Pulled over and stopped at a DUI checkpoint

[SMS]

I will probably be banned again for saying so but Police Officers are fallible and should be held accountable when they intentionally violate citizens rights.

I don't think you will be banned for it. I agree that LEOs are not infallible and should be held accountable.

However, the biggest difference is in mentality. Some of us start discussions and critiques on this topic from the position that LEOs are human, most LEOs are doing their best, and that most still believe in the "serve and protect" mantra. Others start discussions and critiques from the position that all/most LEOs are pigs and are just out to screw johnny citizen and johnny citizen can do no wrong.

You often get different results depending on which perspective you start with especially when it comes to applying equal standards of behavior and individual responsibility to regular citizens.

In many cases, LEOs are expected to act like perfected models of constitutional law robots while the citizens they interact with get a pass for acting like clueless, law breaking, uneducated idiots.

Freedom comes with large doses of responsibility....we are losing the responsibility part while everyone runs around with a video camera demanding rights and freedom.

 

[streak]

I don't think you will be banned for it. I agree that LEOs are not infallible and should be held accountable.

However, the biggest difference is in mentality. Some of us start discussions and critiques on this topic from the position that LEOs are human, most LEOs are doing their best, and that most still believe in the "serve and protect" mantra. Others start discussions and critiques from the position that all/most LEOs are pigs and are just out to screw johnny citizen and johnny citizen can do no wrong.

You often get different results depending on which perspective you start with especially when it comes to applying equal standards of behavior and individual responsibility to regular citizens.

In many cases, LEOs are expected to act like perfected models of constitutional law robots while the citizens they interact with get a pass for acting like clueless, law breaking, uneducated idiots.

Freedom comes with large doses of responsibility....we are losing the responsibility part while everyone runs around with a video camera demanding rights and freedom.

I understand what you mean but disagree on a few key things. I think MOST police officers are on the up and up and try to do a good job to serve their community, then there are what I would refer to as another name would be what the law enforcement community would and should consider trash whom have gone out of their way to violate rights and or bully others just because they have the "authority".

As far as being constitutional law robots I see your point that may not be realistically feasible, however they are the ones out their charged with upholding the law so they need to be the expert in the law. To many times it is accepted to just let the courts figure it out, this again puts the burden on the citizen not the state.

 

[caojyn]

I understand what you mean but disagree on a few key things. I think MOST police officers are on the up and up and try to do a good job to serve their community, then there are what I would refer to as another name would be what the law enforcement community would and should consider trash whom have gone out of their way to violate rights and or bully others just because they have the "authority".

I agree for the most part, except for that darn "Blue Code of Silence"

 

[otis147]

these people running around with a video camera demanding their rights are placing the responsibility for the erosion of our freedoms where it belongs. how else may these abuses come to light? these defensless police officers have nothing but state-issued weapons, authority, and the backing of our courts. why would anybody want to video tape them breaking the law and abusing that power?

Patrick Henry said

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who comes near that precious jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. When you give up that force, you are ruined.

 

[jakeman]

I think a huge part of the problem is the training officers receive doesn't specifically address these situations. What can you do, what can you ask for in the way of compliance, and more importantly what can't you demand a citizen do if they don't want to comply with your requests.


Another part of the issue is LEO's that are bullies, and almost every department has them. I worked with a few, and I always knew when I got called to back one of them that there was going to be an issue, because if there wasn't an issue, they would do their damnedest to create one. It just beat all I ever saw. I never could really understand why someone would behave like that. Everytime it happened, there were those of us that would speak with the Sgt or Lt, but I never really saw anything happen. I did see a Sgt "unarrest" a couple of guys one night because they shouldn't have been arrested in the first place. That was pretty funny. The "arresting" officer threw a hissy fit right there in the street, until the Sgt told her to "shut the "f" up before she got arrested for disobeying a lawful order. She didn't stay around much longer after that.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Another part of the issue is LEO's that are bullies, and almost every department has them. I worked with a few, and I always knew when I got called to back one of them that there was going to be an issue, because if there wasn't an issue, they would do their damnedest to create one. It just beat all I ever saw. I never could really understand why someone would behave like that.

There's a jaywalking scene in Harold & Kumar that is a good illustration.

 

[Sanford]

"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater. . ."

"The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins."

Perhaps as important as our rights themselves is our individual responsibility to exercise them with discretion born of common sense. The failure to do so is often what ultimately results in those very rights being challenged, infringed upon, and trampled.

 

[otis147]

filming an officer is neither shouting fire in a theatre, nor is it punching some bystander in the face.
if if anything, it's returning blows. cops film the rest of us, why not return the favor?

 

[Dukester]

I understand, yet disagree with, the need to pander to LEO's on here that may read this type of thread and be offended. The fact is that police in general have been out of hand for quite some time and its getting worse. Even little things like referring to the public as civilians even though they are civilians themselves is a minor but telling sign of their aloofness. Situations like in the video are far too common because officers seem to care less about what the law actually says than forcing their wills on others. I don't advocate violence of any kind against LEO's but I think we should start making a public spectacle of punishing those that trample the rights of others. On the other side of things, I think we should pay the good ones more. When I was a good guy, the police were the good guys and I was taught that they could be trusted. These days, not so much and I tell my kids to be careful.
I do realize that three are many good police out there, but why don't we ever hear about them policing their own?

 

[streak]

so how does that concern to this case? What other persons rights were violated by this individual?