Police State

I am a law abiding citizen. I believe in the rule of law. I believe no one is, or should be, above the law. I do everything in my power to know what is legal and to follow the law. I believe most laws are good, and necessary. I believe that if a law is bad, we should still obey the law until we can get it changed.
Having said that, I still think some policeman are bully's. I think some of them take up that profession because they like to push people around.
One of my sons was walking home from Junior High when a policeman going the opposite direction down the road made an illegal u-turn and came careening around to pull up next to my son and his friends. He demanded to know what my son did with the cigarette. My son was confused, as he doesn't smoke. The policeman was yelling at him, "I saw you smoking, I saw the cigarette in your mouth, what did you do with it!" apparently rather out of control. My son finally figured out that he had had a pen in his mouth while he reached in his pocket for something, but by the time the policeman pulled around he had put the pen in the pocket. I would never have known about the incident except that one of the friends reported it to her father, who reported it to the chief of police. They called me to say the officer was under investigation for the incident.
One night another son was driving home with a group of friends when a policeman pulled them over and made them all get out of the car. The driver wanted to know what they had been pulled over for and was told there were deer out that night and the policeman wanted to warn them to drive carefully. Okay. The policeman then made them stick out their tongues and proceeded to tell them that their tongues were green so he knew they had been smoking marijuana. He kept talking to them, harassing them about all sorts of things they had not done until one of them said that they were going to be late for curfew (their family, curfew, not the town curfew). The policeman asked what their curfew was and said he was going to keep them until they were late. At that point, one of the boys whose parents are political activists asked the man's name and badge number. He finally let them go then, without giving his name or badge number.
One evening we (sweet C and I) were sitting on the front porch listening to his ham radio when we heard about a riot at a youth dance at the next town. The police were asking for backup from the closest towns. Our three youngest boys were all at that dance so we went up to get them. When we got there young people were streaming down to the closest store to try and call home, wandering everywhere while they waited for their parents to pick them up. We walked into the crowd to try to find our boys. We found one, and he was steps behind us when a policeman started yelling at him to get out of there, go home, he'd been told to disperse, why was he still there?!!! He replied that he was looking for his little brother, which got more yelling, and then said he was with his parents, and pointed to us. The policeman calmed right down but we had already heard him, all of them, screaming at these kids as if they were criminals. We later heard what had started the riot. Someone in a house nearby had set out a chair for the parade the next day, and one of the kids had picked it up and brought it to the dance to sit on. The woman called the police and they came to find a young man sitting in it. They immediately started bullying him about taking the chair, only, this young man hadn't brought the chair over, he was just sitting in it. He also happened to be a young man with mental problems, he is rather slow, though probably not retarded. When the policeman got into his face and was yelling at him, another boy stepped in and tried to protect the first boy. The policeman yelled at and shoved the second boy, so the kid shoved back. The policeman was twisted around at that point and he went down, twisting his ankle. He came up spraying mace everywhere, and all the kids who got hit started yelling, which made the other two police at the scene jump in and start with the night sticks, as well as call for backup. This was an outdoor dance held in the parking lot of a church. No seating provided, no access to restrooms, or phones. Kids had been dropped of by their parents with instructions that they would be picked up at a certain hour, and after the first few kids came to the only store nearby , the store owners wouldn't let anyone else borrow their telephone. The kids had no way to reach their parents (cell phones were just coming in to fashion, only one or two kids had them) and no way to get home.
One day we got a call from the school. Our son was with the police. He was suspected of stealing a stereo out of a car in the auto shop. When we got down there we found that the police had been questioning him for hours, telling him that the other kids all said he had done it, and that they, (the police) knew he had, as they had proof. They showed us the tape from the shop camera, and sure enough, you can see my son get into the car. And you can see him get right back out again. He was in there all of 3 seconds, not time enough to steal anything. I pointed that out to the police, as well as the fact that he had not left the shop before they arrived, where would he have the stereo? Turns out the kid who fingered my son was the one who took the stereo.
One of my sons got a ticket for obstruction of vision. Since there was nothing obstructing his vision except a little tree shaped piece of cardboard hanging from the mirror, he went to court to talk to the judge. Turned out the policeman was driving past and saw my son flip him the bird. Now, I am ashamed that my son did that, but it isn't against the law. The judge told him so and let him off.
My boys don't think much of policemen.
Yesterday one of my sons came out to find his car had been booted. This car is new, only four months old. Right after he bought the car he got two tickets for parking in front of his house, (no off street parking at his place of residence so he has to park on the street) without a permit. Only, you can't get the permit without proof of registration and it hadn't come yet. When the license came he went to get a permit, but needed the paperwork. They hadn't sent paperwork, only a license. He went to the DMV to get paperwork, but they had suspended his license since they didn't get proof of insurance. When he called the insurance company it turned out that they had sent paperwork, but one number or letter on the VIN didn't match what the DMV had so it was ignored. He got that straightened out, but before the paperwork came he had received two more tickets. Revenue is down so the city has doubled the price of tickets. This young man has been out of work for three months and doesn't have the money to pay the tickets so hadn't done so. Now he has had to pay the last of his savings to pay 4 tickets he never should have gotten and the boot removal fee. $530, but you can't find a job if you don't have a car. Besides, they would have towed the car if he didn't pay it, they have done it before, and then he would have owed even more.
Ever think the government is just out to get you?