The following article compliments of CopBlock.org and their contributors.
Their lives already are deemed, by law, to be more worthy than yours. In most, if not all states, there are
special penal code sections for
assault or battery on an officer, as opposed to assault or battery upon
an ordinary person. Similarly, there are special penal code sections
for
killing police officers.
You know, because writing traffic tickets and busting people for drugs
is so noble a profession that all police officers are clearly a higher
order of human being.
They have a right to kill people as long as they utter a few magic
words – “I feared for my life.” Killings of innocent, harmless people
almost always go unpunished as long as the offending officer claims that
he was scared for his life – no matter how unreasonable, cowardly, or
absurd the circumstances. Even if the victim was a
half-deaf, hobbling, disabled old man.
Although many Americans are still deluded and patriotic enough to
believe that Americans are free, and subject to a somewhat functional
justice system in which people are “innocent until proven guilty,” this
simply isn’t the case. The lives of the powerful and hallowed police,
the foot soldiers of the state, are protected with harsher criminal
laws, and their violent behavior is protected with
qualified immunity.
Because of course, while ordinary people should be personally
accountable for negligence and personal injuries they cause, it would be
simply absurd to hold the same standard to police.
Police, who are supposed to uphold the law and “protect” people, also
have the right to arrest people for absolutely no reason. As it
currently stands, in the vast majority of the states, police have the
legal right to arrest people for no reason.
Don’t even try to guess the reasons for that one – they are all bogus.
“Oh, we have to be exempt from the law to properly execute the law. We
have to arrest you to protect you. We have to break the law to uphold
the law, etc.”
Despite all the very real ways in which police are subject to greater
legal protections, and possess stronger, greater, legal rights, this is
not enough.
There are now legislators who seek to make it illegal to annoy cops.
I’ve often hyperbolically referred to police as “gods” in the past,
since people illogically feel it is justified for police to be subject
to different laws, and maintain greater power than the people they
allegedly serve. Now it hardly seems like hyperbole or exaggeration in
the least.
New York legislators are attempting to make it a felony for an
individual to “annoy, harass, or threaten” a police officer. Offenders
could be imprisoned for up to 4 years. Oh boy, that sounds like a great
idea. I can’t possibly think of any First amendment or due process
concerns there. That law definitely won’t be used by police to imprison,
frame, harass, or silence random people they don’t like.
As justification, the legislators claim, “Police officers all across
this state put their lives on the line every day to protect the
people of New York. New York State must establish laws and toughen
existing laws that protect the police from becoming victims of
criminals. Far too many law enforcement officers are being harassed,
injured, even killed while honoring their commitment to protect
and serve this state…” More
here.
As far as I can tell, injuring and killing police officers in
unjustified situations are already illegal. Thus, the point of this law
cannot possibly be to prevent that from happening, as there are already
laws in place for that purpose. This would the same as saying that a law
against annoying/pestering/harassing women should be passed, because
too many women are being raped and killed. The former simply has nothing
to do with the latter.
Secondly, police officers may put their lives on the line
occasionally. Or everyday. I really don’t give a fuck. But for the most
part, it has little to do with protecting people. They do what they do
for a paycheck, like everyone else. Every day they show up at work, they
tell themselves and each other, “officer safety first.” They do
whatever they are told, whether it be shooting disabled old men,
tasering children and
half deaf women,
beating teenagers for loitering,
shooting Sunday school teachers in parking lots,
shooting firemen in court,
killing parents who smoke weed, stealing peoples’ property to pad their paychecks with
civil asset forfeiture, or a slew of other less-than-noble pursuits.
They do good things sometimes too – fine. There are even cops that do
good things all the time. I get it. But they are not gods. They are not
infallible. They are human like everyone else. They want that paycheck,
like everyone else. They do what their boss tells them, like everyone
else – except when they do taser children and shoot old people, they
don’t get fired, because they have a myriad of laws protecting them, and
your endless taxpayer dollars to fund their endeavors.
So for christ’s sake, stop treating them like gods. If it isn’t
illegal to annoy, pester, or irritate the guy who builds peoples’ homes,
the farmer who feeds people and prevents starvation, and the millions
of other fine folks without whose expertise people literally would not
be alive – then it sure as fuck should not be illegal to annoy the
police.
Also see our own previous coverage at this link:
It May Soon Be a Felony to Annoy a Cop in NY
