nuc65
Activist Member
I used to think this, too. But, lately I've been wondering.
Rhetorical questions coming. Is it really wise to condone lying in a profession with such power? Is it perhaps too easy for little lies to turn into bigger and bigger lies? Does history not already show that government cannot be trusted to not keep moving the line? Are we really to believe that cops are the only element of government--of mankind, even--to not find themselves one day telling impermissible lies, and then graduating to more and more unacceptable levels of lying?
I read recently where civil asset forfeiture was being heavily abused. Police departments seizing property on mere accusation (by the cops themselves) and using the proceeds to fund budgets. It was almost predictable that some cops would start seizing stuff and keeping it for themselves or selling it and pocketing the money personally. The one naturally follows the other, no? When property may be seized unfairly without due process (trial and conviction), does it not seem likely that for a certain percentage of cops it is just a small step to seizing and keeping it personally?
I'm really starting to wonder about the wisdom of permissible deception.
The old morality question: "if we allow ourselves to stoop to their level, are we any better then them?" I disagree because the line becomes too blurred. The kings men would add a little "pocket" tax to the general kings tax and this in part has helped to fuel many rebellions over the years. Is it any wonder that people come to dislike the police if they are perceived to be no better than the criminals they are charged with catching. There was a time when to serve and protect had meaning, somewhere after the cops became servants 'to' the government and sometime before they were allowed to lie 'in the interest of justice.' IMHO