Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Pissing in the wind, but lets give it a try

How about a discussion about law enforcement that doesn't descend to insults and slurs.

I'm posing a simple question.

Do you want cops to be able to pick and choose which laws they enforce?

With the caveat of officer discretion set aside. For example, giving a verbal warning for a traffic infraction.

No!

I also don't want choke holds, neck kneeling, OC, batons, or no knock warrants banned.

They all can be a big problem improperly used, but so can case, guns, flashlights,
hands or feet.

The more tools one has to work with, the better they can work.
However, they need to be accountable for the use of those tools.


And the warrants should probably more rare.

One of the officers that actually shows up at the range on his own time told me the always on body camera took away some their ability to cut folks some slack. IDK, back in the day I was certainly cut some slack a couple of times. Mostly doing stupid chit on motorcycles.

Yes

I have done this job for better than 20 years. I do my dead level best to be fair in my enforcement of the law. Officer discretion has gotten me better results than any other "tool" that I have. Not everyone needs to go to jail. Blanket enforcement with no consideration for the individual is n,ot good. Cops are people, people with families. The world isn't black and white. Being a cop isn't either. Everything is in the nuance. I understand the internet outrage, but temper it knowing that the outraged people are seeing things from the outside.
Patrick

Do you mean letting someone go with a warning for going 10 over the speed limit when there is no traffic?

Or do you mean letting a whole lot of traitors go, as they burn cities, loot, rape, rob, vandalize and sometimes murder?


Funny, but in the last 6 months I have seen a LOT more of the 2nd category on TV, but in 64 years I have seen the 1st category only 1 time personally, and heard of it by others it's happened to. So that's 3 I know of.

In category 1, lets just guess how many innocent people were looted, robbed, raped, murdered threatened and vandalized in ....say....the last 4 weeks? How about in the last year. Wanna guess a number?


Think it's more then 3?

Before they can do that, they must first know the law.

I absolutely want officers to have discretion with minor offenses.

LOL. Good one Roger. And very appropriate.

A discussion on the Camp 🔥 that doesn't descend to insults and slurs.

Sorry Gruff. Ain’t gonna happen.

Gruff,
cops already choose which laws they want to enforce, at least that's been my experience. Year ago it was not uncommon to be told to "get the car home and we don't want to see it on the street until 0700, if we do you're going straight downtown. " And more than once we were told to spill out the booze, you're underage and then let go to continue our evening.

I'm not terribly unhappy with law enforcement as it predominantly stands today. That said, some major metro areas are WAY different than what I experience out here now.

I happen to think court cases have led to some of the issues. I'm no fan of the "no-knock" warrants in general, but I do recognize the need in certain cases . Better intel might lead to better results and fewer mistaken addresses and such.

Cops should be able to do their jobs, as best they can, but others have noted there's a high percentage of Type A personalities that apply and are chosen for the job of policing. Not always a bad thing, but those types are not known for their "restraint". ( https://www.powerofpositivity.com/10-traits-of-a-type-a-personality/ )

Now, lets see where we get with the descending into "insults and slurs".

If there weren't so many bullshit laws, they wouldn't have so much trouble enforcing good laws.

last 3 times i've been stopped i was just given a warning.

By any standard, & taken on the whole, the problems in this country stem far more from blacks that don't think that they should be subject to any laws, than from any "bad" cops or selective enforcement.

In that respect, 13% of the population comprises more than half the crimes committed & that is exactly the problem. Which half the country doesn't want to either face up to nor solve.

And there is no one to blame for that except the blacks, as there is no one able to solve those problems but the blacks................but they can't & they won't.

Anyone who sincerely believes that cops & law enforcement are THE problem have serious issues that need resolution.

MM

Many don't seem to understand the difference between officer discretion and picking which laws to enforce.

For those posters that say "yes", does that apply to practicing moslem Somali emigres in MN (just for an example) too? Or just your local cop you don't want to enforce the law your elected government passed?

Like the 65 year old mechanic at work who back in the day built drag bikes and raced all over the country. He’d recently bought a Hayabusa, country highway. Highway Patrol gets him at 120. Officer walks up as he is pulling off his helmet, crew cut silver hair. Very distinguished look to him. “Oh good God, I thought I’d got some 20 year old. Will you slow it down before you kill your self.” Went back to his patrol car and drove off. Said he didn’t even get his license checked.

And if that DUI the cop lets go home kills a family on their way home from visiting grandma, how many are going to give him a pass?

I don't think that cops are letting looters go because they feel that it's ok. Sometimes you have to pick the hill you want to die on. Standing in front of a mob is neither productive or noble. If you believe that the cops are letting the looting happen because they are complicit I think you should step back and look at the bigger picture.
Patrick

One definition of a police state is a situation wherein there are so many laws that are so complex that you are always breaking one or more law at any given time. Then, law enforcement ‘looks the other way’ on most infractions, right up to the point that they want to stop you for something/anything/nothing. As a citizen/subject in a police state you always feel like you are looking over your shoulder, even when doing nothing wrong. Kind of like how it feels to live in or visit California. Two things need to exist for this to happen. A web of laws and officer discretion.

I’m not saying we are or are not at that point yet, but there it is. If there was no discretion, people would demand that crappy laws were abolished, because they would be sick of the consequences of 100% enforcement of said laws. Discretion lets politicians pass crappy laws knowing that there will be little protest as folks will feel like they got a break when the police looked the other way.

I do absolutely want law enforcement to resist enforcing unconstitutional laws. That’s a lot easier said than done, as the constitutionality of laws is decided by courts (if it even makes it to court). Everyone has slightly different views of constitutionality.

Kinda tired of the whole, "now that I have you pulled over, I have to" story!