puffgeezer
Premier Member
Registered on
Apr-19-2002
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Message #174718 posted by puffgeezer (Info) May 08, 2008 18:45:21 ET
In Reply to: Re: Philly beatings posted by Damndrugtest (Info) May 08, 2008 16:02:41 ET
DDT,
The reality is that the police hand out punishment every day in a variety of ways. If they think it'll do some good, they'll smack a guy around, throw him to the ground, put on the handcuffs too tight, cite him for a burnt out taillight, conduct a nuisance search of his car, etc. And it probably makes the world a better place and keeps the courts less crowded than they already are. But the Philly gang-like beatings were over the line.
Would I like to see the police beat up truly bad guys? Sure. The bind is that the police get to decide who the bad guys are. Back in the 60s, I witnessed up close the police clubbing the bloody heads of "bad guys" who were engaging in a sit down protest of the Viet Nam war. A lot of mainstream people hated these protesters and thought "they had it coming". Give the police full latitude to punish bad guys and someday when we express an unpopular political view we may become the bad guy.
Puff
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