Friday, November 11, 2005

Law enforcement problems in Merry Olde England, too

I'm still stewing about the lastest information about the OKC Bombing coverup, and today the Gun Guy linked to this and this about conditions between police and citazens(or is it still 'subjects of the Crown'?) in Britain. It seems like lots of bureaucrats and politicians(with and without badges) are doing all they can to make relations between the cops and commoners as bad as possible.

A couple of years ago at a gun show I heard a couple of guys talking about the new uniforms some agency was going to. They'd decided to go from dry-clean only wool to a cotton/poly that could be washed(good) in a dark color. What color? Dark green or blue or something? Hell no, it had to be black. One of the guys was recounting telling a local officer that that cost them his respect; his words were something like "there's enough idiots in black uniforms and masks running around without you adding to it". And I see his point; the uniform does affect attitude in all too many cases, on both sides. We've got enough trouble with the militarization of law enforcement without adding to it. How many cases have we heard of in the last decade or so where, on an anonymous tip or just bad information, the local tactical team blew into someone's house in a no-knock raid and killed some innocent? And then nothing happened to them because 'they followed proper procedure'? Do these idiots think that this crap doesn't affect how people deal with them? How about the pull someone over on a traffic stop and then pressure them for 'consent' to search? And making someone sit by the side of the road for however long while waiting for a drug dog becuase the cop is mad that the driver won't be intimidated into 'consenting'? That does NOT leave members of the public with any great willingness to cooperate with the next badge-holder that they come in contact with.

The crap in England and the frenzied attempts of the feds to cover up their screwups in the OKC Bombing case are related: "We need to be able to do whatever we want whenever we want and not be held accountable; how else can we do our jobs?" How many people reading about this crap, especially family & friends of the dead and wounded, have any great desire to trust the FBI and ATF?

And why should they?

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