Police Behaving Badly And Social Media

 Police are public servants. They exist to serve and protect. They must be professional. They must abide by the law, which includes what is constitutional. They cannot make up their own rules.  

They must know when they have the lawful authority to question someone or ask for their identification. They must understand when arrests can or must be lawfully made. 

Public trust is eroded when police stop, harass or arrest someone unlawfully. An unlawful arrest not only erodes public trust, but is also criminal. At the same time, the failure to take proper police action, including for arrest, is also wrong.

This is not a problem that stems from the police alone. Far too many people abuse the 911 emergency system because they do not like the way someone looks. 

There needs to be accountability when people abuse the 911 system to have police run like lemmings to harass someone the caller wants harassed. People too often abuse the 911 system by falsely accusing someone of suspicious or criminal activity simply because they do not like the way the person looks.

Police must understand that calls to 911 are not always legitimate and that the people called upon do not suspend their constitutional rights. Police must know the extent and scope of their police authority. If police or deputies are unable to figure this out,  they should not be on the job. Calls to 911 regarding suspicious people, whatever that is supposed to mean, does not give police the right to suspend the so called suspicious person's constitutional rights.  

A lot of people on social media are having a field day catching cops behaving badly. There is a benefit to people understanding their rights and the scope and limits of police authority. In this day and age of cameras, cell phones and videos everywhere, knowledge is a powerful tool. As long as police operate within their lawful authority, they have nothing to fear. They must not make up their own rules. Cops must not be less knowledgeable than those that wish to provoke them. Ignorance is not bliss. Not for the public. Not for the police.

Working cops that patrol high crime areas often have better judgement, are less petty, and have better understandings of civil and other rights than cops and deputies that work low crime areas. High levels of violence helps cops that are good cops understand when to escalate situations, when to deescalate situations, when to know the difference, and how to have better police judgment in general. The exceptions include specialized units that pop in and out of high crime areas, never really understanding what is going on. Cops with bad tempers, violent cops, thin skinned cops, petty cops, cops with poor judgment, lazy cops that just take up space, cops that are clueless about laws, civil rights and the constitution, make easy targets for those looking to catch them on camera.

Knowledge empowers police and the public.