Examine the evidence...there's the lawyer for the plaintiff that says the cops did something bad. And, a videotape which may or may not be in context that supports the lawyer.
And these Freepers - who IMHO, generally hold reporters and lawyers to be in the same subset of fungi as used car salesmen - look at this evidence and say - "String up the cops, they did it, case closed". Must be a shame to be so overcome by hatred that you lose all reason.
I'm with you, r9etb. Most cops I've dealt with are OK. Jury's still out on this one, AFAIC. If it turns out the cops were in the wrong - they'll be taken down, I'm sure.
I think the reason that folks distrust the police is that they are the heavies for the city, county, state government where we all live. It does not take a lot of scrutiny to distrust the people who would seek a position in city, county government. We all have local evidence of what our government has become. The police are their heavies. Most of our neighbors will empower them to any extent at the mere mention of “safety” or “children” while the various governments use them like grizzly bears pulling fat salmon out of the river while the salmon spawn. So, distrust is growing, a product of the disconnect between government, federalism run a-muck and officials that live in a totally different world than the productive segment of the population.
What frustrates me and a lot of the productive members of society is that the leeches are protected with the prestige and reputation garnered from the past. I can tell you this, that in Boston 1770’s they were right to warn that we would trade king George separated by an ocean for a local tyranny much harder to combat.
I don’t have all the answers, but we have created a Gordian knot of state, federal and local regulations and enforcers that cannot be untied, only cut. The question is at what time does living under this current system become more onerous and risky than trying cut the knot
Well, most of the cops I've had the misfortune to deal with are just BAD!
Just three weeks ago, I had a county deputy pull me over, call me stupid, and then give me a speeding ticket, not because he actually radar-ed me, but because I passed by him on a four-lane highway as he was completing a U-turn and was accelerating in the left-hand lane, at which point he thought I was going faster than I really was. Again, no radar evidence, just his feeling that I was speeding, and voila, instant ticket.
I'm still waiting for my summons to court so that I can get it tossed out for lack of any evidence other than this guy's "feeling" that I had "blown by him" as he made his U-turn.
Anymore, cops generally don't give a damn about the citizens they're supposed to protect...they just like to go out, look tough, play with their tasers, and throw around their authority.