Case in point, the (black) school teacher who was tased and pepper sprayed by (white) police officers.
You see, she called in a complaint of a prowler around her house, and while waiting for the police to show up, called in a friend to stay with her for safety.
The police showed up, and promptly went jack booted thug on her because she did not want to give the name of her friend, so they handcuffed her, and then tased and pepper sprayed her.
It was so bad that the chief of police, who showed up at the end of this little drama, has publicly stated that he, “suspects the outcome would have been different if the woman had been white and the officers black.”
What is at the crux of this, is the belief, widely held in this country and universally held in the law enforcement community, that any order given whether justified or legal, must be obeyed.
That is, by definition a government by and for police, and hence a police state.
Unfortunately, no one has won political office by defending the rights of the citizen against bad cops.
> Unfortunately, no one has won political office by defending the rights of the citizen against bad cops.
I am not sure that has ever been tried. People voted for Obama hoping he would stop the torture of terror suspects – that would indicate that people are quite concerned about "law enforcement" brutality.
Well, based on the studies I've discussed with my Dad, a city planner, so he has to know this stuff, this number is vanishingly small. The vast bulk of the American public, at least until they get a beat-down from the cops favor the police under ALL circumstances.
I would also note that about 3/4 of those folks appear to be cool on torture (and sucking up to Wall Street, and expansive assertions of secrecy, and expanded warrantless surveillance, etc.) now .
I would also note that the political pushback from Obama's base is exactly 0. Are they going to vote for Sarah Palin?
Unfortunately, law enforcement is so demagogued in the US that it breaks our society.
In Europe the death penalty was done away with by sensible politicians on both sides of the aisle who were ahead of the general population, who still favored capital punishment.
In the US, it's a race to the bottom to be, "Tough on crime," which has given the US the highest incarceration rate in the history of mankind.
Simply put, politics in the US have created a witch's brew of bad policy and opportunities for law enforcement and prosecutorial abuse.