Now first of all, the article here may be biased, we may not know all that happened, etc. so I'm mostly reacting to other people's reactions and how I think the police should behave.
Now, if you went digging I'm sure you could find incidents like these in most countries, I'm sure you could find one happening in my country, although I can't think of one. But those are one off situations, human error or just a stupid individual.
I know there are different cultural rules people go by in different countries, and in general I think people should definitely make the effort to follow those rules when they are visiting another country. But in this instance I think it's an absurd idea to assume that the police assume you're a violent criminal about to open fire just because they stop you at a border crossing or pull you over for speeding a bit. It's different, of course, if the person is known to be a dangerous criminal or produces a weapon.
Recently my brother-in-law got pulled over for speeding. Did he reach for his licence and registration that were in the glove compartment before the cop asked him to do so? Well, sort of, he told my brother to do it, who was sitting next to him. According to some comments on here it would seem that this would have been cause for the cop to effectively shoot him, had this happened in the US. The thing is, my brother-in-law is a decorated police detective, he knew what he was doing.
There was an incident some time ago over here where some dude backed their car from a sidewalk onto a busy street in the city centre, in front of a cop car. The cop car decided to follow the guy and when the guy did an illegal u-turn, they decided to pull him over. When the guy stopped his car, one of the officers got out of the car, which is when this dude began backing his car, effectively attempting to run over the officer. The officer smashed the car's window with a flashlight, didn't open fire, and as the guy chose to escape, the police promptly chose to chase the guy. They were critisized for their high-speed chase, as they could've just let the guy drive away, as they had his license plate and could've just followed up on him instead of taking part in a dangerous chase within the city centre.
I know there are good cops and bad cops, so to speak, in every police force but I think everyone should work towards a healthy, trusting relationship between the police and the general populace. I see no other way; any other kind of relationship, whether based on fear or anger or whatever, is doomed to lead to more fear and anger and in the worst case something resembling a police state.
Exactly. Being a cop is a tough job, not only because you have to face dangerous situations, but because you have to be very careful not abuse your power.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Now, if you went digging I'm sure you could find incidents like these in most countries, I'm sure you could find one happening in my country, although I can't think of one. But those are one off situations, human error or just a stupid individual.
I know there are different cultural rules people go by in different countries, and in general I think people should definitely make the effort to follow those rules when they are visiting another country. But in this instance I think it's an absurd idea to assume that the police assume you're a violent criminal about to open fire just because they stop you at a border crossing or pull you over for speeding a bit. It's different, of course, if the person is known to be a dangerous criminal or produces a weapon.
Recently my brother-in-law got pulled over for speeding. Did he reach for his licence and registration that were in the glove compartment before the cop asked him to do so? Well, sort of, he told my brother to do it, who was sitting next to him. According to some comments on here it would seem that this would have been cause for the cop to effectively shoot him, had this happened in the US. The thing is, my brother-in-law is a decorated police detective, he knew what he was doing.
There was an incident some time ago over here where some dude backed their car from a sidewalk onto a busy street in the city centre, in front of a cop car. The cop car decided to follow the guy and when the guy did an illegal u-turn, they decided to pull him over. When the guy stopped his car, one of the officers got out of the car, which is when this dude began backing his car, effectively attempting to run over the officer. The officer smashed the car's window with a flashlight, didn't open fire, and as the guy chose to escape, the police promptly chose to chase the guy. They were critisized for their high-speed chase, as they could've just let the guy drive away, as they had his license plate and could've just followed up on him instead of taking part in a dangerous chase within the city centre.
I know there are good cops and bad cops, so to speak, in every police force but I think everyone should work towards a healthy, trusting relationship between the police and the general populace. I see no other way; any other kind of relationship, whether based on fear or anger or whatever, is doomed to lead to more fear and anger and in the worst case something resembling a police state.