I’m familiar with your points. I still maintain it’s an abrigement.
OK, fine. And not to flog a dead horse here, I’ve long tried to understand the point of view that you are advocating, so in all seriousness, what is the alternative to the “stair-step” level of proof we’ve evolved here in the US over the past couple of centuries?
Do we start demanding that the police have “probable cause” prior to a detention? What then do we require for an arrest? “Beyond a reasonable doubt”?
And once we dispense with that, in the brave new Libertarian world, when may the police pat a suspect down for weapons? Only after an arrest has been affected? Or perhaps a conviction obtained?
We So-Cons don’t all imagine that we have all of the answers, and there are instances of police over-reach even from the conservative side of the aisle. BUT, I don’t think that you’ll get a lot of social conservatives complaining about the actual way that NYPD was conducting business, once they become familiar with the actual facts, and not the lefty hysterics on the NY city counsel and the “community” activists.