Reply #19: I agree it would be interesting to have tape

[quakerboy]

I think that might be a good first step. All law enforcement actions should be taped. Big brother on the government, for their own protection. If every encounter they have with anyone is taped, they might get in a greater mindset of responsibility, and they also have the security of knowing that the camera will tell the truth every time, so noone can accuse them of things they did not do.

I am someone who has never had any problems with the police. Every encounter I have ever had was quite polite and they were generally helpful and polite. But I have seen and heard of all to many incidences where that has not been true. Police and LE officials are human, and like all humans are subject to excesses and mob/fear mentality, and also the the corrupting influence of having power, particularly now that that power seems to have less checks and balances.

The difference is that if your average person off the street stops a car, breaks their car window, tazes them, and steps on their face because they claim they believe they may have drugs or be under the influence, we as a society would move heaven and earth to track down and prosecute the hell out of the person who did it. But when a LE official does the same, we wave it off because it must be justified, the recipient of the trouble must have been confrontational and a jerk because a person wearing a uniform would never succumb to the baser instincts of life.

As to his confontationality and jerkitude, I have noticed a clear trend among humans, most of whom have a touch of the passive aggressive. Most of us tend to be more confrontational when returned to the safety of our group than when directly faced with big scary men, particularly those with guns and uniforms. In the aftermath, if that had happened to me, I guarantee that I would be PO'd about it as well, as would most people reading this.