Maybe it's just a start of semester thing. Meanwhile, here's an interesting posted at Unfogged on police-kid interactions. Frankly, your constitutional rights don't mean much when you're out on the street and any reviewing court gets a he-said, he-said narrative. Everyone in the clinics says matter-of-factly that cops lie in court all of the time and that they do so with impunity, like it's part of the job. Is it a reaction to the constitutional limits on the head-busting many cops (and civilians) believe is the only way to get through to young toughs? Is it the "thin blue line" that make police officers sometimes behave in a manner disturbingly like the gangs they fight? Does it come from the orders of superiors? Is the cops vs. rights dynamic too intractable to bother asking?
As a white guy who doesn't dress like the classic troublemaker, you could say that it isn't my problem. The worst trouble I've ever been in with the cops is a couple of speeding tickets and running out the back door of a few particularly house parties in college. Still, I feel like I'm just one snide remark or misunderstood gesture away from getting my ass kicked.
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