so the police, friend or foe?
So the latest is —
The Supreme Court Justices, in all their wisdom [yes, that is a joke, thank you for noticing], have ruled it is just dandy and okay for police to strip search citizens for any crime. Spit on the sidewalk? Strip search! Jay walking? Strip search! Did not come to a full stop at that stop sign? Strip search!
Fun, huh?
This reflects growing behaviors in police departments across the country that seem to consider members of the general public enemy combatants in hostile occupied territory rather than friends and neighbors police are supposed to be looking out for. This has reached such proportions, it’s a question these days, if a dangerous situation is in progress, should you call police for help? And, if you do call, are they going to help? Or are they going to nightstick your dog and arrest and strip search you for being foolish enough to make the call?
Let’s do a poll. If you see police in uniform —
[polldaddy poll=6101798]
PS: Say, if you came over here from FB, do not immediately trot back to FB and start posting there, vote on the poll HERE — you know, where the poll is posted and has a response button? Thanks.
PPS: As a side note, 4,183 deaths in police custody were reported to the Arrest-Related Deaths Program of the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) between 2002 and 2009.
2 Responses to so the police, friend or foe?
I cannot vote in this, Max, as my son is a police officer and performs SWAT sniper duty. He puts his life on the line every freaking day, never knowing when someone at a car stop is going to pull a gun (has happened) or try to run over him (has happened) or has multiple outstanding warrants for violent crime (has happened).
This is not as simple as police being friend of foe. My son has been one of the few police officers in the country who walked into a life shooter action, where the shooter had already killed one, and critically injured 2 others, where there were six or seven hostages still in the building, trapped in there with the shooter, and he and his teammates got the people out alive and unharmed and brought the shooter out without any shots fired. Won the Governor’s Medal of Commendation.
What this particular legislation is, however, is a travesty against our rights, against the rights of anyone accused who has not been tried, but who is temporarily in lock-up awaiting their trail/hearing/bail. It gives permission to bad cops everywhere to abuse their power–and there are bad cops. But there are *lots* of good cops, too, who make our lives safer, every freaking day, by trying to hold the bad guys at bay.
We can’t generalize here. It’s not fair to the good guys who went into law enforcement because they wanted to be the kind of guy or woman who held the line for the rest of us. Who felt like they had something to give back, and who put their lives on the live every day, doing so.
We just don’t need to let the Supreme Court make it easier for the bad cops to get away with bad behavior.
This supreme court decision is based on a case over a strip search after arrest for an unpaid ticket — and a false arrest at that because the ticket had been paid, someone just screwed up in records. Still, the person got strip searched. And now the Supreme Court says no biggy, strip search away.
I’m not asking whether there are good cops or bad cops. I’m asking whether people feel safer when they see a policeman in uniform. I understand the conflict, answering this question with a son in uniform. But it’s a pretty simple question.