There was just one car and a couple of cops. You're right, though. They were definitely of the Keystone variety.

was my response when the cops were going door to door in Boston, looking for some left wing desperado in the 70s.

They always just went away.

However, yes, ask questions. And hope they're not doing one of those obviously unconstitutional "no knock" warrants where they wreck your house before they realize they're two streets from where they ought to be.

instead of breaking it down. I'd have reacted differently had they done that, for sure. But, they didn't, so I was annoyed and amused at the same time, so I just sent them on their way.

They were just going through student neighborhoods on a whim after a bank robbery by a bunch of self appointed left wing revolutionaries resulted in the death of the guard.

They avoided going where those idiots were more likely to be hiding, the tougher, mostly black neighborhoods. White kids were easier to push around, I guess.

I am viewed as a cop defender on some recent threads. All I like to point out is the facts, usually most of them are missing from the news stories posted.

The situation you described does not give me a lot of confidence in that city's police force. (Although I have known a few St. Paul cops who would agree that some on their force are not the brightest bulbs in the light fixture.)

I do read the newspaper, though, and it's clear that everyone's encounters are not the same. The two who came to my door were clearly not the brightest bulbs in the St. Paul Police chandelier. Maybe that's why they were out serving non-felony warrants.

I didn't mention their 3-point turn so they could go after the fleeing miscreant. It turned into a 5-point turn. By the time they were going in the right direction, that person could have been in the next city. Laurel & Hardy time, it was.

serving misdemeanor warrants.

I read recently that either Hennepin or Ramsey County, I can't remember which, are now making an effort to clear out hundreds of past due warrants for various non-violent crimes. They encouraged people to turn themselves in. I wonder how that's working out?

I remember back in January 1992 Hennepin County and the Minneapolis PD sent invitations to those with outstanding warrants to some event where they could pick up free tickets to some Super Bowl event. Apparently, they got several hundred morons with that ruse.

I would still have explained that they were at the wrong house.

You're lucky they didn't shoot your dog or you.

Especially cute little tail wagging doggies.

their guns drawn. I was not concerned. They weren't bright, but they were just cops at the wrong address. I did not feel threatened by them at any time. Amused and annoyed, but not threatened.

One thing's for sure, though: I wouldn't have called them "pigs." That would be unbright of me. I'm betting that you wouldn't either. It's easy to do that on DU. Less easy when you're talking face to face with people in uniforms with badges and guns.

Non custodial parent. She decided just to keep the kids after a visit. Father sent cops over. Cops talked to her thru window. She never opened door. They left without kids. I think she eventually sent them back to father.

Evidently it is okay to shoot anyone who has anything in their hands.

because it will have a very direct bearing on your chances of being knocked to the ground or killed.

Just saying.

There are hundreds of thousands of interactions between cops and citizens of every color, gender everyday. Almost none of them result in someone being killed or knocked to the ground. How ridiculous.

...about baby dinosaurs on Noah's ark?

TYY

TYY

and legally limit their lawful interactions with citizen.

Nullification of a lot more arrests wouldn't hurt either.

Defang the fuckers and break them. Build departments of peace keepers instead.

The ones that can make nice targets for gunfir from your avewrgae criminal or street gang.

Look, cops are out of control, but that does not mean that violent criminals that have no complusion about killing is some fairytale. "peace" departments will serve as nothign more than bodies to stack.

Not running speed traps, not harassing folks based on "hunches", not searching for reasons to allow themselves to bother the peaceable, nor ceasing to push vice (probably 80% or better of "law enforcement&quot is going to stack any bodies and will greatly reduce the need for showdowns with violent criminals with enough to lose or gain to be in said showdown.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

and other gangs that are paramiltiary in nature, and have no problems spreading gunfire about neighborhoods.

not Police departments.

Damn, throw out the baby with the bathwater! That will solve everything.

systemic. Departments need sanctions or to be turned over, top down.

Oversight from where? Politicians looking to appear "tough on crime" and friends of law enforcement, judges on the graft for private prison populations or padding conviction records?

Punishment for those who never face any charges protected by their Blue Wall or when they do gets thrown out or whittled down even or a dumb as jury let's them off because "their job is dangerous and difficult) in many the worst cases?

and never, ever talk to the cops without an attorney present, cops are not your friends, they may act like it, but they most definitely are not if you are a target of theirs.

"You call this living? " was my response to the cops in the 70s....

I'm sure you understand that, right?

Not to mention the fact that a "no knock warrant" would have meant you never got the knoc.

You might come out of your home office to find a gun pointed at your head or worse, a flash grenade blows out your door or eardrums or kills your dog.

One of those experiences put a bad taste in my mouth about small town cops, but the other two experiences were routine and the male cop handled himself well in both cases. The best, by far, cop-at-the-door experience was as follows:

I was up late at night on the internet with my headphones on fairly loud. I was totally immersed in my music and what I was doing, so I paid no attention to what was happening outside my apartment. This was about five years ago.

Around midnight a loud knock came on my door, which startled me. I answered the door to see a county deputy sheriff standing there. He asked me if I had heard anything in the last few hours. I replied no, that I had had my headphones on. He looked a bit puzzled, but believed me. He thanked me and I bid him good-night.

Next morning there was yellow crime scene tape out in the apartment courtyard. I looked online and someone had been shot in a drug deal gone bad. That really shocked me, because my complex was in a "good part of town". My overall point is, had he been a bad cop, he could have hassled me and not believed what I said. After all, the crime scene was maybe 10 yards from my front door.

It helps that I was a middle aged white guy.