What it Takes to Avoid a Police Beatdown

[H]ere is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you.

~ Sunil Dutta

He calls it cooperation; I call it submission. Prof Dutta claims that it would be easier for everyone (translation: easier for the police) if we simply did as we were told and didn't ask questions. Don't assert our rights and certainly don't ask for an explanation as to why the officer is making his request. If we need to take it to that level we can do so after the fact, because if we do it during the interaction we may be seen as a threat, and they have the power to utilize deadly force if they believe us to be a threat.

I believe this is a mentality shared by the overwhelming majority of police, but also is very applicable to anyone in a position of authority (e.g. politicians). They believe that because we have entrusted them with the law that they are the law. Any challenge to their authority is taken as a direct threat and they will respond accordingly. Watch how a cop reacts to a driver asserting his rights at a DUI checkpoint.

Listen to Nancy Pelosi dismissing as frivolous a question regarding the Constitutional authority for ObamaCare.

These are just 2 examples of many of people in authority looking down with scorn upon the unwashed masses that pay them to lord over us.

We should hold the Law Enforcement Community to a higher standard of conduct and not accept that we must submit ourselves to their whim to get it. Hopefully the tragedy in Ferguson will serve as the spark for such a movement.