cops are pigs

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Slappy00

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: Slappy00

Originally posted by: TheLonelyPhoenix

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: TheLonelyPhoenix

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: TheLonelyPhoenix

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: TheLonelyPhoenix

I don't think its eroding your rights for him to ask. I've never heard of anyone actually getting their car searched after offering the cop their keys. I've had officers ask to search me or my car before; I always say "Sure, go for it", and they never do. It's simply a tactic to see if you have anything to hide.

Yeah, cops are intimidating, but a "nice guy" doesn't get taken seriously, its part of their job.

I've known dozens of people who had their car searched on the side of the highway. I lived in a small town and the highway running nearby was a major drug running route. As a result the DPS, DEA and Sheriff would regularly pull over anyone they could and ask to search the vehicle. They would literally start throwing everything out of your car onto the grass on the side of the highway. If they didn't find anything, they'd just get in their cars and drive off, leaving all your stuff blowing down the side of the highway.

That's a whole different story. Like I said in my edit above, if you are genuinely getting your indivdual rights trampled, you should stand up for yourself. Turning up your music and dancing in front of your car while the officer is informing you of a broken headlight is not exercising your freedom, however.

Actually, it IS excercising your freedom. There's no law prohibiting it. It's his right not to answer any questions the police officer might ask of him. The law does require that he provide proper identification and proof of insurance however.

I think that's funny. I don't think it would be worth the trouble, but it's still funny.

Freedom is the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want?

So long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others. Who was he hurting with his goosestepping?

No one. And its the right of an officer to pull a gun on someone who feels that goosestepping in front of his car during a traffic stop is a good idea. After all, he hasn't hurt anyone by drawing the gun.

I think giving up my right to pole-dance for an officer is a fair exchange for not being threatened with a weapon.

a cop cannot pull a gun on someone unless the person is endagering the cops life, it is unethical and the cop will be put on "administrative leave" barring a review if he or she does that my buddy decied to express his frustration in a nonviolent and non threating manner if the cop pulled a gun on him in that situation he would be in some trouble. Pulling a gun on someone is an unecessary escalation of situation by doing that the police officer believes that: a guy that is probaly more than 2 meters away from him, unarmed, walking side to side is a threat to his life. By pulling a gun out the cop says that he is prepaird to kill this man involved in a nonvolent protest, for reasons unknown, now whos crazy the person demonstrating his dissatisfaction or the person ready to kill him?

Originally posted by: CadetLee

a cop cannot pull a gun on someone unless the person is endagering the cops life,

That's a bit restrictive. An officer can use deadly force to protect the lives of himself and other people, to prevent/stop a violent crime, etc. It's not just his own life -- don't try to kidnap and rape someone and believe that you can't get shot.

You can bet your ass the cop would've been within his legal limits to pull a gun on your friend for goose-stepping by his vehicle. Quite simply, since it is very eccentric behavior, the officer could have thought your friend was on any number of illegal substances. This puts him in a very bad situation where him and his partner could be in danger. And that means your friend being handcuffed while the cops have probable cause to search the car.

These "rules" are put in place because they help keep officers safe. A police officer doesn't know whats going to happen during a "routine" traffic stop, and it goes better for everybody if people are compliant. You can try giving a cop a hard time, but you can bet your ass the cop is going to give you a harder time if they want.

EDIT: Also Slappy, I think you're confusing discharging the weapon with unholstering the weapon. There are many reasons why an officer can unholster their weapon, but there are only a few reasons why an officer can discharge their weapon.

Well there was an incident at my school about a month or two ago when cops pulled over a car full of students and approached the car with their guns unholstered and pointed at the subjects. Now this car had as its occupents 3 girls and one guy or something of that nature, all complying with the police orders and not posing any real threat to the police officers that included the state police, sherrif dept, the school police, the city police. The school and city police got into alot of trouble with the department as well as with the school and the city (ironically at one of the best law enforcement schools in the nation) . I dont know about the laws in your municipality but pulling a gun on someone and pointing it at them in a non threating situation is at the very lest grounds for a small vactation for the officer involved, and bad pr for the department.

Also there are methods for situations and levels of escalating violence, or danger, erratic behavior does not = gun drawn. What happens in a situation like that is a cop calls for back up and uses non-lethal methods to subdue the person, only resorting to lethal menthods if the situation warrants. Pulling the gun out commits you to using it if the situation escalates, where as pulling out the pepper-spray does not require you to kill anybody and still allows you the freedom to unholster your gun if the situation further degrades. Even so a cop is not allowed to take any offensive measures, preemptive or otherwise if a person is pissed about a ticket and is peaceably demonstrating his or her dissatisfaction.

For the first part, I do believe this was an abuse of power by the officers if what you say is true. Simple as that.

As for the 2nd part, I'm not saying that there wouldn't be better ways to handle the situation, but you better believe a cop is within his rights to unholster his firearm if your friend is goose-stepping by his car. He doesn't know if your friend is cracked out of his mind, has needles, a knife, a gun, whatever. In his eyes, he is already in a dangerous situation (the traffic stop) and is now in an even more dangerous situation because of the behavior of the suspect. You can sometimes gauge a person if they're sober, but you can never, ever predict the actions of someone if you feel they're under the influence of a substance or if they're mentally unstable. You do not take chances, because you will wind up in a bodybag.

Also, they can take action if what you deem as peacable demonstrating his or her dissatisfaction, especially during a traffic stop, is endangering the welfare of other people on the road. Distracting other drivers by doing something eccentric could more than likely be justified as a reason to take action.