I've run into a lot of cops that are little more than bullys with badges, or just plain ignorant bigots. And if you give them the chewing out they royally deserve, they'll slap you in handcuffs and charge you with verbal assault. So much for freedom of speech.

 

agreed. ive got a story

my friends and i were standing on a corner waiting for the walk light to turn on. there were 6 pigs right there. they were saying "leave now!! leave immediately!!" i said "i am, were waiting on the walk light." "get the **** out of here!!!" "we are!! were waiting on the light to turn white so we can walk across." they cuffed us, questioned us for an hour!!! just for waiting for the 'its a good time to walk' signal.

 

A large portion of cops are on the job because they like to have authority over other people. Some are good, some are bad; I grew up with people I would have sworn would be in prison by the time they were 20 that became cops. They are the ones who would be criminals if they weren't cops, they like to live outside the law. Some were bullies growing up, some were the victims of bullies but dammit, now they have a badge and you will respect them. Some simply see themselves as true public servants, here to protect and serve; sadly, they don't seem to be the overwhelming majority.

My last encounter; last year, 4 of us were riding waverunners up around Tampa Bay. We were in a staggered line, all following the guy in front. The 3rd guy in line hit something in the water, and took a BAD spill. Unconsious in the water, we had to pull him to shore, call for rescue, and flew him to a trauma center. I stayed with him and assisted until we put him on the helicopter (I'm a trauma nurse), talked to the deputies who showed up in the boats, told them what happened. First guy was cool, assisted us, thanked me for my help when it was over. The other guy, I'm trying to tell the paramedics that I think my friend had a spinal contusion (turned out he did, took him 4 months before he could walk again), interrupted me and started asking things like, "what, were you racing?". I looked at him like he was an idiot and told him "Look, I'm 41 years old, and I'm the youngest guy out here; we were NOT a bunch of kids hot-******* around". Later on, he was threatening to confiscate our skis for "suspicion of reckless riding" or something like that. He actually went and bullied my friend while he was in the hospital, neck in a collar, barely able to move his arms and legs and scared he might never be able to pick his own nose again; said he knew we were racing each other. That's when his wife threw him out of the hospital room and lodged a complaint.

Later on that night I got pulled over on the way back home because my trailer lights weren't working. The trooper was nice, didn't hassle me, talked about the fact that salt water is hell on trailer lights, and just told me I needed to strap a flashlight on the back of my ski until I got home, then I needed to fix it before I went anywhere again. Too bad guys like that are the exception, not the rule.

Of course, my ex-wife is a cop, I might be biased.