"I dont like the militarization of police forces."
"What do you mean?"
Officers used to not go around dressed in combat fatigues and combat boots. Now they do. Many see themselves as "enforcers" and not "protectors." Yes, there are good police officers. There are also bad ones. I've encountered both. I had a motorcycle cop pull me over in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, back in 1996. I was driving the speed limit (cruise control) and I overtook him. That officer was in the right lane, I was in the left, returning home to Mississippi. The man was doing about 60MPH. I was doing 70, which was the speed limit. I'm no fool and I never overtake officers faster than the limit, but I'll be darned if I'm going to slow down unless they are working an accident or have somebody else pulled over.
I overtake him and continue on my way. Suddenly, blue lights in my rear-view mirror. He pulls me over and I ask, quite honestly, what the problem was. The officer angrily tells me that I disrespected him by passing him!!! I told him I was not speeding and meant no disrespect but was driving through town, but he got madder. So, I apologized and used a bunch of yes sirs and no sirs. Had I kept to my rights, he might have arrested me, or worse. But he had the gall to pull me over for doing nothing wrong.
In my own town, I dealt with the "new guys" our new chief brought, and they were nothing but bullies with badges. Some of them didn't even wear uniform shirts any more, choosing to wear police t-shirts with printed badges. But they wore their black BDU pants with bloused combat boots. They're mostly gone because of misconduct and the chief was unceremoniously fired (his name was Kinslow).
On the flip side, a friend of mine is a state trooper and he is a giant of a man. But he doesn't buy into the combat attire and is a great person. The former police chief of our town was a really decent fellow who didn't lord his power.
