[vienna]

I take rather a bit of exception to the mass characterization of law enforcement as "scum". I have had more than my share of experiences with somewhat questionable encounters with the police, mainly, if not exclusively, with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). There used to be a culture of machismo swagger and entitlement in the LAPD fostered by a leadership quite lacking in any reasonable consideration for the public, a culture that permeated to the ranks of the patrol officers. The ratio of those officers who took the culture as a "right" was quite high, but there were honestly a majority who were just trying to do their sworn duties to the best of their abilities, sometimes having to "swim upstream" against the current of the LAPD culture. I was stopped once (one of many, many times) by a pair of LAPD officers. One was a senior office, the other a more junior officer. The junior was very keen to find something, anything, with which to bust me. After searching me and my car, finding nothing, he then made a very thorough check for any (and I do mean any) wants, warrants, reports of recent suspicious local activity, overdue library books, etc. Finding nothing, he then asked me "Have you ever been arrested?" I replied I hadn't which prompted the question "Why not?" I will never forget the exasperated look on the face of a more senior officer when he grabbed the junior and said "Enough! Get back in the squad!" The senior then handed me back my papers and walked me back to my car. When I was back inside, he leaned down to my open window and said "I'm sorry about this. He's not my regular partner. We do have some ----heads on the force." I have known some very good officers on the LAPD and do not lump them in with the losers. After the debacle of the L. A. Riots in 1992, a great effort was made to really overhaul the LAPD and, after a couple of false starts, Chief William Bratton was appointed to head the LAPD. Under his leadership, the LAPD became far more fair, efficient, accountable, less political, and more trusted by the public at large. The quality of a law enforcement agency is reflective of its leadership and the willingness of the public to support it or to seek to correct its flaws...

As for some of those "speed traps", etc., yes, some are abusive, but far more are in place to remedy a problem usually at the behest of those living in an area, If people are creating a potentially unsafe condition by, say, going over the speed limit by "just a few" MPH, they have brought the consequence on themselves. The ticketing officer did not press down on your accelerator, force you to make an unsafe maneuver, cause you to nearly knock down a pedestrian, or any of the other "unfair" offenses for which you may have been ticketed/arrested. It is interesting how many of those who complain about the red light cameras, speed traps, DUI checkpoints, etc. seem to be angry not because they were innocent of an infraction, but, rather, angry because they were caught...

Police, for the much greater part, do what they must to uphold the law fairly. If you feel you must blame someone for being "trapped", blame those like yourself, who tried to "finesse" the law, thus requiring the "trap" in the first place...

<O>