Belkira the Tulip wrote:
zepoodle wrote:
I thought that went without saying.
Edit: What I mean is that all cops do that. It's like, eighty percent of what cops do. Presumably, it was what Crowley tried first with Gates, but I guess it didn't work. That was what I meant when I said
Me wrote:
It just so happens that when Bob Random is telling Joe Cop to go @#%^ himself and he refuses to shut up, then the best possible option in regards to keeping the peace is to temporarily arrest Bob Random
If someone's dead set on starting a fight with a policeman and doesn't back down or react to mediation, then arrest is the last option. That's not entirely what I think happened here. The responsibility for the whole shebang here lies heavily with Crowley for overreacting to Gate's behaviour. The point I was getting across is that the cop certainly can't fight back in the situation. He's expected to be nice when other people are rude.
So why did he arrest him? Wouldn't have just climbing back into his police car and driving away kept the peace? Especially when it was decided that no law was broken?
If you read what I actually said: I don't think Crowley should have acted the way he did in that situation. He could quite easily have driven away and the peace would have been preserved. I think he overreacted. I don't know how many times I have to say it, but I think
both parties share the blame here. Gates overreacted in arguing with the cop, and the cop overreacted in arresting Gates. It's a case of mutual overreaction.
Police don't arrest people as their first recourse when dealing with angry people. It's inefficient and troublesome. I was just trying to explain to Pensive that they
can do so if they absolutely have to, and that this is part of a policeman's job and in no way violates a citizen's basic rights to free speech.
Edit: I've actually got six pints in me right now, so if anything I said made no sense, just shout out and I'll repeat it when I'm sober-er.
Edited, Jul 31st 2009 3:01pm by zepoodle