Replies

>BTW, what did you do about those cops?

Not much I could do as I wasn’t at the place when they showed up; had I been the one reporting their actions (instead of the neighbor) it would have been hearsay... and considering my complaint that would make me quite the hypocrite.

>I stand by my statement. Much of the anti-cop stuff on this board amounts to bigotry, plain and simple.

Considering the definition of bigot (a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion) you may be correct; though I know that in my case I am tolerant of other’s opinion of cops [even is I am willing to voice my differing opinion].

The main dangers I see about police [and in general their current SOP/mentality] are:
1 — The willingness to enforce illegitimate laws. (Such as the gun-laws previously mentioned.)
2 — The willingness to act upon unverified information. (As my experience clearly shows.)
3 — The willingness to enforce laws arbitrarily. (As the practice of not ticketing fellow-policemen for the ‘minor’ traffic violations.)

In a worst-case-scenario, say massive civil-unrest or civil-war, these three factors could combine to make the police into something *very* similar to the standing-armies the founding fathers were so concerned about: an armed force, acting with the [questionable] authority of and allegiance to a [possibly invalid] government that is ‘disconnected’ from the People.

The TARP, GM/Chrysler-takeover, & [esp] prove that the current government *is* disconnected from the People. Elected officials saying things like “we have to pass it to find out what’s in it” and the response of “Seriously?” to inquiries of the constitutionality of legislation not only further prove the point, but illustrate an arrogance so surpassing hubris that the *absence* of bigotry would be miraculous.

The stories such as the WI open-carry arrest, despite the State’s AG saying that open-carry in itself was not prosecutable even under “disturbing the peace,” show at least those police as bearing allegiance to the will of the political elite rather than the people, or even their ‘boss’ the State’s AG.

I suppose the simplest way to express my view is: it is foolish to assume the highest of the police to the point wherein you dismiss out-of-hand the possible abuses of their position. (ie Don’t leave out the ‘verify’ part of “trust, but verify.”)

>Oh, don’t get me wrong, those cops were buttheads. So were the nasty female cop that threatened me with arrest for standing on a sidewalk with
>a protest sign minding my own business. But that doesn’t mean all cops are bad, or that there aren’t some whole departments that suck and some
>whole departments that are really professional. In fact, every other interaction I’ve had with law enforcement has been professional, including
>a run-in with more cops on the same street corner a few weeks later.

I see. Your view is, if you will, “optimistic, but realizing that things can go wrong” as opposed to my “somewhat cynical, with the realization that not everyone will fail.”