Then address them with someone, such as the mayor or chief. They're the ones who set the policy, and many of the things they (the cops) have to do, is a directive from the higher ups, because of the citizen complaints.
MJS -- first, as to how I'd handle a person who is resisting. I imagine it would depend entirely on the specific circumstances at the time. I have not denied that the use of force can be justified given particular circumstances. There is, however, no one specific answer to such a hypothetical precisely because the totality of circumstance can not be known. I would ultimately hope, however, that I would not exceed my authority nor unnecessarily risk damage to the person I was attempting to restrain.
That said, when was the last time such complaints were listened to from a minority community and action taken on them?
Like you, such officials immediately jump to the belief that any complaints are exaggerations, biased, and invalid based on the people making them. After all, if they didn't deserve to be treated however they were treated, they wouldn't have, and they were only treated within the bounds of policy, because to admit otherwise would be to admit that such officials were being derelict in their duties.
Major cities receive upwards of tens of thousands of complaints each year, and on a typical year, only a few hundred are investigated. Except for the most egregious abuses, the worst that a cop can expect is a minor administrative punishment, when the same actions by a civilian would result in prosecution and parole, if not prison.
What good are complains when the police simply are not held to the standard of the law?
How many folks have seen police fly down the streets sirens blaring to get back to their car to clock out? Or just hit the lights to blow through a yellow or red when they didn't want to obey the traffic laws. Yet dare to drive 3 miles over the speed limit in front of that same officer.
The assumption is always that the other guy was wrong. Always.
Out of high school I joined the army, mainly for the GI Bill so I could afford to go to school. I hung around a bit as I liked it. I received nothing but the highest reviews, was promoted regularly, and by all accounts was an excellent soldier.
I am very polite, I always say 'Sir' or 'Ma'am' no matter who I'm addressing (strict Baptist upbringing more than the military on that one). I always look the person I'm speaking with directly in the eye. I am never anything but respectful when speaking to anyone in person. (I realize my writing style is terse and is often mis-construed as rude. But that reading does not adequately reflect my personality).
Yet, I have never once had a pleasant interaction with the police, from the time I was a kid until this day. Over a period of nearly 50 years and the only times I've met with the police, under any circumstances, it's been at best unpleasantly distasteful, and at worst a small dose of hell. Why?
I must be a total scumbag right? I mean being a young guy in a nice car near my parent's home means I must be suspect. After all, no one there can be expected to be successful, so I must be guilty of something.
Or maybe being a kid on a stoop at the wrong time. Obviously I must have been involved, right? No kid in town could possibly just be sitting reading. After all, people like me don't read.
Or, go to a high quality school in the right parts of this county, and immediately one is a suspect if you're not one of the good ol' boys.
I know why I'm being stopped, and it has nothing what-so-ever with any valid reason. But hey, I'm wrong 'cause if only I wasn't what the cops were looking for I'd be fine. Well, that is simply not true.
Now, I recognize that there are good cops out there. I recognize that they are the majority. But I also recognize that the bad cops are more numerous than the police would like us to believe, and I recognize that they do more damage than the average person realizes. Precisely because the average person is shielded from the reasons cops become abusive in the first place -- which leads them to develop certain prejudices and frustrations that such bad cops take out on those who in any-way represent the sources of those issues.
But the only solution to the problem is that the rest of the police force stop making excuses and start taking action. When the police unions stop protecting the bad cops and start demanding vigorous investigations and equal treatment under the law, then the problem will diminish. But until then, it won't go away because the only people who can make it go away have their jobs tied, at least in part, to denying that real problems exist.
