Krasnov: "Isn't it time we expect a citizen of this city to give cops some slack?"
What on earth for? If a law exists for a reason, it should be followed by every sector of society and enforced equally. Infringements should not be overlooked based on the status of the individual breaking the law. That's selective enforcement, and it's dangerous and wrong; it creates the circumstances under which vulnerable, unpopular minorities can be targeted for abuse. Cabbies have a tough job too (and dangerous, as we've seen recently), and any time they take on their shift to eat is time they aren't earning income. Should we open all no-parking zones to cabs as well? Examples of slack given to cops are more numerous than examples of cops being held to the same standards as the rest of us. Krasnov's barrel-scraping to find lack of slack makes this clear: sounds like a job for CUAPB? What are you talking about? It's a job for an activist civilian review process - which Minneapolis lacks, due to the actions of the Police Federation et al. CUAPB is one advocacy and legal support organization devoted to police accountability. From what I can tell CUAPB spends most of their time not bringing suits against MPD or individual officers as Krasnov seems to think, but defending citizens from the charges one faces in the wake of being roughed up by a cop. In terms of members, funding, and political access CUAPB is unfortunately dwarfed by the Police Federation, a group whose main purpose seems to be to shout "SLACK!" every time a police officer is accused of beating someone down. So let's have some examples of the double standard that Terrell correctly points out. Here's one: Saturday night I had to literally jump out of the way of a squad car turning left from Washington Ave westbound to Hennepin southbound. I don't think he ever got below forty-five mph. I was well within the crosswalk lines. "Walk" was lit. I received no warning in the form of lights, sirens, or loudspeaker. My first thought as I watched him speed away was "that man should be pulled over." Unfortunately he was gone too quickly for me to get the squad number and drop a dime on him. We have laws to in order to increase public safety. We have cops to enforce these laws. When the cops disregard these laws and in so doing make the public less safe, they should be held to account. Not "given slack." Robin Garwood SE Como TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
