It might not be, depending on the country you are in.
In the country and more importantly to me, the city I live in, it is not a good idea. In my country, you can unknowingly do something that makes an officer nervous and he could potentially kill you. And that is somehow your own fault. So the simple approach is to simply go along with what they say. What other choice do I really have at the time they're making the arrest? I see what happens when you resist. It never ends well for the civilian.
I agree. We need major reforms to policing in the US and I don't think it's just a racism problem either. That's a part of it but just their procedures and how they go about their job is what I think creates some of the escalations we see on video all the time now. It is clear to me that some officers are not experts on how to handle unstable or potentially dangerous people when their go-to solution is to pull their gun.
As imperfect and fallible our justice systems might be, they are (more or less) designed to prevent injustice. That's the whole idea behind having a justice system at all... with all the courts and juries and evidence and witnesses and defenses.
But where does it start, and where does it end? "An officer" is also just a human... and we have enough examples of, erm, "fallible" police officers.
So you should obey an officer's every order, because he is justified to give you that order? Why grant this absolute power to policemen, but not the rest of the judical system? The persecutor is also justified to demand you being sentenced, the judge is justified to sentence you to anything he thinks is ok... why hold a trial at all?
The police officer is the first one I deal with in that long chain and the only with a direct threat to my life. If I know I've done nothing wrong then I have no choice but to put my faith in the justice system. But I have to make it alive to my trial first. That's why the officer gets this power.
To demand that one should follow a police officer's order without "resistence" (and asking questions can already be counted as "resisting arrest") requires an absolute trust in the righteousness of the police and the justice system in total.
No, it requires the understanding that if you don't follow along, you could have a grown man legally slam you onto the ground and push your face into the pavement while he twists your arms to put you in cuffs. Even asking questions depending on your tone and as well as other circumstances could get you in a lot of trouble with the police.
I basically treat police like I would a dangerous, wild animal. Avoid at all costs and when you can't, don't upset them.
Experience has show that such a trust is not justified... the very existence of the felony of "resisting arrest" is a reason not to trust the judicial system.
Like I said, it's not that I trust them, though in a way, I sort of do trust that they are only doing their job. I simply realize that resisting arrest is a fight I will never win. It never works out for the person doing the resisting. You square up with a police officer, you will lose, 100% of the time.
I just don't get Americans. A people full of proponents of armed-to-the-teeth resistence against tyranny... combined with a wide-spread demand for submission to tyranny.
We all saw what that resistance to tyranny looks like in Dallas. Very few Americans actually want that, despite what some of us might say we need our guns for.
