maybe im not expressing myself well. i want police to fight crime.
EXAMPLE
true story; my brother was walking in NYC in the early 90s where we lived and was chased by 3 guys who he later found out were cops. they were yelling it to him but he thought he was gonna be mugged so he ran like hell. Im sure he looked superguilty at that time from running. they chased him and tackled him because he fit the description of a perp in the area. they roughed him up a little but not too bad. he was innocent, cops realized that after a couple hour investigation and detention.
that is OK in my book. they had a reasonable basis for the chase and stop and they didnt beat the living shit out of him, just tackled and subdued, probably a little rougher than necessary because my brothers not a big fighter. . they had a valid police purpose.
CONTRAST THAT TO;
cop pulls up on some kids on the corner. talks to them. they tell him to go fuck himself. cop pulls a gun and other squad cars pull upand search everyone.finds drug contraband on one of them, a weapon onanother arrests them all. a few lose their jobs from the detention. others have records that preclude financial aid due to federal laws. cop lies in police report about stop, claims search was “consensual.
NOT OK..
i would say the 2nd incident is normal. the first incident is our fantasy of police work and rare, but constitutionally valid. it was a reasonable search and seizure….
the 2nd grossly erodes the social contract.
you can stop people for “suspicious” activity, but you ahve to havefacts to support it. nowadays everyone is suspicious of everything, including a brown indian gramapa walking down the street. when we are too suspicious, and th e net is cast too wide, we are not safer. we are ensnared ina polic e state.
