we should stop insulting them and start fighting them

The last time I had an experience with the police it was very telling. Shame on me for speeding but here is the story, 5am going 45 in a 35, cop hiding in the bushes, no one else on the road. cop runs in the street, radar gun ablazing. I pull over very bumbed out, but with My rights resevered in contract,ie drivers license, you see in WA. state I signed "All Rights Reserved, Without Prejudice" (look it up)He asked for the 3 proofs then started to write the ticket. I pointed out that my rights are reseved and ask to speak with the injured party. He looked at me as if he wanted to kill me, I thought he was going to die on the spot. he just looked at me and said sign, I said no, he sd turn your truck and radio off, I sd "no" now while I am talking w/ the cop I am also recording. He calls support, they call in the big wigs, they talk for about 15 mins. and the cop who stopped comes back and leans into the window and says" If you don't sign this ticket I'm going to rip you out of your truck and arrest u and send you to jail. Lesson of this story, Always know your rights and always have a recorder, on your phone, in your pocket. The ticket could not be found latter on. I truely believed that all police departments need to be reinvented. These people are around the worst side of humanity, someting has to be done for and about the people who enter the police force. I filed a complaint, nothing happened, why, because I won because I had my Rights intact. This happened in the south.

You should always respect cops, even if they don't always deserve it.

If you are representing a political movement -- then it becomes doubly important.

Otherwise you are asking for stupid trouble. Who has time for that?

When a person deserves insult, they get insult. When an organization deserves insult, all will get insult. It's not our fault that the cops in general are stupid, fear mongers whith a chip on their shoulder. They will be insulted in our name if the neo-cons have to organize it to hurt us. It will happen no matter what.

"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they are afraid it might be true." -Terry Goodkind

I think maybe some of you are missing the point. He doesn't say that cops don't deserve the names flung at them. He is just saying it does no good to do it. It only hurts our cause.

"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams

I have experience with some of them and I feel comfortable calling them whatever name rolls off the tongue at the moment. There are no absolutes, but many all over the nation are turning out to be nothing more than jack booted thugs bent on some sort of a power trip. They are cowards that get their courage from the supposed power of their badge, uniform, and bullying authority of the State.
"When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away."

Most cops act like adrenaline junkies with itchy trigger fingers and a guilty regardless attitude. When they clog the streets of Minneapolis and throw people in jail on false pretenses, you think they should get respect? They call a cattle prod a tazer and suddenly its ok to fry people into submission?

reality check.

Respect that is not earned is not respect, it is fear. I do not respect them and I do not fear them.

*exceptions exist, I met a honest to god PEACE officer the other day. Good guy. The majority of police are exactly like the sheriff in the original rambo : self important assholes.

First they ignore you [when you say NO], then they ridicule you [when you say NO], then they fight you [when you say NO], then you win [when they learn]. - Mahatma Gandhi.

And the promotion of drugs on the site takes away from the sites integrity of the movement as a whole.

Hey everyone,

99% of the what the cops do is unconstitutional, although they are a constitutional office, so they aren't necessarily evil, assuming they are willing to avoid the unconstitutional portions of their jobs...

If they stop writing traffic tickets, perjuring themselves in court, and harassing and testifying against people in "civil cases", then I'd support them.

Until then, no support from me. Just criticism, resistance, and civil disobedience.

http://adventuresinlegalland.com/ --I agree most with this gentleman, Marc Stevens. A very smart man!

I do support LEAP though...

http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php

-Jake Witmer

PS: Please contribute to http://www.freedomballotaccess.org -An organized movement towards defeating ballot access obstacles. Our website is low-tech, because we're out getting work done to eliminate ballot access obstacles in Alabama (first Alabama, then the other 23 states with the most severe ballot access obstacles...)

when law enforcement communities lobby for a change in laws that are detrimental to freedom and/or increased penalties for stupid laws already on the books. I.e, the entire war on drugs and the tendency for police organizations to consistently and constantly oppose local ballot initiatives that attempt to change the cannabis laws for the better and re-focus law enforcement efforts to more dangerous criminals (SAFER initiative in denver, lowest law enforcement priority for marijuana offenses in other cities)

There is no excuse for a law enforcement officer to use his badge and uniform as some form of sympathetic lobbying tool to oppose medical marijuana or whatever else. There job is to enforce the f-in laws, not make them. When initiatives like the one passed in Denver win, the cops say they won't enforce the new law and will enforce some other (whether a state law or federal law outlawing cannabis) - - in direct contradiction to the wishes of the residents they are supposed to serve.

This particular breed of "officer of the law" deserves every ounce of scorn that can be hurled at them and so much more.

You join a gang, you get treated like a gang member. whether the city pays you a salary or you retail narcotics is really just a minor technical detail. if they are out there hurting and harassing people they deserve all the grief they get.

I'm sorry they deal with a lot of jerks, we all do, and its no excuse for antagonizing people.

As long as there are bad apples in law enforcement and little or no repercussions for their behavior, its always gonna be us against them.

Example. if i hit a cop, i get beat up and locked up, i go to trial and most likely I do some prison time. but if a cop hits me(unwarranted), its likely he wont even get a stern talking to from his superior.

As long as a few cops continue to abuse power all cops will continue dealing with the blowback.

it sucks and i wish it didnt have to be that way, maybe some communities need to come together and mediate grievances between police and citizens instead of just issuing press releases. they could be proactive, but they are not.

To prove that i do have some good will toward police i offer my tip as to how to approach communication with a police officer. Forget about his badge, and forget about his uniform and speak to him like you would speak to any other free man under the protection of the United States Constitution. You see him approaching, you set the frame. Smile and say hey. offer him your hand like a man greets another man, and ask him whats up. basically you take control of the situation, your initiating contact and your asking the first question. even if you dont fully succeed in controlling the frame, you'll break the officers stride and throw off his aggressive confrontational BS. That way two men can have a civil conversation and there doesnt have to be unnecessary tension, and he can do his job and you can exercise your rights.

in the end cops are people too though, and at least when addressing them face to face, you should offer the same respect you hope to receive in turn.

Government has solved the age old dilemma of the alchemists. In order to turn lead into gold, just add blood.