ravonaf said:
Bad LEO's are always innocent until proven guilty
And so are you, and so is anyone else (assuming you are speaking of criminal law here). It's the way our justice system works. So, where is the problem in that?
This whole "blue wall of silence" thing is a joke which is promoted by Hollywood. Do you really think I want to work with a crooked officer? We've had guys fired from my department who have screwed up, and I didn't hear any of my partners saying "Man, this is BS that he got fired for doing XYZ".
I'll stand up for a good and honest cop against a BS allegation any day (and these happen more than you might think)... But, I have no time for a crooked cop.
Despite popular perception by arm-chair internet attorneys, that's the way most departments work. We don't want shady guys among us.
And, yeah, I might cut a cop a break on a minor traffic infraction, but I also might just as easily cut you a break. Personally, I'm not a big guy for traffic tickets... and I'll often only write the minor ones if someone is giving an attitude which suggests that a warning is not sufficient to get the message across. I don't see this as a double standard, and it doesn't at all imply that I don't expect (and demand) that my fellow officers are not criminals! Put simply, don't assume that I would protect my fellow officer from anything that I couldn't also cut you a break on!
I realize, like anyone else does, that a few cases have come to light where cops have done the wrong thing. The same can be said for doctors, lawyers, teachers, members of the military, city council members, construction contractors, mortgage brokers, etc. It can (and does) happen in every profession. But, the cases where LE has looked bad (ie: New Orleans) seem to grab all of the attention, and are often painted in a light which would suggest that "we" are "all" that way!
This is a gun forum, yet topics against LE seem to routinely pop up for no other reason except to stir controversy and/or demand that the government be severely reduced or eliminated (
when was the last time we saw someone post a story expressing their outrage at a teacher who was molesting a student? Even though this bothers most of us, this forum doesn't appear to be the spot for it... thus, it isn't discussed). But, any bad story about LE gets hammered to death on here, even if it has not relevance to the gun topic. Likewise, we get threads started about "Why you should never talk to the police" (as explained by a liberal defense attorney). Or, the ACLU's video on how not to talk to the police so that you don't get caught smoking pot.... etc.
I didn't come to this forum to read stories that accuse the LE community of being crooked. I came here to discuss topics related to my recreational shooting hobby. But, I do chime in from time-to-time when I think that the accusations are being unfairly thrown around.