JLHEARD
IT IS NOT ABOUT THE GOOD COPS OR BAD COPS! It is about cops and their role in society. First of all, these incidents are hardly isolated, they occur regularly enough that you can count on reading about some monumental blunder or some seemingly needless death on a weekly basis happening somewhere in our country. Secondly, good cops enforcing bad laws is no better than bad cops running amuck in society. Thirdly, as a prosecutor, you should know better, one instance is one instance too many. You would do well to remember that it is better that 100 guilty people go free than 1 innocent person be jailed. Oh yeah, I have been a prosecutor as well. I know all about quotas and being unable to grant deals that you know are fair because your boss prohibits it. I know all about pressure to pursue cases that shouldn't be pursued because someone above has a hardon over a particular issue. I know all about ambitious prosecutors who look for any angle just because they can and never question whether they should. The whole process sickened me. Yes, I know that most of the suspects are guilty, but the whole atmosphere was contrary to what I feel is necessary for a free society to function.
Cops are only part of the problem. They just get the most attention. I am amazed at the level of discourse in this country. It is impossible to have a logical discussion with someone. I fully understand that others may disagree with me, however, all anyone has responded with is that cops are good people, I must have something to hide, I must have had a bad experience with cops, I must be a loser, cops do great things for many people, etc.. Address the issue, do cops use excessive force unnecessarily at times, is it excusable, are there too many laws, are they oppressive, does the fact that many cops do a great many good things excuse the things that bad ones do or the bad things done by good ones, what is the role of the police in our society today, how has it changed historically. These are the issues. How about a little reasonable and logical discussion.
"Those that expect to remain ignorant and free, are expecting something that has never been and never will be". Thomas Jefferson
I would add that when intelligent discourse is gone or that people are unable to take an issue and evaluate the merits of different viewpoints or issues, then we are in trouble. Most of us realize instinctively that we already are in trouble. We just have different opinions as to why.
