If you go 5 mph over the speed limit thecop has a right to stop you and write you a ticket. You aren't really trying to equate a minor traffic offense with a criminal act if theft are you?
A minor traffic violation is equivalent to minor theft. Both are crimes. Both are against the law. Both are misdemeanors. Both are addressed by police a million times per day. In both cases, if the cops have all of your information, they simply write you a ticket.
Proportionality is often determined by the perpetrator not the cops. The perpetrator escalates and the cops respond.
You are dreaming. Proportionality is determined by the officer, the officer chooses to respond. The officer has the gun and the badge and can make whatever decision he wants. When the officer exercises good judgement based on the situation (i.e. his life is endanger, the magnitude of the crime/situation fits the response, etc) then I will stand by the officer. But when the cop does NOT exercise good judgement, I will call him out on it.
If you resist you deserve to have force used against you.
Depends on the level of resistance and the crime and the situation. If you touch a cop with your pinky then technically you have assaulted said cop. If you punch a cop in the face then technically you have assault said cop. Both are not equivalent actions.
My argument is paint by numbers simple. What I am demanding is common sense and good judgement. Officers are supposed to be trained professionals. Any testosterone fueled frat boy with a baseball bat can enforce the law as you see it-- that is, walk around and thump anyone who gets out of line... What I demand is some critical thinking and good judgement
What's fundamentally broken is logic like yours which wants to allow criminals to either get away with minor crime or reisist arrest and the cops can't do anything about it.
No where did I argue the above. If you commit a misdemeanor and the cop has your information or is easily able to obtain your information then said misdemeanor should rarely if ever constitute the use of force against you. The cop should simply write you a ticket.
I am very consistent in that argument, I argue this point all the time. I feel a sense of justice and have a basic sense of ethics. Are there exceptions to this? Sure, of course this is situationally dependent but for the most part it should hold. And for the most part cops do what I advocate.
What's your answer? Someone steals a candy bar and the cop tries to stop him and the person refuses. What the cop to do?
Write a ticket.
The school can send the kid home.
Look, physical violence should be treated as a serious matter. On many occasions physical violence by police officers have resulted in the actual death of the citizen. This has occurred over minor "misdemeanors". My point is that physical violence is serious and using serious measures over trivial offenses makes no mathematical sense. It doesn't add up. And as the citizenry we should not be okay with it.
All I am arguing is for proportionality, the punishment and law enforcement measures should fit the crime. That is all I'm arguing for. No where am I arguing for cops to let someone "get away with it" as you keep trying to misrepresent my argument...
