SNIP The reason why I don't care if police officers are 'baited' is that had they have Every opportunity to ignore legal, non-threatening behavior and instead they decide they just 'gotta do Something, that guy's carryin' a gunnnn!!!' If they choose to behave responsibly, then they wouldn't wind up on camera, nor if front of a judge as the defendant in a civil case.
I'll take it one step further.
I will always support so-called cop baiters. There is absolutely nothing wrong with citizens checking on government employees to ensure they behave correctly. Vast amounts of human experience show that government employees do not. The list is endless.
True, a cop-baiter can behave with more courtesty and civility. But, there is no requirement in the Bill of Rights that rights are exercised politely. I know--I've checked. Nor, is there any prohibition against citizens checking how government is going to react by setting up a scenario where the citizen has some control of the evidence. Way too many examples of cops lying. There is nothing wrong with a citizen setting up the situation where he is not surpised or caught off guard and has recording equipment to prove his accusation.
And, a question. What on earth are the good cops doing allowing bad cops to roam around and fail bait tests? The good cops know the bad cops are there--the Blue Wall of Silence proves that. In fact, it just occurred to me that the Blue Wall of Silence is the reason citizens are doing the baiting. If the good cops would routinely correct or eject the bad cops, there would be little reason for cop baiters to even bother. Maybe a few would try it for a payday, but they'd get bored and give up pretty quick when the cops didn't do anything wrong.
Given that many citizens just sit around in apathy or complain about government, I kinda gotta say I appreciate the cop-baiters. At least they are doing
something about it. Maybe they are unsophisticated in their approach--just crude and common. But, at least they're doing something about it.
