When should you shoot a cop?

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Dharma Bum]

I wouldn't say the problem is with the individual cops, many of which try hard every day. It's that the overall management of the system is poor and what the system has evolved into that are the problem. The overall goals and scope of law enforcement are questionable.

What are the goals, anyway? Just to keep going like this forever? That's no good.

[Kane]

[eynon81]

[Kane]

It is, but if LEOs started to decide murder based on their perception of justified vengeance we'd be living in a far different country. If he's strictly focused on misdemeanor crimes of possession then sure, cops that do that stuff can be dicks. But it depends on what's expected out of you at a given department. If your job depends on you enforcing bullshit laws to placate elder or rich constituents you do it until everybody makes it clear that it isn't cool.

What do you want here? Judge Dredd? And why is the onus for the determination of a given law being right or wrong on the shoulders of the cops that simply enforce it?

[eynon81]

[Hyperion]

[Hyperion]

Drugs are not a minor issue. Every year hundreds of thousands of people have job prospects and families ripped away from them because the government - which includes cops - thinks that the best way to fix a few addicts is to throw a net on the entire drug-using populace. Not to mention the resulting deaths that can be squarely blamed on cops militarizing the drug war.

If you want to see a character study of law enforcement, visit their forums. Cops gloating about what is the best way to pull over a civilian without probable cause. My state recently received much criticism from local police departments because it overlooked the legal precedent for front license plates. In one thread I read cops sharing in how they used to always use that law to pick off adolescent drivers.

[eynon81]

[eynon81]