That is the problem. You are assuming milcious intent on the part of the officer and allowing for no other option. That colors every opinion on this. When the good cops see people like you ready to hang them for small mistakes, it is no wonder they tend to be protective of their fellow officers and fall into CYA mode. As far as they are concerned, they won't get a fair hearing from you.
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IF, in the beginning, bad cops were not protected by the rest, and good cops were taking the line that weeding out the bad ones sa soon as possible was good for everybody, then I doubt we would be seeing the battle lines we in fact have today.
I do not care a fig about unions, union contracts, and making sure that a dues-paying member never loses out in order to convince the others to keep paying dues. That's not the point.
Society has ceded, and cops have accepted, the role of law-enforcer. But the laws are not being enforced equally* Folks are not happy about that.
stay safe.
* I said "equally", not "equitably" - because if equity were brought into play the penalties given law-enforcers for breaking the law would be arsher than for the rest of us.
I know there are times that the cops need/want to arrive quickly without announcing their arrival to the whole neighborhood and thus travel above the speed limit without using lights and/or siren. But when I see s cop blow past me at 70+ in a 40MPH zone, only to catch up to him two minutes later at the 7-11 where he is buying a Lotto ticket, how am I supposed to feel?