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Comment by bediger4000 | Hacker News Reader

Worth a read, but quite infuriating: "Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?"

I sincerely hope that the vast majority of law enforcement DOES NOT HOLD an authoritarian view like that. That's just "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" from dragnet surveillance, DUI checkpoints, and stop-and-frisk, but phrased slightly differently. In short, it's a distinctly un-American and anti-Constitutional viewpoint. "Cooperate with me, I have a gun" - distinctly not a rule-of-law ethos, but more of a might-makes-right ethos, and ethos that should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

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Did you read the whole article? I realize that the two sentences you quote are in there, and taken by themselves, they can be viewed as infuriating. But his overall point is quite different.

What he's saying is more like "You're not going to win the physical confrontation, so don't try to start one, and don't act like you're going to." That's pretty good advice. And he advocates going ahead and suing the police if they are in the wrong, and videotaping them, and and and... He's not just holding an authoritarian view.

I did the entire article. I realize that he wrote sentences that contradict with "Do what I say because I have a gun", but they seemed tangential, almost as if edited in later. So no, despite your interpretation, which I agree with (not going to win the physical confrontation), I think his basic viewpoint is very un-American, and demands a subservience that would only rest well on a subject, but not a citizen.

There's a huge systematic bias in favor of law enforcement in the US justice system. I can't count on suing later and getting any relief. Therefore, I believe it's dangerous to me to have most or all law enforcement holding a viewpoint like this.

I think his background (17 years on LAPD and Prof. of Homeland Security) is representative that officers with authoritarian views are more likely to succeed. The LAPD was notorious for abuse and racial profiling during his tenure, yet he offers no expertise on the racial issues that compound the civilian behavior he laments.

Were we to take his message with a grain of salt, police officers never abuse their power without being antagonized first. So don't antagonize them.

"I withstood... outright challenges to my authority."

This grated on me

| "Cooperate with me, I have a gun"

And so do I.

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