I don’t post much at all here, but have lurked pretty much continuously for a number of years. I just have to inject here that, as the son of someone who has been a police officer, and still is, for the past 31 years, that I don’t find Stan’s stories far-fetched at all. I will not go into details, but some of the stories I have heard from my father over the years, and with first-hand experience with his partners and co-workers, leaves me with very little respect for the law enforcement community as a whole. There are good, honest, hard-working, dedicated individuals, just like any profession, but there are bad ones, and LOTS of those. I have first hand knowledge of perjury, police brutality, racial profiling, failure to render first aid to a victim because they were black resulting in their death, and many other things that, unless you are in the law enforcement community, you rarely, if ever will see reported in the media. The number one unwritten rule is to protect other officers, no matter how horrible their crimes. Do a google search and read about the Frank Jude case in Milwaukee sometime. That took years, and initial verdicts of not guilty before those officers were convicted, I believe finally on federal civil rights violations. And that was just those officers went so ridiculously overboard in their crimes, coverup, and stonewalling, and they barely were brought to justice. For every one that gets convicted, I’m sure another 5 continue to patrol the streets.
I know that some, if not all of the experiences, Stan relates are not only possible, but most likely are true, as I have heard similar stories from my own father. And much like Paul In Saudi, I agree that the federal officials I have met and/or known are vastly more professional, courteous, and upstanding than your local patrol-type officer. In fact, the less responsibility an officer is given, such as simply running traffic duty, the more petty and power-mad they seem to be.
That’s all I wanted to say, as it seems like many of you really have no idea how still in this day and age, your skin color, socio-economic status, or appearance can affect whether you are pulled over, treated fairly, or quite literally, fucked by those sworn to serve you.