I am very PRO-LEO. I have several family members and close friends who are LEOs, and as long as they follow the Rule of Law in the prosecution of their duties, I will support them, as I do ALL LEOs who act within the law, and are actually focused on upholding the law.
When the newspapers start running stories about the LEOs that are out there supporting our Constitutional Rights, keeping the peace in a lawful manner, and being compassionate public servants, I will gladly post links to them.
I know they are out there--Good cops are, in fact, the MAJORITY of LEOs in most jurisdictions (with a few isolated exceptions, where corruption and malfeasance is systemic). The trouble is that GOOD cops don't make for good headlines, so there aren't many news stories out there in that vein...
Since the most serious problems OCers seem to have is with LEOs, and their misunderstanding of (or willful twisting of) the law, I think it is particularly important for people to be aware of the level of corruption and propensity toward brutality in their local areas, so they can be aware of what to expect.
If people know that their local jurisdiction has a propensity toward excessive use of force, or falsifying reports, or trumped up charges, or planting evidence, or being involved in outright illegal activities, or having higher-than-normal incidents of civil rights violations or unjustified shootings, then OCers will be better prepared--mentally, legally, and conversationally--to deal with the prevailing attitudes and conventions of their local LEAs.
For instance, considering what I know about Philadelphia--even though I have a PA LTCF, and know the laws of PA pretty well--I would be loathe to OC in Philly without at least two "witnesses", a few recording devices and a good PA lawyer on speed dial in my cell phone...
Paranoid? No, I call it being well-prepared...
Most jurisdictions are VERY open to OC. But the ones that aren't tend to be jurisdictions that also display disturbing trends with regards to general civil rights violations, corruption, misconduct, and color-of-law abuses.
We, as OCers (and hence ACTIVISTS, whether we admit it or not) will be targeted in such jurisdictions, because we represent a threat to the "monopoly of power" that is enjoyed by such corrupt agencies. It is our DUTY to be informed, prepared, and intellectually capable of dealing with this sort of persecution, and one way to do that is to be fully aware of the overall attitudes of local LEAs toward the Rule of Law.
LEAs that tolerate (or in some cases, actively engage in) unlawful behavior tend to be problematic for lawful OCers. We deserve to know which agencies are more likely to be problematic for us, and one way to do that is to keep informed on the crime trends inside departments all over the country.
I'm not a cop-basher. I'm a CRIMINAL basher. When an LEO crosses that line and commits illegal acts under color of law, his badge ceases to be legitimate, and he is just another criminal, IMO. So when I report about LEOs who are caught dealing drugs, killing children with flash-bang grenades during no-knock warrants, shooting family pets during botched raids on the wrong house, or other illegal, irresponsible, or immoral activities, I'm NOT bashing cops. I'm reporting on criminals who just happened to sneak through the system and are now wearing badges.
Those are two VERY different things...
