Officer, please understand that very few of us really try to go out of our way to make problems for you guys. Quite the contrary, we see OC as an advantage to LEO in general. Most OCers tend to think of ourselves as a couple steps above,(not better than) the average joe. Put a cop on the high end of a bar graph, the average person in the center, and the criminal at the low end, and we look at ourselves as being somewhere between the LEO and the run of the mill guy. We especially dont therefore, like to be treated as criminals. We spend the time and effort above and beyond the average joe, to be knowledgeable about, and to follow the law. We also tend to be more protective of other constitutional rights as a result.
We understand expect, and respect that MWAG call, and that you have to come and see, that's cool with us. We just figure that if we have to know the law, that you should too. We are willing to give the officer a little more respect than the average, so long as that respect is mutual.
My personal policy when OCing is that I will always give an officer my ID when asked, but if the officer is not respectful of both myself, and my rights, I wont. When asked, I will usually say "Sure", and as I'm handing the LEO my ID I will say,"You do know I dont have to give it, but you havent given me a reason to be a jerk.
Typically, we hold you guys in pretty high regard, we can only guess the things you have to see, do, and put up with, not only from the outside, but politically as well. We know that you took an oath to protect our rights, and hope that wasnt something memorized and mumbled out as a condition of your employment for us, but something thjat you took to heart as sacred. The constitution was bought and paid for by the blood of citizens, patriots, soldiers, and sometimes police, so we expect that to be taken with grave respect. When an officer mocks an OCer, harasses, charges us with a crime, or enforces a law that in any way infringes on the right to both keep and to bear arms, speech, or against our privacy, many of us view this as a treasonous act. A desecration of the flag, or spitting in the face of dead soldiers.
Take Katrina for example, that was a black eye all the way around. What should have happened, would be to have deputized those people who were willing to make a stand, and made them proud to serve the country hand in hand with LEO. Thats the kind of flag flying firework lighting patriotism many of us here desire.
