On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Sisk, Kris <[email protected]> wrote: > >>I think you are back stepping a little, or maybe just clarifying your > position. > >>Pretty sure it was you who made a comment earlier that was similar to > 'I assume all cops are bad until proven otherwise'. > > Yes, that was a very poor choice of words on my part. Looking at it now > it doesn't accurately reflect how I approach encounters with the law at > all. A better way to word it would be "I realize the possibility that > this person can put me in jail and may be the type of person to do so on > a whim, so I will do whatever I can to make sure I go free if that > happens."
Yep, I do the same. In my years of working side-by-side with law enforcement, I have been 'coached' on how to act and what to say (or not say) during traffic stops by quite a few police officers and even some state troopers. > >>I also think there also is a big difference between a 'bad' police > officer and say, an over zealous one, even though they often get > lumped together. > >>A 'bad' police officer, to me is one who disrespects their profession > willingly. One who actions are designed to purposely violate your > rights. These guys make me sick. I have encountered a few of them > myself. They are pretty much scum. > >>I do not think an over zealous police officer ever intends to violates > someone's rights (does not make it any less wrong), but, instead, in > some cases, they may have been genuine in their actions, but did not > fully contemplate the results of their actions. > > Your definition of 'bad' is my definition of 'corrupt' in this case, or > part of it anyway. Overzealous officers are 'bad' because they don't do > their job well and innocent people suffer for it. A bad officer can > eventually become a good one, just like any other profession. Corrupt is > corrupt for life. That's why I separate the two terms. I agree that 'bad' == 'corrupt', but I am not so sure I agree that 'overzealous' == 'bad'. Police officers are not perfect, they make mistakes. To me what would really differentiate the 'good' form the 'bad' is how they handle themselves when they do make a mistake. > >>I will not try and say that if your rights are violated by a bad > officer it is worse than if they are violated by an over zealous one > (because its not - a violation of your rights is a violation of > rights, regardless of whether or not that was the intended goal), > however, there is one very important difference. The over zealous > stands to learn from the experience and become a better police > officer, maybe even a better person, the 'bad' one won't give a shit. > > True enough, but the problem is that, often, by the time the over > zealous cop learns from his mistakes (assuming he even realizes he's > made one, which he won't always) it's too late for someone. No one is perfect. People make mistakes, even police officers. Nothing we can do to eliminate mistakes, but every time one is made, there is an opportunity to learn. -- Scott Stroz --------------- You can make things happen, you can watch things happen or you can wonder what the f*&k happened. - Cpt. Phil Harris http://xkcd.com/386/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:327521 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
