The Problem with the Police

The United States clearly has a problem regarding its police. Too many people are being killed during arrests and even traffic stops.

I don't believe this phenomenon occurs to the same degree in other countries. Currently there is a proposed law before the US Congress that would legislate standards for things like use of choke holds by police, no-knock search warrants, etc. (Even though policing is not federal--except for the FBI, we have no federal police; rather, policing is done at the local, county, and state level.)

So some measures to fix this problem might be forthcoming. But has anyone tried to figure out the cause--why this problem exists?

Many people in American society feel that the problem is racism--that the police are prejudiced against minorities such as African Americans and thus more likely to use harsh measures on individuals belonging to those groups.

This may be true and I don't want in any way to deny the likelihood that this is true. But I want to ask, is there a deficiency in the training that police receive? Do police forces attract individuals who harbor serious aggressive tendencies? It seems that, if and when they shoot someone--possibly with justification--they shoot not once but four or five times, making it more likely that their shots will be fatal. And, as we know, there have been beatings, choke holds, and other possibly unnecessary or excessive assertions of physical force.

I suggested, in a letter to the editor, a long time ago, that maybe we need to administer psychological tests to prospective police officers to identify those candidates who might have more and unnecessary aggressive tendencies.

Look at this: we give police power and authority. We give them weapons: batons ("billy clubs"), tasers, and guns. What are they told about using the power, authority, and weapons that we endow them with?

Certainly in America there are too many guns such that people get shot during arguments, road rage incidents, and even accidentally. The enormous, incredible gun population makes it more likely that the police will encounter a gun, that the "offender" or "perp" or suspect will have a gun. So that is part of the problem, too. We certainly don't and can't expect the police to be totally outside of and removed from America's "wild west" gun culture (as I have called it elsewhere).

So this, I hope, will raise some questions, point out some issues that I feel need to be thought about.This a problem that we must not deny and must work on.

Copyright © 2021.

Police Can't Be Punished for Wrongdoing

There have been many, many cases where police officers have very likely been guilty of some sort of wrong-doing. They seem, at times, to be too quick to beat, Taser, or shoot an alleged or suspected "perpetrator," frequently one who was unarmed--the more so, it seems, if the perpetrator is black (and this has at times included Latinos and even Asian Indians). Thus America's African-American population sees racial bias in this police behavior, and we have had riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and most recently in Baltimore over the treatment African-Americans receive at the hands of the police.

It's possible that sometimes the police officer's use of force was justified but it should be clear to any open-minded person that the police sometimes do wrong. Maybe at times it's an error of judgment that should not be judged criminal; but many times the police are pretty clearly in the wrong and even literally get away with murder. (A disclaimer: I generally try not to come to a conclusion as to whether a jury's verdict was correct because the jury members heard all the facts and I did not.)

In a recent case where a policeman fired shots into or at a group of people, the judge basically dropped the case. In Ferguson, the officer in question was not indicted by the grand jury. Where charges are pressed and the case proceeds to trial, the officer, if found guilty, gets no more than a slap on the wrist. As one example, there was a case here in Chicago where an off-duty police officer was tried for basically beating up a female bartender, half his size, who refused--as she should have--to serve him further drinks because he was drunk.  This event was caught on video and posted on YouTube, where it has had half a million views: Officer Anthony Abatte Beats Female Bartender  This officer was found guilty but his punishment was probation.

I think that the police get a break and get a blind eye turned to their guilt at every stage of the judicial process. Basically it is nearly impossible to convict and punish a police officer. Here are some of the reasons:

• First, public prosecutors, district attorneys, and such are reluctant to bring the most serious charges that they could against a police officer. The reason for this is that prosecutors need the good will of the police collectively because they know that they are going to need the police to testify on their side, the prosecution, in future criminal trials.

• Second, judges and juries are predisposed to be sympathetic to the police, to not only give them a lot of deference and sympathy but to believe their testimony. Again, in the typical or common sort of criminal trial, it's a case of the "good guys"--the police, representing law and order--testifying against defendants who, despite the supposed presumption of innocence, are likely to be seen as the "bad guys."

• Third, police are extremely unlikely to testify against other police. They have a solidarity with one another such that they will lie and conceal or distort evidence in order to help to acquit another police officer. And police hierarchy, police unions, and "police spokesmen" (really no more than public-relations professionals) universally defend the police and are totally unwilling to ever admit that a police officer could be at fault in any particular case.

An interesting statistic: for the latest year for which statistics are available, police in America shot 111 people. That is more than were shot in the United Kingdom since 1900. One big difference in the police procedures of the two countries is that U.K. police most of the time do not go about armed.

I don't know whether the riots we have had are ultimately going to do any bottom-line good, but if justice is to be served in America and unjustified killing is to be even reduced, we need some changes in how the police are treated by our  judicial system. Another approach might be to avoid hiring as a police officer any man or woman who has excessive aggressive tendencies or might be racist. But here I might be putting too much faith in the ability of psychological testing to identify those who ought not to be made police officers.

Note added June 18, 2015. Often, when there are initial accusations of wrongdoing against a police officer, he or she is put on paid suspension. Isn't that the same as a paid vacation? Wow, maybe we all need to commit acts to get ourselves more paid vacation time.

Note added July 22. 2015. From a recent story on the TV news, I learned that, out of 400 shootings of civilians by Chicago police since 2007, only one was found to be not justified by the (supposedly independent) Independent Police Review Authority. Perhaps even more disturbing, a member of that board who submitted findings that a shooting was not justified was ordered by his superior to change the conclusion of his report (i.e., find the shooting justified). This man refused and was fired. It's worth noting that the man is a former lawyer and thus is presumed to have a good idea of what the standards of evidence are.
So, even the supposedly independent police review board is definitely tilted in favor of the police and thus virtually never issues a finding that a shooting of a citizen by the police was not justified.

Note added September 30. 2015. Check out this link: Police Lie and Cover Up

Copyright (c) 2015

On Police Misconduct, Yet Again

There was a news item yesterday about (if I have all my facts right--could not find the item today to verify everything) police who tasered and pepper-sprayed an arrest suspect--while he was handcuffed.

There have been similar stories in the past. Regular readers of this blog know that I have often written about abuses of police power. It disturbs me greatly.

It seems, also, that in many of the cases that come to public attention, the policemen involved are not disciplined by their respective police forces. Many times they are put on leave--with pay, which amounts to additional paid vacation--pending an investigation. When they are brought to trial for criminal charges, they are very often acquitted or given a meaningless sentence, like probation. (The infamous Chicago police officer Joseph Abbatte, whose beating of a female bartender half his size was caught on video and seen around the world, was convicted--and then given probation!) Police show legendary solidarity with their fellow officers and often give false testimony in court.

I think prosecutors and judges are too prone to somehow completely excuse police misconduct. A professor of criminology has said that prosecutors are more inclined to believe the police. Juries might believe the police are more likely to be telling the truth and presume the truth cannot be on the side of someone accused if that person was arrested. Also, I wonder if police unions exert pressure on judges and juries in these criminal cases.

Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that police often shoot people. Here in Chicago, so far this year the rate of police shootings is running much higher than last year. In these cases the police often say that the shooting victim pointed a gun at them; but often the families of the victim, and even witnesses, say that the victim had no gun. These shooting victims are African Americans in a large percentage of cases.

I try to be fair-minded, so I'll say that I hope that bad cops constitute a small minority. But I also fear that the recruiting of candidates for police forces does not employ adequate testing that would exclude people with very aggressive or violent tendencies.

So, improved psychological screening of police in advance of their hiring is one thing that could be done. Another thing to be done might be a change in attitudes of prosecutors, juries, and judges whose views might be skewed such as to be too sympathetic to police who pretty plainly have done wrong.

Update, September 24, 2011
There have been two recent news items, one in Colorado and one in Fullerton, California. In one of these cases, a homeless man died after being beaten by police. In the other, I believe, a teen-age boy who was part of a demonstration was tasered by police. The sad record just goes on and on.

Update, November 17, 2012
Further to the case of officer (or actually, now, former police officer) Joseph Abbate, who was convicted of beating bartender Carolyn Obrycka and then given probation: Obrycka sued Abbate and the City of Chicago in a civil suit in which she alleged basically a police coverup. She prevailed in her case and was awarded $850,000.

The criminal case of the police officer in Chicago who allegedly was driving drunk and caused a car accident that killed two young men is just coming to trial.

Copyright (c) 2011 by Richard Stein

Again, Police Commit Crimes, Go Unpunished

In a famous case, a police officer had been videotaped repeatedly beating with his baton (aka nightstick) a man who had been stopped for a traffic offense. The traffic offender was handcuffed while being beaten 12 or 15 times.

The officer was convicted of criminal wrongdoing. Guess what his punishment was. Probation.

Another policeman was charged with bilking a 90-year-old man out of his home, worth $500,000, plus his savings. He was convicted, and sentenced. Guess what his punishment was. Probation!

Maybe the judge in that case was in the pocket of the Fraternal Order of Police (the police union).

There have been other cases as well, where a police officer receives little or no meaningful punishment. There seems to be a different standard of justice for policemen who break the law.

This is outrageous. Is this a third-world country, where instruments of the government can break the law with impunity, beating and robbing the ordinary citizen, just because they are police?

Update, March 20, 2013
A recent story in our local (Chicago) news is of an off-duty police officer from the suburb of North Chicago, IL. This man allegedly was driving the wrong way on a Chicago expressway and thus caused a crash that killed two young men. His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. Of course this suggests that he caused the crash ultimately because he was driving drunk.
This police officer is free on $500,000 bond. ("Free" may be theoretical because he is in the hospital.) The law requires that 10% of the bond be posted—thus, in this case, $50,000. The mothers of the two young men killed are outraged and assert that the police officer received lenient treatment (a low bond) because he is a policeman.
Another story, completely unrelated,in today's news makes me believe these two mothers are right. This news story is about a high school teacher accused of having sex with a student. His bond is $600,000. Thus the police officer who allegedly caused two deaths gets a lower bond than the accused teacher.

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein

Cops on Steroids

Here are some quotes from an article on AOL News headlined "Cops' Use of Illegal Steroids a 'Big Problem'":

Victor Conte, founder of the now-defunct lab known as Bay Area Lab Co-Operative that supplied numerous athletes with steroids and other banned substances, said it wouldn't surprise him if as many as a quarter of police officers were using some kind of performance-enhancing drug.

Seem high? While there are no empirical studies on the prevalence of steroids in law enforcement, the recent revelations that 248 police officers and firefighters from 53 agencies were tied to a Jersey City, N.J., physician gives some credence to Conte's estimate. The months-long investigation by The Star-Ledger of Newark also found that taxpayers often footed the bill for the drugs since many were prescribed.

There's debate as to what dangers doped-up officers pose to the public. South Bend police Capt. Phil Trent, for one, would rather not take a chance.

. . . . . .

"First we have an officer who is a drug dealer," Trent said. "Second, you always hear about the bizarre size effects (of steroid use). If they are taking these drugs and it turns them into a raving lunatic, that's something we should be concerned about in law enforcement."

Conte said the psychological effects of steroids -- including mood swings and so-called "'roid rage" -- are often overblown and can depend on how much of the drug is used.

The article also listed cases where a police officer pleaded guilty to steroid use.

I have often criticized police officers who behave inappropriately: using excessive and even lethal force against a crime suspect, beating up civilians (e. g., when off duty). Now we may have an explanation for some of these incidents.

Copyright (c) 2010 by Richard Stein

Human Good and Evil

That heading sounds extremely presumptuous, I know. Not I nor anyone will have the last word on that subject. Greater minds than mine have tried.

The previous post talked about mankind or humanity collectively. One more thought on that: When individuals constitute a mob, the collective intelligence can go totally wild and berserk. That's implicit in the idea of a mob. The mob tramples, the mob lynches. Even in demonstrations, when a political position has to be reduced to a few words to make a slogan chanted or put on a banner or a placard, it is worse than oversimplified: it's an idea reduced almost to meaninglessness, all the thought and rationality taken out of it. Maybe that's a main reason I don't participate in demonstrations.

But now I want to talk about individuals. There are good people and bad people. I didn't used to believe that there was such a thing as evil or evil people. However, when we have people who lie, rob, cheat; when we have dictators and mass murderers who arrest and "disappear" and torture and murder sometimes tens and hundreds of thousands of people—Hitler, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Gen. Pinochet in Chile, with a little thought the sad list can become far too long—we might have to wonder whether there are evil people or if evil in the abstract exists.

Certainly it looks as though some people have no conscience. I think that criminologists call these people amoral or sociopaths or criminally insane. Others, such as the "financiers," for example, who manage to cheat others out of millions of dollars, maybe their greed gets the best of them, consumes them, lets them subordinate their conscience or rationalize their actions.

It's not clear to me that religion effectively restrains people from committing evil. Big mafiosi would go to church on Sundays and go on having people killed the other six days of the week. Not to mention that religion has often induced people to do harm, but that would be going off on another, very large topic.

I tend to think that good and bad—angel and devil, if you want to use the terms, but I'd only use them metaphorically—both exist within each of us. That is, I think even the best of us can behave horribly and certainly be unkind, even horribly cruel, to others.

In between the whole of the human species and individuals there are groups. Within any group (of a certain size) you've got the whole range of humanity, from good to bad. I have often written critically about the police, but I'm sure that, within any large enough group of police, you would find the whole range, from good to bad—with probably a majority in the middle who are neither outstandingly good nor definitely bad, either. So maybe there are lots of individuals in that great middle who now and then, when there are little incidents of bending the rules, will close their eyes or turn a deaf ear. But maybe the big stinkers started out that way.

Copyright © 2010 by Richard Stein

Firemen More Admirable than Cops?

Regular readers of this blog are aware that I've written several postings that criticize the police for their misdeeds and their seeming lack of impunity.

Every group has good and bad members. It's a human trait to seize on the bad actions of the few and then tar the whole group. So I plead guilty to this: I am human. (When we do this to a racial or religious minority, we call it prejudice. If I have thus explained prejudice, I don't mean to trivialize it; and, that's getting off the subject.)

I am sure that a great percentage of police officers do their jobs with conscientiousness and integrity, and serve and protect the public. And try to catch the bad guys. Still, it's undeniable that there have been a few rotten eggs. On this blog I have called attention to a few egregious cases and to indicate that I've been bothered when they seem to escape justice.

On the other hand, take firemen. Over the years there have been very few incidents that cast their calling in a bad light. (Once or twice a fireman was found to have pyromaniac tendencies and had himself been setting fires.) So it seems as though maybe 99.8% of firemen--well, probably even more than that--are good guys and they do heroic deeds every day, saving lives and property. They are truly heroes and deserve all the credit we can give them.

Copyright (c) 2010 by Richard Stein

Bad Cops Get Off in Court

In two recent court trials, policemen who were charged with wrongdoing got off essentially scot-free.

One was the case where, in a video seen all over the country, a big, heavy Chicago policeman named Anthony Abbate allegedly beat up a female bartender half his weight when she refused to serve him any more drinks. In his trial, which was as I guess a couple of months ago, the cop got off on a legal technicality such that the core of the prosecution's case was thrown out.

Very recently another policeman also got off scot-free. This policeman, it was alleged, had been driving drunk and had a crash in which his vehicle hit another and the two occupants of the latter vehicle were killed.

I have to admit here that I might be a bit fuzzy on the facts, but it seems there was conflicting testimony as to whether this cop was drunk. Very strangely, his blood alcohol didn't get tested for seven or eight hours after the crash. On the other hand, there was video showing him in the bar.

This cop also tried to walk away from the crash--right down an expressway off-ramp--instead of staying at the scene (as is, in fact, required by law in the case of such an accident) to have his testimony taken. The relatives of the two young men who were killed are crying that justice was not done, and here I certainly agree with them.

It seems to me (and I wish I had some statistics on this) that policemen seldom get convicted. Or if they are found guilty, they get probation or a suspended sentence--in other words, nothing more than a basically meaningless slap on the wrist.

It seems to be hard to convict a cop. It's proverbial that cops support one another and almost never testify against one another. In the two cases above, it was the judges' rulings as to admissibility of evidence (or, rather, the lack thereof) that pulled the rug out from under the prosecutors' cases. So I wonder if the judges are impartial or biased in favor of the cops. If they are not predisposed to believe only the best of the police, they may cave in to pressure--from the police union, from the police commissioner, from politicians such as the mayor. None of these parties seems to want to own up that the police ever do any wrong.

The danger is that, whenever a cop escapes punishment for his wrong actions, that makes other cops feel invincible and convinces them that, whatever they do, they] need never worry about any consequences of their actions.

Copyright (c) 2010 by Richard Stein

Thoughts on Three Subjects: The Census and Latinos; Police; Population Control

We are seeing a lot of PSAs (public service announcements) on TV aimed at encouraging people to return their census forms. Evidently this is a greater problem in Latino communities because illegal immigrants fear that the government can use census data to track down, and even deport, illegal immigrants. Evidently there is a rumor to his effect going around in Spanish-speaking communities.

However, I have never seen any of these PSA in Spanish. Does that make sense to anybody?

A news item of a couple days ago said that Chicago police officers, who now have video cameras in their cars, have been keeping these cameras turned off. The cameras are supposed to deter any police wrongdoing, for example during traffic stops. The police excuse for not having their cams turned on? They might be shown doing something they are not supposed to do. No further comment needed.

Population control: I feel that no family should have more than two or three children. More people being born means more pollution, more strain on natural resources, more energy use and hence production of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, and destruction of habitat for wildlife. We are covering America with subdivisions and parking lots.

I could go on and on, on that subject. But now evidently there's yet another reason to limit family size: A recently-announced study shows that women increase their risk of stroke with every child that they give birth to. So today I was wishing I could say to the guy I saw with five kids, "Think of what you are doing to your wife every time you knock her up!"

Of course, given the nature of things, tomorrow a study will come out showing no such relationship. Meanwhile, the mother of all those kids didn't look at all harassed, I have to admit. Plus, they looked like a family who could afford those children. But, for the reasons above, I don't feel a family should have all the kids they can afford to.

Copyright © 2010 by Richard Stein

Department of Fairness

Anyone who reads my blog knows I've done a lot of criticizing the police, probably ad nauseam.

I try to be fair and present both sides. There was a news story today about an African-American family in Chicago who had a fire in their home and then found that they were burglarized while at the hospital being treated for smoke inhalation. A big-screen TV and Christmas presents had been stolen--and the single mom had worked hard to buy those presents and had recently lost her job.

A policeman (Caucasian) who was involved in investigating the case gave the family a $200 gift card to Sears, out of his own pocket, and other gifts as well.

I don't need to comment further.

Cops Yet Again

I hope the subject is not getting tiresome to my readers, but I'm continuing to beat the drum about cops who abuse their office and/or commit crimes.

The latest: A policeman from a far suburb of Chicago was driving drunk in the Chicago area, hit another car, and killed a 29-year-old Vietnamese immigrant who held two jobs, went to college, and tried to hold his family together. The policeman refused a breathalyzer test at the scene but once he arrived at the hospital (he was injured but not critically), his blood alcohol was nearly three times the legal limit.

In another case, a 24-year-old man, again in the Chicago suburbs, was wielding an axe--in the streets, I believe. When he was ordered to drop the axe—and the man may have been an immigrant and may not have understood English—he was shot by a policeman. Four times. Fatally.

A friend or relative of the deceased man asked why he had to be shot fatally rather than, say, tasered. The police chief said that, since the axe was a lethal weapon, it was appropriate to respond with lethal force. I guess even to "respond" quadruply is considered appropriate.

In another instance, this one receiving national attention, a group of people in Washington, DC, were having a snowball fight—legally and harmlessly. One snowball happened to hit a Hummer, and the Hummer happened to belong to a police detective. The detective drew his gun on the snowball throwers. I guess everyone should know that you just don't mess with a dude's Hummer.

Copyright © 2009 by Richard Stein

I'm Tired

Recent news has been about an executive of the Police Sergeants' Union who has been accused of embezzling funds from his union--with the latest estimate of the amount now up to $1 million.

But I'm tired of the subject of crooked and criminal police persons.

Also, there's a story about yet another US federal legislator--one Sen. Ensign, a Republican from Nevada, who was one of those "family values" conservatives and now has had to admit to having an extramarital affair.

But I'm tired of one conservative hypocrite--ministers and legislators--after another who has been exposed as preaching one thing and practicing another. I scarcely want to note yet another one.

I just wish that the people in general would finally begin to learn not to grant any credibility to these people who rant against gay marriage and abortion and divorce and other things that they would have us believe are immoral and very likely are secretly practicing what they preach against--that is, secretly until they are exposed.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Richard Stein

Another Polce Officer Who (Allegedly) Is a Criminal

A few months ago, a Chicago police officer was driving his Lexus SUV while his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. He crashed into an SUV stopped on the shoulder, setting it afire and killing two young men who were inside.

Then he tried to calmly, slowly, nonchalantly walk away!

Fortunately he was apprehended. Now the policemen's union (the Fraternal Order of Police) is hosting a benefit event to raise money for this man's defense. This, I think, shows how the police stick together, never disavowing one of their number. They simply cannot or will not ever acknowledge that one of their number is a wrongdoer.

Still More on the Police

I don't really want this blog to become solely about the police, or even mainly about the police, but I can't resist the urge to disseminate word about the latest incident of police misconduct.

In this case, a Chicago police officer has been hit with a civil suit by 21 plaintiffs who charge that the officer unjustifiably arrested them for Driving Under the Influence. It is charged that he picked his targets by observing them coming out of gay bars. One of the plaintiffs said (in an interview shown on TV news) that the officer said to him, "You've got two strikes: you're black and you're a fag."

What is this officer's motivation, other than his biases and prejudices? He makes money. When he appears in court in these cases, even if the case gets thrown out, the officer is paid time and half.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has given this officer a reward because of his uncommon number of drunk-driving arrests--300. It's sad that single-issue constituencies like MADD so typically only scratch the surface of an issue and see only what they want to see. I think they deserve a new acronym, maybe IDIOT, standing for Idiotic Dames Inflicting Obnoxious Temperance.

Chicago has a (relatively) new police superintendent who came to his position with great promise of cleaning things up. So far he has shown too much inclination to defend the police officers under him, rather than getting at the truth and doing something about these abuses of police power.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Richard Stein

Police Receive Lenient Treatment by Courts

To my loyal followers: I should have told you in advance that Mourning Dove Hill was going to be on vacation. Anyway, it was, but now I, and it, happily are back.

This is kind of an addendum to the posts on the police (I could have done this as a comment). Recently, in pretty quick succession, our local news here in Chicago has had two or, I think, three stories about policemen being convicted of wrongdoing. In at least two of these cases the police officers in question received probation. That amounts to a mere slap on the wrist, I feel. I believe that courts are far too sympathetic to police and almost excuse their wrongdoing. One reason might be that if a policeman ever received what he deserved for his wrongdoing, the police union would be all up in arms. They claim that punishing any police officer undermines all the others in their doing of their jobs.

I for one am tired of police abusing their power and authority. Even when it is conduct that falls far short of a serious crime, why should they even run red lights (when not responding to a call and without their red-and-blue lights on) or otherwise violate traffic laws? Because they are the law, they are above the law.

The Policeman Is Your Friend (or Not)

The motto of the Chicago Police Department is "We Serve and Protect." Some people have asked who protects us from the police, and it's no joke. (The Romans used to say, "Who guards the guardians?")

Some noteworthy stories in the news lately: About a week ago we had a second (in the space of a few months) case of a Chicago policeman driving drunk, causing a fatal auto accident, and walking away! (I don't think either of these cases has come to trial yet so I'd best not say much about them.)

Two years ago there was a case of an off-duty Chicago policeman who was accused of battery in an occurrence famously caught on video: he attacked a female bartender who refused to serve him any more drinks. He was convicted of battery yesterday (but not yet sentenced). His defense was that he acted in self-defense as the bartender pushed him when he tried to come behind the bar--I guess to get that drink for himself when she would not let him have it. Since the woman in question is 5'3" and weighs 125 lb, and the policeman weights just double that, the self-defense plea was perfectly ludicrous.

Plus we have the famous case of Drew Peterson, now a former police sergeant in suburban Bollingbrook who was indicted in the murder of his third wife and is a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife.

Also, there is the story of a body that was just found that might turn out to be the spouse of a police officer. This may turn out to be another woman killed by her policeman husband (again, I must not comment further).

All these are cases of police officers within, say, 30 miles of where I live. In Chicago and certain of its suburbs there have been, over the years, many stories of police corruption and bad cops who were in league with criminals and often committed crimes themselves--for example, a ring of thieves that stole TVs included several cops.

There are good and nice cops who truly want to help the public and have no animus against anyone but bad guys. And, obviously, there are bad ones. I have often suspected that at least some men become policemen so as to be able to throw their weight around. Let's just hope that that first category is much larger than the category with the bad eggs in it.

An addendum: I'm not quite the only one who has some misgivings about policemen or police forces. Here is an article about police tasering and using pepper spray on a deaf and handicapped man:
http://www.bvblackspin.com/2009/07/28/police-taser-deaf-disabled-man/?icid=mainhtmlws-maindl1link6http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bvblackspin.com%2F2009%2F07%2F28%2Fpolice-taser-deaf-disabled-man%2F

Copyright © Richard Stein 2009