hand like that, and Ray, it felt like lightning.

"I mean, the guy did it without thinking, I'm sure. And when dinnertime rolled around he had probably forgotten all about it. Forgot about me, too, for that matter... But I didn't forget.

"I didn't walk around thinking about it nonstop either, but something like seven years later when I was at community college? The recruiting officer for the PD came on campus for Career Day, and I didn't really like college all that much to begin with, so I took the test for the academy, scored high, quit school and never looked back.

"And usually when I tell people why I became a cop I say because it would keep Butchie and Antoine out of my life, and there's some truth in that.

"But I think the real reason was because that recruiting officer on campus that day reminded me, in some way, you know, conscious or not, of that housing cop who had sat on the bench with me when I was thirteen.

"In fact, I don't think it, I know it. As sure as I'm standing here, I know I became a cop because of him. For him. To be like him. God as my witness, Ray. The man put his hand on my back for three seconds and it rerouted my life for the next twenty-nine years.

"It's the enormity of small things... Adults, grown-ups, us, we have so much power... And sometimes when we find ourselves coming into contact with certain kinds of kids? Needy kids? We have to be ever so careful...”
― Richard Price

“Most people are like sheep. Nice, harmless creatures who want nothing more than to be left alone so they can graze. But then of course there are wolves. Who want nothing more than to eat the sheep.

But there’s a third kind of person. The sheepdog. Sheepdogs have fangs like wolves. But their instinct isn’t predation. It’s protection. All they want, what they live for, is to protect the flock.”
― Barry Eisler, Livia Lone

“When cops are on the job they love lawyers like lions love hyenas, only minus the mutual respect.”
― Reed Farrel Coleman, The James Deans

“Cops, I've learned, are like vampires; they can't come in unless you invite them.”
― jessica warman

“Wolf, not dog. You were bitten by a Lycan, not Lassie.”
― Shannan Albright, Dark Passion Rising

“The name Atlantis came from an old book Victoria had never read. A lifetime residency in the ASM paradise was rumored to cost anywhere from 15 to 20 million dollars. The rich and powerful lived under the dome because they considered themselves separate and superior. Few of them left the comfort and security of Atlantis. To them the outside world was weak. Second Sector citizens where miscreant dregs of a defunct society. In order to enter the Atlantian dome one first had to be cleared by a resident. Gate security personnel strictly enforced this rule, even when outsiders carried a badge and gun.”
― Benjamin R. Smith, Atlas

“The cops got out of the car and came straight towards me. My first thought was, How hypocritical… They head straight for the kid all in black…”
― Bella Shadow, Assassin: The Beginning

“I’m sure the ‘I wouldn’t fuck a murder conspirator’ argument wins over many an internal affairs review board. Bring him in. It’ll be in your favor.”
― Benjamin R. Smith, Atlas

“Do you like being a cop?"
"I love it, when it doesn't suck, sir.”
― Edward Conlon, Blue Blood by Conlon, Edward (2004) Paperback

“I'm a strict materialist - but the police are brutal materialists.”
― Jack Williamson, Darker Than You Think

“Good cops make their bosses look good, and Hector was a one-man beauty school.”
― Edward Conlon, Blue Blood by Conlon, Edward (2004) Paperback

“During voir dire, the interviews for jury selection, each person is asked under oath about their experience with the criminal justice system, as defendant or victim, but usually not even the most elementary effort is made to corroborate those claims. One ADA [Associate District Attorney] told me about inheriting a murder case, after the first jury deadlocked. He checked the raps for the jurors and found that four had criminal records. None of those jurors were prosecuted. Nor was it policy to prosecute defense witnesses who were demonstrably lying--by providing false alibis, for example--because, as another ADA told me, if they win the case, they don't bother, and if they lose, "it looks like sour grapes." A cop told me about a brawl at court one day, when he saw court officers tackle a man who tried to escape from the Grand Jury. An undercover was testifying about a buy when the juror recognized him as someone he had sold to. Another cop told me about locking up a woman for buying crack, who begged for a Desk Appearance Ticket, because she had to get back to court, for jury duty--she was the forewoman on a Narcotics case, of course. The worst part about these stories is that when I told them to various ADAs, none were at all surprised; most of those I'd worked with I respected, but the institutionalized expectations were abysmal. They were too used to losing and it showed in how they played the game.”
― Edward Conlon, Blue Blood by Conlon, Edward (2004) Paperback

“The thing is, I don't even hate cops. To tell you the truth, I actually feel a little sorry for them.”
― Markus Zusak, Fighting Ruben Wolfe

“Later that day when I passed the Admin lieutenant and the Sargeant standing by the Desk, I said casually, "I'm leaving too, Sarge."
"Okay," he said, and I kept on walking.”
― Edward Conlon, Blue Blood by Conlon, Edward (2004) Paperback

“I was constantly amazed by how many people talked me into arresting them.”
― Edward Conlon, Blue Blood by Conlon, Edward (2004) Paperback

“. ‘Because off-duty cops walk around the city wearing sweatshirts advertising they’re cops all the time, never mind it’s a hundred degrees outside. And never mind you look like the youngest cop ever recruited in the history of policing.’
He tsks at me. ‘Have you never seen 21 Jump Street?”
― Sarah Alderson, Out of Control

“When I had to work Shea Stadium for a Mets-Braves game – Atlanta pitcher John Rocker had recently given an interview in which he denounced New Yorkers of all Colors and preferences – I was assigned to a parking lot, where numerous drivers asked me for directions to various highways. When my first answer – “I have no idea” – seemed to invite denunciation and debate, I revised it to “Take the first left.” For all I know, those people are still lost in Queens. ”
― Edward Conlon, Blue Blood by Conlon, Edward (2004) Paperback

“We arrived at the police station and they parked and did the whole ‘hassle and grimace’ routine. I inwardly rolled my eyes. I mean really. ‘Hey Bob, looks like you had your hands full today.’ ‘Yeah Bill, she was a murderer; killed a boy.’ Oh geez, gimme a break. I’m fourteen years old and it was an accident. Yes, I’m totally the highlight of the day. I mean, lunatic Joe over there who murdered twelve people and committed burglary so isn’t important.”
― Bella Shadow, Assassin: The Beginning

“A cop is a human creature born stupid and raised in stupidity.”
― Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don't Dance

“I need a favour.’
I raise my eyebrows at him in disbelief. What makes him think I’m about to do him a favour? He’s a stranger. And he’s wearing handcuffs.”
― Sarah Alderson, Out of Control

“White cops did as they pleased. Crooked white cops? Untouchable.”
― Colson Whitehead, Crook Manifesto

“As for the job itself, a lifelong crook doing part-time security work wasn't so strange. Half the cops in New York were thieving bitches first and cops second. City like this, it behooves you to embrace the fucking contradictions.”
― Colson Whitehead, Crook Manifesto

“The Cop. She has a steel grid in front of her mind, and for anything in the outer world to reach her it first has to squeeze through the bars of that grid. Information has to be broken into small cubes; information and data packaged in two-dimensional squares are preferable to three-dimensional cubes however: they pass through the grid more quickly and once they reach the Cop’s mind take up less space there.”
― Russell Banks, Lost Memory of Skin

“I had been terrified of Arizona cops since high school when more than one threatened to deport me during traffic stops. Being a US citizen didn't mean anything to them when my complexion wasn't light enough. I was always scared that they wouldn't bother with the paperwork and instead would take matters into their own hands to get rid of me.”
― Leah Myers, Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity

“Cops tend to assess a situation at first glance--people are always up to something. In the desert, they were often involved in some form of dying.”
― Luis Alberto Urrea, The Devil's Highway: A True Story

“At times, cops resemble gangsters, and doctors resemble patients.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov

“I shoot cops with a video camera.”
― Steven Magee

“Tom hummed the affirmative by making a sarcastic folksy sound that matched his uniform.”
― Errick Nunnally