[Don Joe]

I find myself very conflicted. My support and high regard for law enforcement requires that we require better of them. I see a lot of jumpy cops on COPS. Jumping around shouting with their fingers on semi-autos during traffic stops and it makes me crazy.

There was a well-publicized incident a few short years ago, in which a couple of upstanding kids were wrongly pulled over after a crime was committed in the area. The car was surrounded, and the kid in the passenger seat was ordered not to move, and then ordered to exit the vehicle. When he tried to comply with the second order, he was instantly shot by the cop aiming the M16 at him -- because he violated the first order.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

[HairOfTheDog]

I have seen a lot of complex and confusing instructions shouted to those guys...

HANDS OVER YOUR HEAD AND BACK UP NOW GET ON THE GROUND! - HEY I SAID HANDS UP! OVER YOUR HEAD! OVER YOUR HEAD! GET ON THE GROUND! (you can't lay down on the ground without putting your hands down) People often stand there completely confused, trying their best not to get shot at or clubbed, and I can tell the difference between a confused person and a resistant one. Can they?

I have good friends who are cops, and I have also been pulled over many times (I drive too fast) by cops that were professional in every way. Cordial, even when I declared my gun (CCW holder). But I live in a small town, I am white, I am a woman... and I am not in the city at night. I think that makes all the difference, and I wish it didn't.