I am not just white, but nearly white enough to glow in the dark. I cannot speak to color based racism, because I am the kind of person least likely to encounter any. I can say that I have nearly always found law enforcement officers in the United States to be polite, respectful, and helpful. I believe I have run into one that was rude in 60+ years. One.

In that time I traveled also into Canada (until we started to require a passport) and through two Canadian provinces. Every law enforcement officer I encountered in Canada was polite, helpful, and respectful.

I spent a few weeks in a country in Central America in uniform, and noticed that I was treated with great respect, but that the same people did not always treat their own countrymen quite as well.

In all cases I was myself respectful and polite. I was often armed, clearly someone who could be dangerous, but also clearly someone who had no ill intent.

That is the experience of ONE man, and clearly not sufficient to draw any meaningful conclusions. I have to believe, however, that if officers in those locations were systematically or habitually rude and violent that I would have encountered that behavior: I did not. I believe that there are factors that cause such behavior, and perceived threat must be involved. That does not mean when you meet an officer you have control over those factors, but you can minimize the risk you represent and reduce the chance that violence will occur.

There are members of the media who make a living out of blowing events out of all proportion to cause as much outrage (and sell as much story) as they possibly can. There are officials who operate under the assumption that no one with a badge can possible do anything wrong. The truth, as always, lies somewhere between the extremes we are presented.

I will tell you this: I do not fear the police, or the military, in the U.S.A.! There are places I do not go (at least at certain hours) because they are dangerous. They are not dangerous because of the police, but in SPITE of them.

There are places I love, and go often, where I feel no danger at all. Generally there are fewer people, less or no crime, and any violent act is more likely to become local legend than to make world wide news.

We tend to forget that the U.S.A. is BIG! Canada is BIG! There is room here in North America for a LOT of different places, and many different people. Perhaps only Africa has a greater range of different environments, peoples, customs, and dangers. The U.S.A. also has a unique situation in that every citizen starts out with the constitutional right to own firearms if they want to and can afford them: with no requirement for training or preparation. Only about 40% of the population takes advantage of that right, but it is something to keep in mind.

Room and material for a LOT of stories. Some of them true, some a bit less. Look for the facts, and question assumptions. Sometimes a story is just a story, not really news at all.

Hi...

I would agree that our police in general could be more respectful, however, I think this is going hand in hand with the fact that we are seeing a "militarization" of our police forces. :(

No, the problem has to do with sin and taking away (or attempting to take away) a person's constitutional right to bear arms is not going to resolve the problem. This can only be solved by God be receiving Jesus Christ. :)

That day is coming, when Jesus Christ comes back to reign over the Earth. Although written for children, here is a page that briefly describes what life will be like. :)

Regards...

The problem is we never hear about the 10 gazillion police officers who didn't kill anyone.

The media promotes this hate and discontent so their so-called news divisions get ratings.

My solution would be to implement an automatic outside investigation of any police shooting, done in the public eye. If the police officer screwed up, they should pay the price. If not, a transparent investigation should show us what actually happened without all the opinions/spin from the so-called news. Perhaps such a process would alleviate some of the unrest and violence we're hearing about these days.

99.98% of law enforcement consists of dedicated professionals doing a hard job extremely well. It's only the 0.00000001% bad apples that get all the media attention.

My $0.000000000000000002

Do you know what happens to you if you report the police to the police??

I remember an incident one day In Boston: I was in my car stopped at a red light when my car was side swiped by another car that ran through the red light. When the light turned green I caught up to the car that had hit me and it was being driven by a uniformed police officer. I followed him to his precinct and I went inside and reported him to the desk sergeant as being intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident!! I was loudly ordered out of the police station and told that the officer never hit my car!!

It is only after an intoxicated police officer kills someone while driving that any action is ever taken. The other police officers know who is an alcoholic, or drug abuser. or blatant criminal among them and they all are required to just look the other way. Any cop that turns in another cop is forever harassed until they quit the police force!!

The average United States citizen does not have any idea just how corrupt politicians and police officers are!!

Yes.

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/in...e_officer.html

http://www.newswest9.com/story/24971...r-two-felonies

http://www.newswest9.com/story/31867...t-after-arrest

We have Texas Rangers that handle those cases. But. Nothing is perfect and I know what you mean about the "Blue Wall".

This is what happens in England. Any death from police action (even a car crash) or in police custody is looked at by the Independent Police Complaints Authority. If they feel there is anything dubious, they carry out an investigation using detectives seconded from a different force. If a decision needs to be taken on prosecution, it's taken by the Crown Prosecution Service — more independent professionals. Every force is inspected annually by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. Finally, the Minister of Justice can dismiss any Chief Constable who has visibly lost public confidence. I don't say we never have officers who are corrupt, incompetent, or arrogant — we do, but they get dealt with eventually.

Obviously, law-enforcement officials have elevated powers, and "with great power comes great responsibility." It is clear that some officers are reacting wrongly, and this must face zero-tolerance. Training must be increased, and offenders should face charges of "assault with a deadly weapon" and/or (at least) "manslaughter."

However, be careful not to "stereotype" officers and imply that every one of them is exercising their powers wrongly.

Also, this is certainly not a concern that is limited to any particular country.

Here in New York thank heavens he have United States Attorney Preet Bharara who is finally going after our corrupt politicians and our corrupt police officers!! He understands that our whole system of governing here is based upon corruption and " getting yours "!!

http://www.progressqueens.com/news/2...rict-attorneys

look in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ7agdh89pE

the guy is unarmed and the cop is threatening him with the hand on gun, this is illegal !!!

Your video link shows a$$hat young men getting getting their comeuppance from their actions.
You can hear one laughing before the cop shows up.
They got off light pretty much, for being duck heads.

I see nothing illegal.

What? No links on border guards in the EU roughing up refugees to post?

If you look at the crime and/or violence statistics gathered by our government or un-biased third parties you'll find that our crime and violence is at an all time low. Our civilians and police who shoot are the ones who are better trained and respond better to situations. The cops who are trigger happy are the ones that believe the "guns are bad" mantra so as soon as they see a gun they shoot.

What we have is a media problem, when faced with a lack anything to drive the ratings they have to do something. When the media is making any civilian with a gun to be the bad guy there are some who will believe it rather than get to the truth. The only gun problem we have is out current administration shipping them to the drug cartels who then smuggle them back in the country and sell to the street gangs who can't legally buy them.

Sadly there are a few cities that are doing this. They prohibit weapons and then the violence and crime rises because there is now less to keep it in check. Look at Chicago, Washington DC, etc. When you outlaw weapons only the criminals will have them and they will then outnumber the police. The places with the lower crime rates have far more weapons in the hands of law abiding citizens than the criminals and crime and violence ends swiftly.

Guns, power, "parents," reversion &c... what could go wrong?! (E.g: http://www.prisonexp.org/) We're all idiots trying to teach your kids not to be by being...
[screencast]yB-JzPBJalA[/screencast]
"You think that's air you're breathing now?"

" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that the heroin from Afghanistan is available everywhere!!
" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that the police are over armed and oppressive!!
" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that the population is overtaxed and underpaid!!
" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that the elections always result with a winning puppet that they control!!
" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that the media never shows the public the real ugly truth!!
" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that they never take the blame for anything!!
" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that they never go to jail for anything!!
" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that their overseas puppets are well armed and brutal!!
" The folks in charge pulling all of the strings " make sure that Lucifer has competition!!

We all are in charge tho learn and ye shall be but to learn again is key... ;)