National Protest and 'disband the cops' discussion (please review page 1)

[The Quartermaster]

This is the main reason these "auditors" exist/became popular. They get content by baiting officers who forget that a large portion of the job is "customer service".

It costs nothing additional (in time or effort) to state "citizen, you are required to comply with xyz under FL law."

I see no point in deliberately trolling and when they get the response that gets hits and goes viral it's because an asshole wanted to collide with another asshole. I have zero sympathy.

It's infantile. Like wanting to prank someone and getting the reaction they hadn't planned on for and then whining about it but still getting off on the attention that it generated for the POS.

I know quite a few of these "customer services" persons. It's generally not wise to mess with them because we don't know the situation that brought them there or the stress that they are in. I can personally tell you that playing fuck-fuck with an officer who just finished a call that had multiple dead children and dead pets in a car wreck, and now responding to the next call on a traffic bender isn't in a mood at all to being playing games with a troll.

They want customer service? Go to the department and find the first person at the desk behind the glass. That's what they are there for. Use it or STFU and don't mess with people you have no right morally to get a rise from.

 

[Devildoc]

Tell the kid you beat those into his mom's headboard last Saturday night and he should look there.



Both are fair observations. PLENTY of videos out there of people with and without a badge acting like fools. That said, knowing the basics of local laws is on the citizen. Should an officer at least say something like "It is a law in Florida for you to..."? I think so. Is it required? No. Humans are humans, sometimes you can de-escalate a situation with a simple explanation or question.

We taught our daughter the same thing. Shut up and do as you're told. We'll fight any legal issues later, not at the scene where it can go sideways in the blink of an eye. Explicitly state you do not consent to a search/ they may not enter your home. No sudden movements, tell the officer if you are moving or reaching for something like paperwork in your car's center console. Say little to nothing. Don't admit to even a glass of wine 2-3 hours ago, that you were coming from or going to any specific place, etc. Be smart and fight any perceived injustice later.

I do not have the same almost child-like trust in LEO's like I did 30-ish+ years ago. Now? I don't consider them enemies, but I don't consider them friends. I respect them but don't trust them. I don't think they are out to get me, but they aren't on my side.

End of the day I believe the overwhelming majority are just decent people doing a job they believe in who want to go home and see their family. I also believe far too many (but still a minority) are dickheads on a power trip who have no business wearing a badge. Society has gone sideways in the last 20-30 years and LEO standards aren't what they used to be, so now we have this vortex of stupid colliding with social media and doing it for likes and clicks.

TLDR: Where's the Space Rock?

Well said.

Regarding the highlighted/italicized, this is something that annoys me (in general). I have heard judges say "ignorance of the law is no excuse." Ummm, OK, basic DMV test traffic law, sure, OK, but how, exactly, should we be held liable for over 60,000 pages of laws in the US Code and about a third of that for most state laws? Isn't that lawyers are for?

Basic, local laws, I don't disagree with you. But it gets so damn messy and convoluted, once I heard a judge say that during a complicated tort case where one of the lawyers said something like 'I'll have to look that one up...'

Can you imagine if I said to a patient with chest pain wanting to know if they are having a heart attack, "ignorance of medicine is no excuse"?

Anyways, rant over...

 

[Marauder06]

Tell the kid you beat those into his mom's headboard last Saturday night and he should look there.



I do not have the same almost child-like trust in LEO's like I did 30-ish+ years ago. Now? I don't consider them enemies, but I don't consider them friends. I respect them but don't trust them. I don't think they are out to get me, but they aren't on my side.

End of the day I believe the overwhelming majority are just decent people doing a job they believe in who want to go home and see their family. I also believe far too many (but still a minority) are dickheads on a power trip who have no business wearing a badge. Society has gone sideways in the last 20-30 years and LEO standards aren't what they used to be, so now we have this vortex of stupid colliding with social media and doing it for likes and clicks.

TLDR: Where's the Space Rock?

I tell my family something similar. "Cops are not your friends. They don't know you. They are people trying to do a job. And they are not all good people. Be polite, don't let them in your car or our house, don't consent to any searches, don't admit to anything, and ask if you can call me."