Posted on 07/05/2009 1:32:21 PM PDT by SampleMan
I would welcome fellow Freeper input on an exchange I had with the police last night.
First a little background. I've got 20 years in the military, started out my life giving police officers a great deal of respect and knee jerking to their defense. Over the course of years, however, I've lost a lot of respect for the police via watching continual police traffic violations, watching unprofessional behavior and seeing shows of petty tyranny over their fellow citizens.
Although I'd still like to be wholeheartedly pro-law and think the way to get respectable enforcement officers is to demand professionalism, I find that my opinions here on FR often gets me labeled a "cop hater". Unfortunately, I'm quickly becoming callous to that particular "insult".
So here is my experience from last night. I took my daughters to see the fireworks downtown. Being crowded I sat them up on a 5' tall brick pillar with a 36' flat square top. Shortly after I had two police officers approach me and rudely demand to know if those were my children. I don't react well to rude. Anyway I quickly claimed them and was told, again rudely, to remove them from the pillar. Now this pillar is not on public property, so I asked them if the property owner (CSX railway) had complained, "No" then I asked them if the property owner had asked them to keep people off the pillar, "No". I then told them that I didn't understand the legality of their request. This is when they both puffed up like peacocks.
I was then informed that "They" were making the complaint. At this point I told them that I would comply (and started lifting my girls down), but that they had no basis to make a complaint and were abusing their authority. They didn't take this well and the short man then started screaming that he had the authority as a public servant, to which I calmly pointed out that no one in the public had voiced a complaint, that in fact I was the public, and I failed to see how he was being my servant.
My children had now been on the ground for a while, but apparently frustrated they then began accusing me of endangering my children's safety. To which I calmly acknowledged their opinion, and then asked if they were familiar with the legal precedence of parental authority in such matters.
This is where they both appeared to want to cuff me, so I pointed out that I had complied with their dubious orders, but did not intend to kow tow to their logic. They moved about 20' away and glared at me until the fireworks were over.
Now let me be clear, if anyone from CSX had asked me, or if the officers had conveyed that CSX wished for people to stay off, I would have complied without complaint. My beef is essentially that they took it upon themselves to create a problem where none existed and approached me like a couple of bullies in the school yard. Perhaps it’s just my age or a push back to the totalitarian nature of our new Federal Government, but I'm in no mood to play the role of the sheep.
OK fire away folks. I'm sure a few of you think that they should have tazed me and put my kids in protective custody for the night.
You said it better than I would have. Thanks.
Being on the river, they had opened their parking area up to the public. That hardly seems to me an assertion to "stay off".
Just suck it up. It’s not easy, but civilized.
I have a hard time reconciling that philosophy with being free. Acquiescing to petty tyrants might help ensure that I won't get cuffed or ruffed up, but it doesn't do much for walking with my head up and living without fear.
It wasn’t their pillar either, nor was it public property.
The cops don't know that (and no, I don't think they're psychic). Like public school, the job is cast to work with the lowest denominator, it takes it's toll.
All I'm saying is that continually being prickly and confrontational towards cops simply continues the problem of poor community relations. Everyone treats them all like pricks and pretty soon all of them are acting the part society has projected onto them.
The fish rots from the head down and beating on the cops on the street is not where the problem is coming from.
Perhaps it’s just my age or a push back to the totalitarian nature of our new Federal Government, but I'm in no mood to play the role of the sheep.
You admit right here you were pushing back but you're attacking the symptom, not the disease. It's like scratching a poison ivy rash, you're just spreading the poison.
You have a problem with the behavior of local officers, then take it to the top of the food chain in your community, but don't project your anger at the crap you read on the internet onto your local officers.
Please try to stick to specifics and present something resembling a thought or argument. Generally ignoring the argument and sufficing with weak insults just bolsters my opinion that certain people think cops have a right to act as petty tyrants.
It is the direct interaction with the police that have brought me to my current opinions. As I said, I didn't start out this way.
It doesn’t have to be public property. Cops frequently protect the interests of private property owners. For events like this, cops are often hired to patrol private property for the specific purpose of limiting the liability of property owners (i.e. accident avoidance).
This does not seem like an abuse of authority. It appears to be a reasonable action to protect the liability of an absent property owner.
SnakeDoc
This type crap pisses me off to no end.
So which dance of joy do you do when you hear a police officer is killed? Never done a thing for anyone in your life and think all cops should die.
If someone hates cops you know automatically they are a completely worthless human being.
Hey gang banger lover, your heroes in the gangs killed another cop in Chicago today.
Another gang loving cop hater.
I think the real reason he didn’t want to be arrested was because his BAC was probably around .30.
And the people that hate cops were bullies in high school and now bully their wives and kids as adults.
After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say “I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER.” ( William Burroughs )
Drunk people putting their kids on pillars. Ripe for litigation.
As I pointed out in my post, I acknowledge that I may be more resistant to government intrusion than usual, but I am not looking for trouble with the police.
Nothing would make me happier than to have an extremely professional police force that I can be proud of. I have had many experiences with the police over the last few years that steer me away from that. e.g. I see them going 70mph through a 45 stretch every day, except for the days that they set up a speed trap in it. I had an officer try to talk me into fluffing up an insurance claim on a robbery. I've seen the police use their sirens to go through traffic and then pull in for lunch (same place I was headed). Then there was the instance where I had to hold off a deranged homeless man who was threatening to kill several women and their children and screaming profanities at them. There was a policeman watching a crosswalk one block away, but he would not come, and despite a 911 call, no other police came within the hour I remained to file a report. I came very close to killing that man. When I finally spoke to a policeman, he refused to file a report or pursue it in any way "because the guy was crazy".
So yea, as I said, there have been a few instances over the years that have lead to a loss of respect.
I reported you for grossly negligent threads and personal attacks. This behaviour is not acceptable on FreeRepublic. Your comments do not belong on a conservative website.
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