I don't know what bothers me more, what the officer did in the video, or how a lot of you folks want to lump the rest of us in with him.
I'm new to law enforcement, 3 years served. But I'm not new to life, approaching 40 years old. Even in my young and dumb days, I didn't lump all cops together. There are bad ones, that is certain, but there are good ones too, of which is equally certain. In my opinion, you and you alone, are responsible for your actions, and you and you alone are accountable for them. Just because that asshat in the video isn't a good cop doesn't mean all of us aren't.
I live in Illinois, we don't have licensed/permit CC. We don't recognize any other state's permits. You know how many people I've arrested for carrying in my state from another state with a current CCP? None. None have even received a ticket. Yet, they all could have, instead, they were informed, which is something they should have done themselves beforehand, about Illinois law, and how to legally transport their firearm through the state. Yet, I don't make the news for the way I handle CCW permit holders.
Maybe I should change to fit the general perception of you folks. Or maybe I'll keep doing what I'm doing, and one day pull one of you naysayers over, and change your perception in a good way. We all aren't bad, some of us try really hard to do a job that is held in a negative light due to idiots like Harless, or whatever his name is.
You know, a lot of posts in this thread could be flipped by those of us in law enforcement. Think about it, as much as some of you think all of us are criminals and idiots, the same can be said about the general public. And we get to deal with the absolute worst of you daily, whereas you might never deal with the worst of us. But most of law enforcement believes there is good out there, and good folks, and we try our best to treat those fairly and equally. And in return, we get lumped in with the knuckleheads who do their best to make us all look bad.
For what it's worth, I'm glad I get to wear a class B BDU style pant, the extra pockets come in handy.
Off my soapbox now, flame away.
edited to add..
Harless needs to lose his job and certification. What he did, and said, was inexcuseable. I agree that he committed assault, and I agree with those who think he lost it due to his and his partner's mistakes made during this stop. They screwed the pooch on this one, and should be held responsible to the utmost of Ohio law, both civilly and criminally.