Bad Cops

When I first heard about these arrests on Channel 8, here in Dallas, and saw the police video, I was so angry I could hardly see straight. It’s precisely this sort of police activity that gives cops a bad name. The fact that these cops can be clearly heard saying that they are looking for a “pretext stop”, i.e., stopping people for minor traffic infractions that cops only enforce when they want to pull someone over, is utterly disgusting. Watch the video that shows one of the female cops grinning and laughing about the situation, like it’s just a big game to them. That can only be described as the arrogance of power.
I suggest that the legislature act immediately on this problem, and prohibit the police from arresting anyone for a violation that could not carry jail time as a penalty. (In essence, this means prohibiting police arrest for any violation of law, other than a Class B misdemeanor or higher.) I also suggest that the legislature make it illegal for police to engage in so-called “pretext stops”, where the intent of the officer is to use a minor traffic violation as justification for a traffic stop, so that he can fish for more serious crimes (usually some sort of drug possession).