I think that it's just the natural state of Conservatives to distrust people who tell them what to do. And, if you encounter a "bad" (read: unhelpful, dishonest, generally difficult) police officer in the process of him doing his job (pulling you over? responding to your call?) - it's not like you can can say "Heck with this" and try a different cop. Unfortunately, so many Freepers have had one bad experience and paint every cop with the same brush. In truth, I expect better from the people that populate our forum.
I think that this situation raises questions on both sides of the story. Why was the woman arrested? What happened before the cameras started rolling? And... Why were men present at a strip search? Why was the woman left naked in the cell? Why was procedure violated?
These are the questions that the "reporter" should have asked - and didn't. Considering the main source (the plaintiff's lawyer) I'm not surprised.
I don’t blame the police. In our system of government we get what we ask for. As for bad experiences with the police, nobody would have bad experiences with the police if they were not empowered to do what they do. My guess is that the govt, and the police will close ranks, conduct an internal review and declare that policy was followed. The governed will sort of have a bad taste in their mouth, but will be relieved that policy was followed. End of story. The civil law suit may extract some dollars, or may even be settled out of court. Biz as usual, tomorrow it will be somebody else bulldozed by the system endorsed by most people. But that does not make it right, nor does it make it morraly defensible.
“Unfortunately, so many Freepers have had one bad experience and paint every cop with the same brush. In truth, I expect better from the people that populate our forum.”
As I have pointed out in a previous post, I was once a cop. It was the 80’s and well before what I see as the root cause of the problem.
The problem is that with the increasing ‘militarization’ of even small town departments you have started to attract, in many cases, a different type of person than you did years ago.
They did indeed existed in the 70’s and 80’s there is no doubt, but I believe that now there are many who ‘join up’ for less than the idealistic notion that they can make their community a safer and more liveable place. I sometimes wonder if the line between traditional “police duties” and what we once regarded as military behavior (and they play by an entirely different set of rules, and for good reason) is becoming a bit too blurred?