Fuck the police

Yesterday I saw the new Harry Potter movie, but this isn't going to be about that. No, I think I'll talk about the cop that almost hit me and my friends in a car, then threatened to physically assault me. Yes, I do believe that is what's on my mind. I want to preface this first. For my general opinion of police I draw on my personal experience as well as that of my friends. I can say that I myself have never met a cop, out being a cop, who could also qualify as a good person. At the very best i have met a cop who was ignorant of his job. At the worst I have seen them be abusive. First example. I had a friend who, in high school or there about, was a volunteer fire fighter. One day while on his bicycle he was pulled over by a cop. This wasn't just any cop. This officer had been my D.A.R.E. officer. This is the guy who works with kids all day long. And this is what he did. He had my friend get off his bike and walk to the car. He was then questioned for... burglary? Yes. Finally, his scanner was confiscated. He was told that if he wanted it back then he'd have to go to the police station. 1) It was for his job as a fire fighter. 2) It is completely legal in this state to use a scanner as long as it's not in furtherance of a crime. A cop should know that since they are supposed to enforce the law. How about that time when I was taking pictures. I was still at college. I set up a tripod on the front porch area of my dorm and was taking some medium length exposures at night. There was a new building going up across the street and I thought there were some good shots to be taken. The main stairwell was still exposed, the bottom of the building looked like it had an exhaust pipe. Lots of glass. It was neat. So I'm out there, snapping away and an officer comes strolling up the street. He walks over to me and asks what I'm doing. I tell him I'm taking pictures of the construction site. Now, here's the thing. I have read up quit a bit on photography law. I know that if I can see it from public property and there's no expectation of privacy I can take the shot. 90% of the time, if there's a person in the shot (or it's of a person) this doesn't matter. Selling it later, if there are recognizable people, is another matter. But of buildings and land and whatnot I was golden. The only issue would have been that the dorm isn't public property. Worst case, I would move 5 feet closer to the construction site and set up on the sidewalk. So, the cop asks some questions about what I was doing. He says that I probably shouldn't be taking pictures of that building. I tell him that I can and there's no reason that I shouldn't be able to. He looks at me oddly and asks me my name and where I live. I tell him, then point over my shoulder at my dorm. I give him my room number and check his spelling of my name. Then he tells me again that he doesn't think I should be taking these pictures. I say it's fine, really. The cop then says that I should stop and he'll get around to asking about it next time he's at the station and get back to me. Until then I should stop taking pictures. i say OK, pick up my camera and collapse my tripod. He walks away. As soon as he's around the corner I set up shop again and keep snapping. Some people might wonder if that was smart, actively ignoring a policeman's instructions like that. I think it's the only responsible thing to do when the officer in question admits that he isn't clear on the law he's enforcing and says that I should suspend my rights until he gets back to me. For the record, he never got back to me. So, yesterday I was riding along in the back seat of my friend's car. We're in the left lane. She needs to get to the right to make a right turn. Being a responsible driver, she looks in her rear view and sees a black Cadillac sedan right on her tail. Dangerously close. She puts on her signal and as soon as she does it swerves into the right lane and blocks her. It backs off a bit and she gets over. While she's changing lanes it swerves again, this time into the left lane once more. It guns past her and I put my hand up and casually flip the middle finger. The car seems to slow down for a moment, then jumps forward and cuts her off. Suddenly, it slams on its brakes, forcing her to slow down. He then lurches back into the left lane (nearly hitting a car that was coming up in the empty lane) and slams his breaks again to get next to her. He rolls down his window and screams that we should to, possibly to expose ourselves to the spray of spittle he's frothing out in rage. My friend is worried at this point. I'm curious and roll down my window. Keep in mind, we roll up to a red light, us in the right turning lane, him in the left lane to go straight. The exchange went like this: Cop: What the fuck do you think you're doing? Why the fuck are you giving the finger? At this point I see that he's a cop because of his jacket. His car is unmarked and possibly not even a cop car. But he has the satin/polyester jacket with the flag on the shoulder so I should have known he was a cop when he was behind us... Also, he had a name tattooed across the knuckles on his right hand. My friends in the front seat think it was Todd. Me: You nearly hit us and then tried to cut us off on the right. Cop: Do you know who the fuck I am? Do you know who the fuck you're giving the finger to?! Me: You nearly hit us... Cop: You better fucking watch it. Know who you give the finger to before someone pulls out your fucking long hair. Me: What? He then guns his engine and speeds through the red light, across two lanes of traffic and makes the right turn in front of us. To punctuate this move the car behind us honks for us to make a right turn on red; a legal move but by no means mandatory. We look at him and see that he is making for the Turnpike. It's a single lane entrance ramp. There's a red car already on the ramp when this cop speeds up to the entrance. He then tries to pass the guy on the left (on a one lane ramp) before he disappears around the corner. When we get back to my apartment the passenger from the front seat calls the number to report aggressive drivers and gives a location and description of the car as well as an abridged report on his behavior. And I don't think he mentioned that it was a cop in an unmarked car... My point? Maybe it's that cops are highly uneducated when it comes to the laws that they are supposed to insure are followed, instead erring on the side of paranoia, knee-jerk reactions and whatever makes them feel better. Maybe it's that police applications should have a much more stringent standard for psychological profiling so not everyone who was a bully in junior high and then was insulted because people didn't think they were awesome in high school simply on the grounds that their car was loud gets to be an officer and carry a gun to replace their self esteem. Or maybe it's that if you're in the area and you see a big black Cadillac sedan with a suspiciously large antenna on the back swerving around and nearly hitting cars as it speeds by, give him the finger. Because he probably deserves it more than you know.