Quote Originally Posted by Yossarian View Post
Sure, and it is meaningless in the big picture. If we find people exercising bad judgment we need to address it individually not trash everyone or the whole system. I'm not a cheerleader, just a realist. We ask regular people to do a very hard job. You are bound to have circumstances where mistakes are made. I personally have experienced police behavior that I objected to. But I don't know of any better system, so the answer has to be to address issues as you find them and not to get all chicken little about it.

There are places in the inner cities that have your attitude. I don't see them as more attractive places to live than other communites that support their police force. As flawed as its application may be at times, the rule of law is perhaps the biggest thing to me that separates palces I want to live from those I don't.
I can meet you halfway and agree that we are asking regular people to do a hard job and that being human, mistakes are going to be made. And I'm not at all against the rule of law. WHAT I AM AGAINST IS THIS: A pattern of police behavior and over the top misconduct that we witnessed in Ferguson. After reading about the police letting dogs urinate on the Michael Brown memorial and then driving over it, honestly, I'm thinking there should be a minimum one million dollar settlement for all residents of Ferguson and that any officer involved, immediate termination and pension loss with both domestic and international news media and social media coverage. I'm of the opinion that instant pension loss in such cases would quickly end such incidents and they would not cost taxpayers anything - if anything, with terror of financial loss hanging over their heads 24/7, the police would be less likely to misbehave and there would be fewer huge settlements of the sort that are coming to Ferguson not too far off. The rule of law is not a bad thing - I won't disagree with that - but the rule of law has to work TWO WAYS with the police not being above the law, otherwise the rule of law is essentially meaningless. In Ferguson the law of law, due to police misconduct, quickly became meaningless, we all witnessed this with our own eyes. I'm so grateful for social media and the numerous lawsuits soon coming. At least people are standing up and fighting back in some legal ways. And I'd bet there will be more of this going forward. There's too much anger and inequality out there for it to rest at this point. Rob