Threatened With Arrest for Asking a Cop For His Name

Sunday night there was a police roadblock on Blackstone Ave in Fresno, CA during a large cruise. The traffic is heavy and often times is congested. The police rarely let it carry on past midnight and most nights set up a roadblock between 10pm – 11pm to discourage anyone participating in the cruise from continuing.

I started making my way to the actual roadblock when I came across an officer who was blocking the entrance to a residential neighborhood. I asked him why he was parked there and who he was. Instead of acting polite and answering my question, he was bitter and unprofessional. When I asked him for his name, he threatened to arrest me if I didn’t keep moving. I hadn’t committed any crime and was tempted to push my luck but spending the first night back, in jail didn’t sound too appealing to me.

If being threatened with arrest, regardless of the fact that the officer may have been bluffing in an attempt to be left alone, doesn’t speak volumes to the authority complex that those who make up the ranks of your local police force suffer from. What exactly would it take to convince you?

In no other field of employment, including other government agencies, except the enforcement class is asking for the name of the person you are speaking with met with such a volatile response and why would it be?

Unless you are ashamed of your job or feel that you have done something wrong or have something to hide, there should be no reason a public servant would refuse to identify themselves?

Isn’t that part of being a public servant? Being known as someone who others can rely on for help. If I am supposed to be able to rely on you for help, why is it that when I ask for your name you threaten to drag me to a cage?

The police, unlike the employees of your favorite business, have no incentive to provide quality customer service or meet the needs of their constituency. They are paid with money extorted-or taken by force- from the very people they claim to protect and they will continue to receive this payment wether they provide a service or not.

Believe it or not the police have no obligation to protect you. The protection service that they have monopolized is not even a service that they are obligated to protect. Having a standing law enforcement class in the current one size fits all cookie cutter pattern that is currently provided is not only inefficient but prevents the market from providing a service that is desperately needed.

Threatened With Arrest for Asking a Cop For His Name is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights

Source: http://www.copblock.org/156575/threatened-with-arrest-for-asking-a-cop-his-name/