tranquility said:
When a person who purports to be a police officer makes a statement which reasonable people can interpret to be illegal harrassment against a citizen who is behaving in a legal manner, I believe it is not flippant nor funny.
His comment did not in any way say that he - or anyone else - would break the law and stuff the offending twit into the back of a police car. I'm sorry you read something more into it.
I, too, have made flippant comments - here and elsewhere. Just the other day when we arrested a guy who was subject to citation because he refused to identify himself, he commented that he had taken us to federal court before ... I commented, "I guess we'll be there again." I suppose one could interpret my comment to be an admission that what we did was wrong or unlawful (which it wasn't), but it might be interpreted that way. At least the paper spelled my name right!
I can go back and search his posts if you like, but he has made similar "flippant" comments in the past. That you refuse to accept the obvious nature of the remark and find it troubling, I find troubling.
Maybe it's because I'm a cop and I understand the gallows humor and flippant commentary more than those who are not (or no longer) in the field. If I took seriously or with shock and dismay every flippant comment I hear, I'd be in apoplexy every day!
"He should be shot" ... "That guy is an ass and oughta be thumped" ... "someone oughta put him in his place" ... etc. None of it implies in the slightest that the officer(s) in question would ever do such a thing. Life is serious enough without having to inject literal interpretation to every off-hand and flippant remark written or spoken.
I dream of the day when the police are required to video all contacts through the day.
Nifty idea ... but technology, convenience, and price has not yet made this a viable alternative. And, I doubt that this will occur even within my lifetime. San Diego County experimented with "Cop Cams" for a time. They were cool as the crooks almost all pled, and it reduced complaints to near zero. However, the devices broke - particularly in fights or foot pursuits, were subject to damage in inclement weather, and were quite expensive to purchase, maintain and archive.
Heck, we cannot yet afford to put cameras in all the cars in CA - much less on all the cops! Most agencies in CA have no more than a handful of cars with cameras, and these often tend to be DUI cars.
- Carl
