.im guessing you've been in trouble with the law before so now you hate all police officers
Well, let's see...in my life, I've had 3 speeding tickets, 2 of them when I was a kid. The most recent was 1991. Beyond that, I got a ticket for a right turn on red, didn't see the sign. That was about 87 or 88. All of my few interactions with cops in which I've been close to being "on the wrong side of the law" have been minor traffic issues.
Wait, I take that back. When I was a guard, there was a brouhaha when I was detained for a few minutes for pulling a gun on someone, but once they found out it was in response to the other guy having pulled a bigass knife on me, they gave me my gun back and bade me a pleasant evening. But that was back when cops were cops, not soldiers.
No, what gave me my present attitude about cops started about 30 years ago, but it's only been noticeable the last 10 or so, and that's the militarization of cops.
The cops have forgotten a few things. They've forgotten that we own them, that they exist because we in society created them for our own security and that they exist at our pleasure. They now believe themselves to be the State's enforcers, no less so than Roscoe P. Coletrain to Boss Hogg.
They've forgotten that we're not in the military--that we're not trainees and they're not DIs. Certainly you've run across these jacktards.
They've forgotten their tasers aren't there for pain compliance but to give them another tool when they're in physical danger. Oh, boy, do they love their tasers!
They've forgotten they're accountable to the law. Actually, I have to give them a pass on this; it's the State that makes them unaccountable to the law. When they brutalize us, they investigate themselves and pronounce themselves not guilty. And that's usually the end of it.
Now, I'll admit that my 98/2 ratio is hyperbole. But it sure as hell ain't 2/98. I'd bet that 75% of cops shouldn't be cops, and most of the remaining 25% of decent cops are veterans that won't be around to keep the others reasonably in line.
Remember the case in Austin, TX in which a rookie cop was arresting an old man, and his T.O. told him to tase the guy? The rookie didn't, because he already had the old man under control and no more force was justified. The rookie cop was cashiered for not following the illegal order.
How many senior citizens have to get tased before the average citizen figures out something is wrong? How many children have to get tased or hauled out of school in handcuffs for drawing on their desks or drawing a picture of a gun because they were drawing their daddy who just happens to be a soldier?
How many more times do off-duty cops get to attack people over simple misunderstandings outside wedding receptions, dog-piling and beating the victim to death, all the while yelling "STOP RESISTING?"
How many times do we witness New York cops body blocking innocent bicyclists to the ground and then lying about it to make the citizen look like the aggressor, just so they can make an arrest?
How many more paramedics have to get choked on the side of the road while on a call because a cop was out of control? Fortunately, that cop was eventually fired, though he probably already has another law enforcement job elsewhere, making it his third, having been fired twice for excessive force.
How many more cops get to point their gun in a drive through window at a fast food joint because of a dispute over the food or service?
How many more states have to rule outrages, like saying a cop can bust down your door for any or no reason, leaving you no recourse but to appeal after the fact--from your cell?
How many more memos have to leak that tell school resource officers to NOT be Officer Friendly, but an occupying force in riot gear, before you consider that things have changed?
How many more Kuehnlines do we need? He, too, was eventually fired, but it took practically an act of congress, and then the other cops, instead of recognizing he was a bad apple, threaten the kid who got him fired. How many cops, like the ones in Rochester, believe they have the right to order a private citizen to not film them from his OWN property and to go inside? And wasn't it L.A. in which cops were involved in a questionable shooting, found out they were being videod from a bystander's cell phone, confiscated it, smashed it, then put it back in his pocket? Had the videos from those three incidents not been made public, we'd never know about them, and the cops would have faced zero penalties, instead of the rather insufficient ones they did or will face.
Who was that jackball in Baltimore--Officer Salvatore Rivieri--who tackled and manhandled a scrawny teenager for calling him "Dude?" Screeched Rivieri, "You disrespected my badge, you disrespected my department, you disrespected my uniform!" or some such ridiculous tantrum.
Far from there being widespread antagonism towards police, most of society gives them outrageous deference. A cop in Oregon named Meservey murdered a drunk outside a bar in cold blood--first degree murder--and got away with it despite the testimony of the other cop at the scene who said it was unjustified, because servile jurors were swayed by the PBA shyster who said no cop should ever be locked up for a decision made under stress in the heat of the moment.
With any group your going to have bad apples but to make statements such as yours is so far from the truth it isn't even funny......chilly 23 yrs of Service to the public. And future expediter on 2
Posted with my Droid EO Forum App
Bad apples, sure. The majority of them, and they make the few honest peace officers look bad.
