Police Commisioner says Democracy is all about showing police respect
NYPD Police Commissioner Bratton added, "We need the public’s help also to appreciate that when an officer does approach you to correct your behavior, that you respond. That’s what democracy is all about."
Now police claim not showing them respect is undemocratic? Americans rose up against Britain's police state rule over them, we revolted over governmental abuse. In fact we celebrate the day, it's called INDEPENDENCE DAY (July 4th.)
It's a police commissioner's duty to make his cops treat people with respect and courtesy, not the other way around.
Want proof that NYPD cops can get away with abusing Americans, read this article in the Huffington Post "Why Bad New York Cops Can Get Away With Abuse".
Here's an excerpt from the article:
Two years ago, a black man named Darren Collins claimed that a New York City cop humiliated him in front of his friends in broad daylight, pulling down his pants and underwear on the street and tapping his testicles in an unlawful search for drugs.
Collins was “violated, embarrassed, hurt," he said to WABC recently. So he told his story to civilian investigators and later filed a lawsuit against the city, hoping that the officer would pay a price.
In the end, the only people who paid were taxpayers. The city shelled out $30,000 to Collins and another plaintiff in a settlement, but the cop who allegedly harassed Collins rejected the claims against him and was never disciplined or even admonished. He kept his badge and gun and stayed on the streets.
Defense attorneys and civil liberties advocates say part of the problem stems from the feebleness of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a city agency charged with investigating allegations of police misconduct. Each year, the agency's investigators review thousands of complaints from people who say that the police shoved or choked them, hit them with radios or waved guns in their faces.
But few of these allegations result in cops being punished. As one former investigator told HuffPost, the decision to uphold a claim generally comes down to a matter of “he said, she said.”
Commissioner Bratton also responded to a bizarre question about "onlooker interference" in videos depicting police use of force (videos that were the subject of a recent federal lawsuit against the NYPD for violating citizens' rights, though the reporter didn't mention this).
"There is no denying that in some of the videos that what you see is interference on the part of onlookers, maybe relatives, maybe friends.
Bizarre question? How has recording police abuse become a respect issue? Should we respect a cops right to abuse Americans, because that's what Democracy is all about?
THAT'S NOT WHAT DEMOCRACY IS ALL ABOUT!
Police are not empowered to “correct your behavior.” They are not given shields and guns to walk the streets teaching the groundlings to behave in a manner that pleases the sovereign. And no, we are not duty-bound to show police respect. Respect is something that must be earned, not demanded upon pain of death. Indeed, we have a right to be disrespectful, though the likelihood of contempt of cop being met with pain is obvious.
And no, compliance with the police is not what democracy is all about. In these two lines, Bratton has gotten more wrong, about the police, about our respective roles and about our system of government, than would seem possible. Can Bratton be that utterly clueless? Can de Blasio, standing beside him, having heard those words and felt the authoritarian pride swell up in his chest?
One might have hoped that he would watch the killing of Eric Garner and talk about how the police, his cops, need to show respect to the people they serve. Sure, it would have been no more than a sound bite, good for a press conference with the Mayor, but at least it wouldn’t be as aggressive, as offensive, as wrong, as saying that a democracy is all about the people being respectful and compliant with his cops. Or die.http://gothamist.com/2014/07/28/de_blasio_broken_windows_policing_i.php
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2014/07/29/bratton-democracy-is-all-about-showing-police-respect/
Border official points gun at Boy Scout for taking his picture:
About 10 days into the trip, an innocent action by one of the nearly two dozen Scouts at the Canadian border into Alaska set off a chain of events that lead to a U.S. border official pointing a gun at a scout’s head.
Boy Scout Troop 111 Leader Jim Fox spelled out what happened to him and the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111 as four van-loads of Scouts and adult volunteers tried to drive from Canada into Alaska. Fox said one of the Scouts took a picture of a border official, which spurred agents to detain everyone in that van and search them and their belongings. “The agent immediately confiscated his camera, informed him he would be arrested, fined possibly $10,000 and 10 years in prison,” Fox said.
“The border agent tried to bait me. He wanted to get a reaction out of me and I did not give it to him,” said Fox. The border agent didn’t want Fox to follow him while he searched the van because Fox might turn over “search techniques to the undesirables.” Fox said he was told it is a federal offense to take a picture of a federal agent. Not wanting things to escalate, Fox said he did not complain. Another of the Scouts was taking luggage from the top of a van to be searched when something startling happened.
“He hears a snap of a holster, turns around, and here’s this agent, both hands on a loaded pistol, pointing at the young man’s head,” Fox explained.
Fox said that the boy thought the agent was going to shoot him and got back into the van. “They were sitting there scared to death,” said Fox.
“And for our government to take these young men and illegally search them and illegally seize and pull a weapon on these kids — something is wrong.”
Senator Chuck Grassley told Fox News, “It’s outrageous that a border patrol agent would point a gun at a boy scout just for taking a picture,” he told the television station. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
The border patrol agent asked Fox, “I suppose you’re wondering why we are doing this?” While pointing at the teenage boy the agent told Fox, “It’s our job to protect this border, It’s our job to keep terrorists from crossing the border.”
Ultimately no one was hurt or arrested, and after about four hours they were allowed to continue their trip into Alaska.
Fox said that they have experienced this type of intimidation before with the TSA in Orlando, Florida.
In the Orlando one of the eagle scouts accidentally dropped his boots after going through a full search.
One of the officers said, “..if that boy doesn’t calm down I will arrest him and remove him from this airport.” Fox asked the officer, “what did the boy do?”
“He dropped his boots in a threatening manner, said the officer.”
http://www.kcci.com/news/officer-points-gun-at-boy-scout-at-canadian-border/27078396?tru=bqLa0w#ixzz38EIhETK5
http://benswann.com/exclusive-leader-of-scout-troop-confronted-by-armed-border-patrol-speaks-out/