"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops
This story from 2000 offers clear insight on why we have so many problems with police today. They often lack the intelligence to operate as peace officers once did, such as using people skills instead of swat teams and making independent judgments about the situations and people they encountered. They lack knowledge and understanding of the nation's fundamental governing principles and the rights of the people. And, worse, they lack the intellect to understand why respecting and protecting those rights is as important to them as it is to the people.
The fee and fine harvesting arm of the State has no desire for officers that think. They're running the old-timers, the peace officers, out. In their place, they are placing law enforcers not intelligent enough for critical thinking and without the intellectual curiosity to question behaviors that are clearly, on their face, unconstitutional and abusive, like searching cellphones without a warrant, shooting family dogs, arresting and taking an 83 year-old woman to jail because her grass was too long, and so on. They are revenue producers and they get that money however they have to, whether they have to lie, steal, intimidate, brutalize or even kill. They enforce the will of the State, they don't give a damn about protecting and maintaining a community’s people or peace.
Know what a peace officer does about an 83-year old woman whose grass is too long? He damn sure doesn't arrest her, no matter what the local city council's or home owners association's stupid, Nazi law says. In a small town, he goes and cuts it himself on his day off or pays a kid in the neighborhood, probably one he's been trying to keep out of real trouble, to take care of it on a regular basis. In a bit bigger town, he reaches out to a contact at a local church or agency that serves the elderly community and gets her some help with her yard work. I personally know police officers like this.
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