This has been asked and answered. The courts overwhelmingly side with the cops on matters like this because any other system would lead to anarchy. You cannot allow the suspect the right to choose whether or not they will comply based on their own understanding of the law. This would essentially make every citizen a law unto themselves, because they would then have the right to do whatever they want based on their own opinion or their own (mis)understanding of the law. The reason people are required to obey cops is to prevent every dispute from escalating into violence. And while it does appear unfair and burdensome to require people to resort to the courts for remedy after the fact, the truth is that’s the entire reason we have courts in the first place. The court provides a place where trained professionals can calmly discuss the problem and determine whether a breach occurred, rather than having every angry, misinformed, drunk, or stoned driver getting into an argument with the police over whether or not the cop is doing the right thing.
Yes, cops have a terrifying amount of power. In an ideal world, every officer would use this power wisely and justly. This is, sadly, not an ideal world. That’s the entire point of why we have defense attorneys and a tort system, because we recognize that officers do not always do the right thing. Also, in an ideal world, officers would all be very highly trained, fair-minded, individuals of great integrity. Unfortunately, training and hiring police officers costs money, police departments must compete against other employers to attract high-quality candidate, and the world has yet to come up with a system to objectively measure an officer’s integrity before putting him in the field. These are unfortunate realities of life that no one has yet figured out how to overcome.
So I guess my next question is, “Do you have a better idea?” Because I see a great number of people railing against the idea of the “police state,” and the evils of police abuse (which is real and a very serious matter) but other than “Fuck da police” I don’t see any solid recommendations for a better way of doing business.