I guess we are finally in agreement here.

LEOs wrongfully assault and kill a lot more Americans every year than we would believe.

The sad fact is that LEOs have virtual immunity from their misconduct. An officer who is actually fired, which seems to be about the most serious repercussion actually imposed, would have almost certainly been incarcerated had he taken those same actions as a regular citizen.

Until LEOs see that testifying against a bad officer is in their own best interest, I suspect that we will continue to see a legacy of LEOs not being held civilly or criminally accountable for their actions, and the taxpayer footing the bill for their legal representation and massive civil settlements.

If a cop does something illegal, he should be held to the same standards as the public. If that means incarceration, so be it.

The secondary effect is the destruction of trust between the public and the LEO community. Sometimes, the sheepdogs are actually wolves pretending to be dogs.

I was involved in the investigation of an incident where a local deputy shot two Robin Sage students, killing one. The blue wall came up, the video recording mysteriously stopped prior to the shooting, the physical evidence disproving the deputy's claims were ignored, the witnesses were intimidated, officers and citizens who knew him to be a bad egg were silenced, and he got away with murder. Case closed. The county eventually paid a large settlement to hush this up and make it go away. Thank you John Q. Taxpayer. Does anyone think they, as members of the public would have gotten away with this?

This lack of accountability has, along with the militarization of Law Enforcement, led to an erosion of trust and confidence between the public and local, state, and Federal LE.

TR

Nothing personal, but since you refer to the public as civilians, do most officers see themselves as some sort of military personnel?

TR

Sorry, have to agree with WCH on this one. Nothing offensive about what he wrote. He's right. That code of silence does hurt the public's trust in LE. He didn't say you were, personally, responsible.

Civilian:
n.
1. A person following the pursuits of civil life, especially one who is not an active member of the military, the police, or a belligerent group.

There's no way to tell exactly what preceded that event. 51 year old great grandma. That's a pretty good indication to me as to what kind of individual the CHP officer was dealing with. I am not defending his actions but I can tell you police officers beat the hell out of deserving people all the time. This guy could be a loose cannon Stallone in Cobra type for all we know.

On the flip side, my brother in law got his ass kicked by a wealthy dentist when he responded to a domestic disturbance. The dentist's children called the police because he was chasing them with a baseball bat :mad: Brother in law is the first to show up, gets ambushed and beat down so bad he had an overnight stay in the the hospital due to broken bones. Charges against the dentist were dropped.

There are a lot of corrupt police out there, and I agree with TR. Police officers who overstep the line of the law need to be punished like the rest of us would, but it doesn't change the fact that most LEO's are good people, who believe in our Constitutional rights, who would defend those rights against an oppressive federal government if it came it that, who want to go home to their families at the end of the day. If they have to lay the hammer down on worthless trash on occasion, I have no problem with that.

Divide and Conquer. If LEO's continue to be treated negatively, they're going to have more reason to side with their could be beltway advocates if orders to do something unconstitutional arise.