Nobody defends this sort of thing. Problem is, many read something like this and they chime in that all cops are like this.
Makes the forum look like nut-job central command.
Hey, it makes the forum look like the ACLU, Hippie, Gang Banger, Prison occupants, Leftist Defense Attorney, home away from home.
Nope. It just makes us look like we are paying attention.
From a previous post I made on the subject...
What we're actually seeing is the result of several policies and circumstances that are all coming together at once.
FIrst, The vast majority of cops have become not much more than tax collectors for the police/welfare state. For most of us, the only interactions we have with police is when they pull us over for some alleged driving violation . In those situations, because they often use them as the pretext for more revenue generation against a soft, safe target, our perception of police has become more and more averse to having any interaction at all with them. The mantra of "don't talk to police" is not just a good idea, it is excellent advise.
Second, you have the ever-increasing militarization of the police. The proliferation of "SWAT" teams with military hardware helps to reinforce the "us vs. them" perceptions amongst both the police and the citizens. Of course, once you have a swat team with all their fun toys to play with, you have to actually use them or people will question the legitimacy of the need. What the police tend to forget is that if you dress up and equip yourself like an occupying army, people will begin to percieve you as an occupying army, and rightfully so. On a personal note, anyone who invades my home wearing a mask is a target, I don't care what logo they have on their jackets.
Third, and perhaps ultimately, the proliferation of video cameras. It hasn't quite sunk into the powers that be yet, that these things are a double-edged sword. Yes, they are very useful for the police state to keep their supposed subject in line. On the other hand, it is providing those same subjects with the ability to expose the actions of the state to a world-wide audience almost immediately.
Fourth, you have what appears to be an absolute institutional failure of police organizations to police themselves. We often hear about the 1% that makes the rest look bad, but then we see that even in the most obviously egregious circumstances, that the "thin blue line" closes ranks to protect their own despite the massive damage this kind of stuff does to the perceptions of the public.
For years, your average American was fed a steady diet of the propaganda about 'officer friendly'. He's just here to help, and spends the majority of his days rescuing kittens from trees. For some areas, that had the benefit of being largely true, but it has never been true universally, nor for all people. A black man passing through some parts of the country could find himself running afoul of 'officer friendly' just for being who he was, and where he happened to be at the moment.
In times past, each of these interactions were isolated incidents that rarely were brought to the attention of the population at large, who figured, based on their own experiences with these same officers, that the 'miscreant' had done something to bring down the ire of the police upon him. It always came down to essentially the officer's word against a citizen's. Nowdays, we have cameras that are able to record the incident, and show where the fault really lies. This tends to undercut that whole 'officer friendly' meme.
Couple that, with the fact that these kinds of incidents are quckly available to a worldwide audience, and you'll find that the erosion to the meme has reached a point that it is going to be really difficult to sell it to the populace at large again,
Then, you also have current police training methods which (IMO) overly emphasise "officer safety" to the point that in any interaction with the public, the officer in question will often be perceived as being overly jumpy and confrontational for a situation that simply does not warrant it. If you want to experience this really up close and personal yourself, the next time you're pulled over by a cop as politely as you can, inform him that you will be taking full advantage of the 4th and 5th amendments rights guaranteed you under the Constitution, and you'll see how well that plays.
You take all of the above, and throw in the fact that there are folks out there whose entire existance is based on their ability to stir people up and rabble-rouse and you have an interesting mixture that ultimately will not end well.
Then, as the icing on the cake, you have the globalists who hate the idea of local control of anything, who are pushing the idea of nationalizing police forces. These people are truely dangerous. Even more so than professional racists like Sharpton and company.
When it's all rolled together, the ultimate consequences to come from all this has yet to be seen, but I suspect strongly it won't be pretty.
It is not nut-job central command. In times like these, cities and municipalities are hurting for cash. There are 90 million plus people under or not employed at all. These days, if you catch a cops attention you better be damned certain that at the very least you are going to get “charge stacked” so the DA can punish you with fines to make up for the taxes not being collected. And with the younger breed hitting the streets; I’ve witnessed them; their attitude is quite literally “us vs. them” and WE citizens are the “them”. It really isn’t a stretch of the imagination that “off-duty” no longer see themselves that way; the are numero uno in their own eyes and the laws do not apply to them. I have no doubt there are hundreds of thousands of good cops out there; the problem is they don’t speak up against the scum that is infecting their ranks which makes them just as guilty.
“Makes the forum look like nut-job central command.”
Expecting the police to use intelligence and follow the law is the impression I’ve gotten from comments on this forum.
There is nothing conservative or noble about slavish deference to authority.
In fact it’s kind of pathetic.
Nonsense. There are a whole group who defend cops actions, no matter what.