As a weird person who grew up in the USA (and eventually left for just this reason), I can attest to the accuracy of this analysis.
I even wrote about it recently: https://sneak.berlin/20200628/the-problem-with-police-in-ame...
I even wrote about it recently: https://sneak.berlin/20200628/the-problem-with-police-in-ame...
Police do in fact exist to enforce the law. It really is that simple.
I've had two illegal stops in the past year because in one I took a swig from a soda bottle going by a speed trap and the cop wanted to see if it was alcohol. The other, a cop in an unmarked car tried to run me out of my lane to follow a speeder.
Some years ago I had to deal with a small town gumshoe in Indiana who had staked out an intersection of IN route 55. This was late at night in pitch black darkness. Indiana highway signs look like speed limit signs from a distance and IN55 in particular is hard to distinguish from the 55MPH speed limit signs. The local cops know this and abuse their power to make illegal stops.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.2361263,-87.2433936,3a,75y,1...
Indiana requires signals 200 ft from an intersection in rural areas rather than the normal 100 ft. The county couldn't be bothered to have an advance sign for the intersection so I didn't know when to signal for the turn. He and I were the only two people on the road but clearly I was a major threat to public safety.
Police exist to "keep the peace." The question is whose peace are they keeping. Well I suppose the reaction of police at the Jan. 6 insurrection vs that of the BLM protests tells us a little. Or the union busting police did in the past. Or blocking the polls for minorities.
But it absolutely isn't "that simple."
They shot a woman in the neck. What’s the difference you’re trying to portray?