And the above is why soooo many people have lost respect for law enforcement, making excuses for them only makes matters worse. Make no bones about it the public is getting fed up. There are those that believe that LE have infinite authority to harass law abiding citizens, I call them statists.
<chuckle> +1
I have a co-worker. He is freedom-minded. Or, perhaps a more accurate statement is that he is responsible in a conservative way. Emphasis on responsible. He's a pretty responsible guy. And, yet, he holds there are only a very few bad cops. Now, let me be very precise. He doesn't seem to say that because he really believes it based on observation. He seems to say it based on his own decency--extended to others--and his own insistence on trying to make rational sense of the world around him (no fault there). So, he pretty much automatically rejects most any sweeping adverse conclusions about the policing industry.
Needless to say, he and I have had a number of fur-pulls over the police industry. Of course, the police industry is not important enough to him for him to make an in-depth study of the police industry. That is not an indictment by me. He's got a kid to raise, a job to do, a new wife. Can't really fault him much for not familiarizing himself with the subject in depth.
So, here is the interesting part. We were having a fur-pull one day (an argument, and not good natured--we were each angry with the other) about the police industry relevant to the Baltimore riots last year and the general upwelling of anger against police by minorities across the country. Now, here is the hard part. His argument was that minorities should be rational. Oh! My! God! was I unprepared--just barely--for that one. I pointed out to him: Hey, buddy. In case you haven't noticed, being rational, being nice toward the police industry hasn't worked with the police industry. Police have had almost fifty years since T
erry v Ohio to stop harassing minorities. Almost fifty years to become hair-line professional about observing the finest minutiae of rights. And, yet the police industry didn't. Stunned silence.
And, only one week later, another conversation. Not so much an argument. Again, race vs the police industry. His position: both sides need to come to the table with rationality and solutions. By this point in time, I was little more saavy. I asked, "like what?" or some such. He mentioned at least three points the black race should bring to the table. All very rational, totally unassailable. But, I had my suspicion. So, after he seemed to wind down about what blacks should bring to the table, I asked, "Umm hmmmm. And, what about the police? What solutions should they bring to the table?" Pause. "Well, uhhh." No answer.
He'd thunk through a number of points that
minorities should contribute to the solution of racial tensions with police. But, hadn't thought of even one single thing police could or should contribute to de-escalating racial tensions with themselves. Not one. This went on for several seconds as he tried to think of something. Nothing. He was totally unprepared for the question. He'd never thought about it. It was all on minorities to solve the problem.
After several seconds of him casting about for a reply, I let him off the hook (by impaling him): "Oh, that's all right. It was a rhetorical question. I figured you didn't really have an answer."
Silence.
So, I filled in for him. I prefaced it with, "This will never happen." Then I said, "This (riots, tension, anger), would all disappear by Thursday if police suddenly decided to be very professional and stop violating rights."
He had no reply. Which is to say, he got it. (I think.)