Quote:Very bigoted. You would make the perfect racist, not saying that you aren't if that is how you choose to identify. I wouldn't want to offend the PC ultra progressives by negatively demeaning racists.
Not really. Racism is based upon pre-established prejudices. My distrust of police is based upon real-life experience. There's a pretty broad line there. I don't hate someone because they wear a badge, but I don't particularly like or trust them, I assume that their purpose in establishing contact with me is to incriminate me, and I react as such. I'm not one of those Youtube jackholes that stands around filming police stations or taping traffic stops that I have nothing to do with, and I'm not openly hostile to police at all. I'm polite, but firm in my refusal to make conversation with them or surrender any rights.
Even then, I'm not of the assumption that all cops are bad. Late last year, I ran over a piece of scrap metal at 65mph and completely trashed my undercarriage, including dumping about 12-13 gallons of gas onto a side road after getting off the highway. A state trooper responded with the fire department, and he was cool as hell about the whole thing. Under Colorado law, he could have written me a pretty big ticket for hitting something, and another nice, big ticket for damage to the roadway (by dumping a ton of gas on it). I half-jokingly asked how much the ticket was after calming down from the shock of a firefighter commenting on how amazed they were that the car hadn't blown up with me in it based upon where the puncture in the tank was in relation to other damage, and he looked at me like I was nuts and said that there was no way he was writing me a ticket for something completely out of my control. We didn't make a ton of small talk, he didn't try and turn it into an inquisition, just asked me what happened and hung around until the tow truck got there. That was it. See, even I recognize that not all cops are bad.
Contrast that with experiences I've had with state troopers in South Dakota, Kansas, Texas, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. I used to drive around a lot for work, and in each of those states, I've been pulled over for things that someone with in-state plates wouldn't have been touched for. 68 in a 65, 72 in a 70, "weaving in your lane", garbage like that. I've never once been issued a ticket, but every single time I've been told that I look suspicious driving around in my button-down shirt and khakis, asked about whether I use drugs/have drugs in the car, and pressured to allow a search. Please, try and convince me that those cops weren't fishing for a quota-buster.
Quote:How is "If you've got nothing to hide, there is no reason not to let me take a quick look around." A manipulative statement? It's the damn truth.
That statement is not taking away your rights. It is not forcing you to let them voluntarily search your vehicle.
It's an effort to pressure you into waiving your Fourth Amendment rights. You might have nothing to hide, but how do you know that the previous owner of the vehicle hadn't been transporting pot across state lines in it and left a stem or seed underneath a floor mat? How do you know that your idiot friend didn't accidentally leave his little bag of weed underneath a seat? Who do you think the cop is going to arrest in those circumstances? Here's a hint: he's not going to go after the previous owner, and he's not going to waste his time taking you over to your friend's house and asking for a confession.
There are all kinds of reasons to say no to a search, and not all of them involve hiding something.
Quote:People with attitudes like TJBender are a part of the problem.
The attitude he has shown in here is as much or more of the problem as the bad egg cops are.
Forgive me for believing that my Constitutional rights, as well as my basic human rights, trump the "right" of a cop to "mistakenly" kill me.
