Police as abuser—public as enabler

[J’raxis 270145]

An excellent comparison from a discussion about Boston's warrantless gun search program, that I saw over on Fark.com:—

Other comparisons have been no more favorable.

"The community doesn't want this," Lisa Thurau-Gray, managing director of the Juvenile Justice Center at Suffolk University Law School, said at the meeting. She likened the police persistence to a sexual aggressor who refuses to stop assaulting a victim despite her pleas. "What part of no don't they understand?" she said.

Outstanding quote in bold. That is exactly what they're like. Precisely. Probably driven by the same kind of hateful motivations even.

What's worse though is that many people in the public are the opposite side of that coin, in that they act like the enabling wife of an abusive husband when it comes to cops.

Enabling Battered Spouse: "But, he means well. He's really a good person at heart. He didn't mean to hurt me, I had it coming really, if you look at it."

Enabling Useful Idiot: "But, the police mean well. They're really decent people at heart. They don't mean to harm us, they're just trying to protect us, and if we had nothing to hide it wouldn't matter, if you look at it."

As somebody else said, if a quivering little parent suspects their kid has an illicit gun, they are capable of picking up the phone and calling the cops to do a search. The door to door thing is blatant intimidation.