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Organized police forces have been in existance since the early nineteenth century; in that “majority” of our existence they have by and large shielded us from the from the anarchy and chaos that would have destroyed this country at a very early age. It is very disturbing that you and far too many others work under the assumption that the nature of a police officer is to be fundamentally corrupt and that he or she exists only to trample on the rights of the populace. I can only take it that you see the right of every individual to do whatever he wants, at any time, for whatever purpose damn the consequences to be inalienable. Your la-la land is getting crowded. Better start working on that space ship!

Organized police forces have been in existance since the early nineteenth century

Thanks for making my point.

The nineteenth century wasn't that long ago.

Whatever did we do before then?

Civilization managed to thrive somehow for eons.

It is very disturbing that you and far too many others work under the assumption that the nature of a police officer is to be fundamentally corrupt and that he or she exists only to trample on the rights of the populace.

The nature of a peace officer is not to be fundamentally corrupt. His job is to catch and aid in the prosecution of people who are dangerous or disruptive to society. Trying to find petty technical violations on which to arrest otherwise innocent people does not contribute to the job of prosecuting the bad people, so a good peace-officer will not engage in such tactics.

The nature of a rev'nooer, however, isn't so benign. His job is to collect money by whatever means he can (or in some cases, to harass people or businesses the government doesn't like). With the aid of modern seizure rules (which, if we had good judges, would be recognized as not being 'laws' since they violate the Supreme Law of the Land) cops can collect revenue without having to worry too much about guilt or innocence. When a city can profit by going after even those who are found 100% innocent, that forms a very strong corrupting influence.

Good peace officers deserve sincere respect. Rev'nooers deserve only the begrudging respect compelled by their position of power. Some cops blend the roles, and thus may deserve somewhat more respect than rev'nooers. I think society would be much better off, though, to segregate the peace-officer and rev'nooer roles.