by Matthew Cooke | MatthewCooke.com
The feeling many citizens have when they see a cop is paranoia. Am I going to get in trouble? This is not an unfounded feeling.
The US has the largest prison population on the planet. This is not because Americans are somehow more evil than other people on Earth.
The NY Times writes:
“Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.“
We have such sweeping laws that the Wall St Journal quoted a prominent lawyer as saying the average American commits 3 felonies a day without even knowing it.
Even if you don’t break the law you’re in danger.
The Innocence Project estimates easily 40,000 to over 100,000 innocent people have been wrongfully arrested, and convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.
That is a scary statistic.
Further, citizens are becoming aware of the ever-present conflict of interest called policing for profit. Once you become aware of it, policing for profit is everywhere you look, from using sweeping traffic violations for profit, fines for failing to enroll in the right trash collection service, to the highly controversial practice of asset forfeiture where an officer can seize your cash, cars, real estate, and any other property – even if you’re never convicted or even charged with a crime, it starts to look very suspiciously like public safety and well being is not always the motivation for police work.
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