SNIP The only fair way to judge someone is by their character and the merit of their actions. It is dangerous and certainly harder than using the adversarial approach. I do not throw caution to the wind, but I hate being judged because of a profession.
Where does fair come into it? Rational, yes. Based on facts, yes. Fairness--no. This isn't a game where one side receiving unfairness from a referee will be at a disadvantage or lose the game.
Unfortunately, an OCer may not find out until its too late that the cop confronting him is a bad cop. A few of us can still remember the video or audio of the two cops who stopped (Danbus?). They were oh-so polite and almost friendly to him, but back at the car one said to the other, "There has
got to be something we can get him for." The smart cops know they need a contact's voluntary statements in order to convert from a consensual encounter to reasonable suspicion for a detention, or from reasonable suspicion to probable cause. The polite cops are potentionally the most dangerous to liberty and checkbook because you won't know they're bad until its too late.
And, as long as the Blue Wall of Silence is maintained, I can't really tell who the good cops and bad cops are without getting to know them personally. But,
somebody is covering up for the problems in the industry, or doing too little/nothing to correct them. Lets take a couple real-life examples.
Just a few years ago, NYPD was caught detaining numerous males in certain boroughs. The numbers were astounding. Even more astounding was the number of detentions converted to arrests. Lots and lots and lots of detentions--many, many fewer arrests. The conclusion is inescapeable: people were being detained without reasonable suspicion. The analysis made it into the press. NYPD officially denied it for months. Finally, one single solitarty individual lieutenant came forward and verified what the rest of the department officially denied. Just one lieutenant. Not several. Not nine street cops writing anonymous letters to the editor. Just exactly and only one cop out of thousands. (NYPD has something like 10K cops).
Just within the last couple years, the harassment of citizen's recording cops doing their official duties finally made it into the press. The internet helped spread the information. Its died down a bit since two federal circuit courts issued decisions saying the 1A protects recording cops doing official duties. But, during the period it was current news--say across nine months--only one cop wrote a blog essay supporting the citizens. Just one.
In early 2007 or 2008 some cops from a certain northern VA department harassed several (5-6) OCers at a restaurant. It was verified through FOIA requests that every single cop on the shift (7-8) was at the restaurant. The OCers wrote several complaints about rights violations at the restaurant. The department investigated and chief issued a letter detailing the findings. Everything the OCers reported happening at the restaurant was denied. Not one single cop on the shift told the truth about what happened at the restaurant. The department did apologize for some embarrassing e-mails written later that evening and the next day between the cops involved--the emails couldn't be denied. But, not one single cop present told the truth about what they did at the restaurant. Moreover, the e-mails heavily indicated the frame of mind of the cops, and some of the cops' explanations about what occurred at the restaurant were facially absurd. Yet, the commanders connected with the internal investigation chose to overlook those details. So, seven or eight beat cops and at least two commanders and the chief were involved in that coverup.
The good cops can complain about being painted with a broad brush, but they bring it on themselves by tolerating or even supporting the bad ones with silence. Its not the citizens who are tarnishing the good cops--we're just relating facts and supportable conclusions. Its the bad cops who tarnish the good ones. And, its the actively and passively silent cops who are allowing their own tarnishing.