The Ignorance of Law Enforcement (And Why We Still Have A Long Way To Go...)

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Originally Posted by Christinedreamer

BTW just for the record, checkpoints are for one purpose -revenue. Technically, they come under the "illegal search and seizure" and "probable cause" statutes.There are numerous current lawsuits pending on these.

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I believe this is the most important issue in this whole story. Checkpoints are unconstitutional -- a direct violation of the 4th Amendment.

I have never seen a checkpoint in my state (we believe in the Bill of Rights out here in the Rockies), but I have seen them in the South. There, though, not too many checkpoints get set up around the upper class neighborhoods, ya know? They're set up to catch poor people for victimless crimes, justify the existence of twice as many cops as a town needs, and to generate revenue.

Now then... there are plenty of folks who are going to say "well, I'm not doing anything wrong, all my papers are in order, I'm a Party member..." Looks like it's pretty easy for your papers to not be in order. Or maybe someone gets it in for you, and clicks a button on a Motor Vehicle department computer. One click of a button, your life is a wreck.

Is this the kind of country any of you want to live in?

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Originally Posted by RachelOKC

........That said, it bothers me to see posters using this as an opportunity to bash officers of the law. Grossly general and inflammatory remarks do not help and only serve to demonstrate the ignorance and bias of the one making the statement. Some of your fellow transpeople are police officers (including one of my dearest friends) and they serve to protect your rights and safety - as do many police officers. Respect that police officers are people too, and come in all varieties as do we. If you don't want to be painted with a broad brush, then don't do it to others.

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Well said. I have a relative who is a police officer.

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Originally Posted by linda allen

Well said. I have a relative who is a police officer.

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It seems to me, risking over-simplification, that there are largely two kinds of people who are attracted to becoming police officers: the first is attracted for altruistic reasons, they want serve their fellow citizens and uphold the law. They are not the problem, and are to be celebrated.

The second group is the problem. They're the ones who aspire to be police officers because they get off on having power over others, were probably bullies as kids and seem to often be very prejudiced against one or more groups of people. It seems to me that they are quite common in larger cities, and not as common in smaller towns.

But it's really easy to forget about the good if we have the bad ones in our face while they drag us to jail or if we're out and about, minding our own business and are being harassed by them. The fact that they have the power to totally screw up our life just because they don't like us tends to make me wary of police as a group, which is sad.

Regarding justice, I once had to go to traffic court in Chicago, and the judge addressed everyone before he started, hadn't heard a single case yet and told us that as far as he was concerned, the arresting officers, in every case, were right, and threatened that if we contested our tickets, he would find us guilty and then assess the maximum penalty that he possibly could under the law. How's that for justice?

The second (and last) time that I had to go to traffic court in Chicago was when a woman turned left in front of me as I entered an intersection, resulting in me hitting her, and I got a ticket for traveling too fast for conditions, even though I wasn't speeding and had the right-of-way. I found out through a friend's brother-in-law who was a Chicago cop that the woman who hit me was the daughter of a Chicago cop, so she got no ticket for failure to yield the right-of-way. Anyway, in court this time, the judge turned out to be from downstate Illinois and not a Chicago regular. He announced before things got going that he was of the opinion that both sides needed to be heard in every case and that he does not automatically accept the officer's word, which was certainly a pleasant surprise. A lawyer from the city approached me about a minute later and informed me that the ticket against me had been dropped, and did the same with several other people.

So it's stuff like that which makes me take a very dim view of law and justice, at least in Chicago, not to mention the harassment against T-people that I've personally seen and experienced from Chicago cops back in the 1990's.

Carol

Wow.. that's really messed up, and really excessive too.. Sorry that happened to you.

Georgia sounds like a really F'd up state.. If you were arrested here for that offense, you would of been brought to the local police station, booked for the offense, then released by the magistrate for personal recognizance by paying a fee and promising to appear in court. WOW.. really F'd up how they do things there