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Originally Posted by molson
His #1 priority is how this impacts police interactions going forward. This stuff being blown out of proporition gives motorists a confidence and a sense of defiance when pulled over, which can lead to difficult and dangerous situations. When people feel a moral superiority over police officers in general (it doesn't take much, it's already been expressed in this thread), it emboldens them to act like punks during police interactions, because they feel any negative result must be 100% someone else's fault.
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I don't feel a moral superiority over police officers. An important note, though, is that I also don't feel that police officers have a moral superiority over me. Do you disagree?
Quote:
Originally Posted by molson
And notice the police chief seems most upset about the officer's tones and threats, which is something nobody can defend.
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Elsewhere Kunkle explicitly stated that Powell's only concern, after being informed that the story of the dying relative was true, should have been helping them get to the relative as quickly as possible in any way he could. Which is true. He's not only pissed because he was an asshole, he's also pointed out what an officer
should do in this situation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by molson
And police chiefs do use language like this all the time - they will almost never publicly defend an officer who has been involved in any controversial incident. That's just stupid, and dangerous. One of the most disgusting organized things I've ever seen from police is in Chicago, when they surrounded, in a show of solidarity, that officer who beat up the bartender at his court hearing. More typically, the officer who made a bad judgment is seperated until everything is resolved.
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No. They don't use language like this all the time. I agree that they do publicly reprimand the officer in most situations, but not in these terms, not with this emotion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by molson
Every profession has both bad apples, and good people that make mistakes. The opportunities for mistakes in a police uniform are extraordinary. They don't get paid enough to be form a navy seal unit that acts without emotion and exhibits only perfect profesionalism.
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Yes, which is why people that can't handle it should be removed from the force. There's a large gap between perfect professionalism and the way this officer handled this situation. I've also read this guy's blog, which is now removed from xanga.com, and he's an asshat. Great power, great responsibility and all that jazz. A police officer should serve and protect, and in this situation the officer was doing neither for anyone. As Kunkle said, officers have discretion on whether or not to issue tickets, etc.
Should a person that jaywalks to escape a building that's on fire be ticketed? By the letter of the law it's a violation that should be ticketed. Fortunately we have the ability to reason.