I'll accept that.
No, the police are employed by the town or county government, and are accountable to it.
I stand by my assertion.
I will stipulate that the local level, like the state and federal has become too extensive, but it remains the most accessible, and most readily accountable to the people.
That may very well be, but they are also the ones that can most readily deprive us of our rights…all the way up to that “life” thing. They need a very short leash (rather than putting citizens on one)
Is that really necessary? Or conducive to a reasoned discussion?
Obviously it is not with you. I fear that I am out of my league (no sarcasm). Still, it is de facto level of discourse on most of these threads. I’m not usually one to go there…
I'm sure that would not be a good thing, but there are ways that do that that don't a) interfere with the legitimate business of an officer or
That seems easy enough
b) expose you to arrest yourself.
That is proving to be difficult. If the cops had seen George Holliday videotaping them, he may have ended up face down next to Rodney King.
I think that you have hit on a very important point here. This is serious business, in my view mostly because considering the present regime in Washington (and their counterparts in my home state of California) this Republic is in dire danger of descending into what could rightly be called a tyranny. So I want to keep my powder dry, so to speak, and reserve that language for the dark day that seems to be looming.
That said, our rights are being violated, materially, every day by government apparatchiks: outrageous transgressions on property rights (google CEQA some time), confiscatory taxation, and on and on. But enforcement of criminal statutes and traffic laws isn't one of those areas, by and large. I just don't see it, and I think you've misidentified the enemy, confounded the still legitimate functioning of the government with the less visible, but more invasive intrustions into what should be the private sphere.
That's not to say that there are not problems with modern law enforcement, there are. Kevin Gaines, Rafael Perez et. al. are examples of what can happen when PC goals interfere with (some say lower) standards of integrity for hiring and promotion. But that's a completely different kettle of fish than addressed in these recent posts.