I think "reasonable suspicion" is a silly standard. Probable Cause seems more in keeping with the constitution.
I have reasonable suspicion that any given police officer has drugs on his person, as they are known to regularly confiscate them. Therefore, by that standard, I have the legal right to detain, and handcuff, any police officer I see in uniform.
Somehow, I suspect attempts to do so would quickly end my life.
I recognize no greater authority in cops than in citizens. There are no special rights granted by the constitution, nor any state constitutions to police officers. Remember, they did not exist when these constitutions were written (except with the possible exception of some of the last states to join).
The idea that police have special authority over citizens is contrary to the founding principles of this country. It is an endorsement of tyranny, that I think very few people can see.
It is an example of the error behind much of the failure of this country to achieve what it was supposed to achieve. Or to hold onto what we were meant to have. (EG: Liberty instead of tyranny.)
In every area of society... when government takes over a job that is really the responsibility of citizens to look after, the government subsidizes and creates a welfare system. Police, Fire protection, social services, are all examples of this. Welfare is replacing private charity with government welfare. Police is replacing private policing with public supply of that service. When private agencies do these things they are accountable to their customers, their competitors, and to the people they interact with (in the case of, say, a private fire suppression agency-- if they damage a neighbors house needlessly they are liable, and so they will tend to treat the neighbors house with respect while putting out a fire in yours.) When the state takes over, the state has no economic incentive to do a good job-- they are not liable for errors. At the same time, the buro-crats increase their power by increasing the area of coverage and responsiblity. Which decreases the individuals rights to choose who to supply this service for them.
In other words, just as the government does not supply our food, and provides a very poor service in its postal monopoly, its train monpoly, and its regulation of the airlines and electric services. With police, firefighting and other government services private agencies would do a better job.
This is not without precident-- originally police forces were volunteer organizations --- literally private charities. OR they were corporations like Wells Fargo and the Pinkertons. When they were done by non-government entities, they were held accountable.
But as they were taken over by governments, and authority accrued to buro-crats in the interests of power, they have necessarily become more tyrannical. Its the economic nature of socialism (And the state taking over this service, is just like nationalizing the post office or any other industry-- its state control over what should be a private enterprise.)
This is also why so many police are against the second ammendment-- private ownership of guns threatens their jobs. (though many are smart enough to see the error in this position.) This is exactly why the police chiefs are against the second ammendment, though, as thier jobs are directly threatened, and they are not on the line dealing with people who are being victimized.
This is not an anti-cop screed-- it is an attempt to show the economic argument for why events like this are going to come more and more frequently. And if there are any cops reading this who think I think they should be out of a job-- they are in error. I think they should work for companies that provide them better benefits, better working conditions, and that value them because without them they would not be able to provide the quality of service that they want-- a quality of service that is a lot closer to what you dreamed being a policeman would be like before becomming one.
And just as baseball batts and cars being freely availible has not resulted in demolition derbies on the freeways and constant fighting with baseball batts in bars.... private police agencies would not cause inter-agency shootouts!
It used to be the police were local, in the neighborhood, and extremely polite. It was a much better time to be a policeman, and a much better time to live near them.
I think the quote in my sig sums it up nicely.
Don
PS- please forgive the typos, fast typing. Edited to fix some.
