McKinney, Texas Police Video

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(06-09-2015, 10:25 PM)Devils Advocate Wrote: It would appear some most would believe LEO's have an all encompassing authority of which they have no such thing. They can't arrest you for mouthing off. The city of Houston attempted passed a law outlawing 'mouthing off to officers' which has long been held not an arrest able offense alone.
As long as you're not interfering they can't tell you to do much of anything.

It could be argued that the few persons that attempted to come to the girls aide were well within their rights to do so. An illegal arrest is an assault and battery and it could be argued that the officers who witnessed this event are aiding or at least failed to uphold their duty for not interfering with the rogue officer or coming to the aide of the non physical threat juvenile female in a swimsuit, and should themselves be placed on leave at minimum. If a parent can't handle their own children in this manner, neither should LEO's be allowed.

Source

So the point is it is not illegal to be an asshole. That is certainly true. I suppose that means it is not illegal to be a cop and be an asshole. I mean, if an officer is being cursed and has no authority to arrest you for that but does have the authority to arrest you for criminal trespass (yes the kids were in public but had been removed from private property where they trespassed and only left when police arrived) and he chooses instead to curse back, isn't that also ok? If it isn't ok to arrest a citizen for mouthing off to a cop it seems it would not be ok for a citizen to make a (cue Gomer Pyle's voice) "citizen's arrest" of an officer for running his mouth at people.

As far as how kids were handled in the video, whatever happened to all those black parents who have given "the talk" to their kids about how to interact with police? I thought the talk said to obey commands, not make sudden movements, not raise your voice, and cooperate completely. It would seem the new talk is to ignore commands, feint and charge at officers, shout at them, and offer no cooperation.

Whether you think cops have authority they don't have or you think they are all vile spineless and powerless creatures who are a stain on humanity, what makes more sense? Being deferential or being defiant?