You’re not wrong, Walter officer, you’re just an asshole.
And Christ, what an asshole he is.
Officer Presumptuous Breath, with his smirking “That’s a yes.” needs to have a Frisbee shoved where the sun doesn’t shine.
Yea, eff that cop, and good job staying cool when the pig-trap was set.
Looks like Iowa has some very sensible laws.
If we use similar reasoning to the cop in the video, every cop is a douchebag interested in tricking people into self incrimination so he can overreact to a non crime and waste a bunch of tax money destroying people’s lives.
Glad he asserted his rights, good job. But the faux civility on both sides always makes my skin crawl. I mean, I get it: the cop is pretending to be friendly because social manipulation is a good way to get civilians in trouble. But why do the civilians always play along?
It’s obviously an act: “I want to shake your hand?” When else does that kid ever ask to shake someone’s hand? “Thank you very much, officer?” for what, writing me a ticket and attempting to lock me up? The kid clearly doesn’t like, respect or trust the cops, and the cop knows that. So why the act?
It’s reminiscent of soviet or fascist states, where civilians have to make a performance of supporting and agreeing with their own subjugation. The authorities know that civilians aren’t sincere in their obeisance, but they insist on it anyway. I think it’s because it still sends a message: “even though I hate you and have no allegiance to you, I am scared enough of your power that I will do this ridiculous thing. Not even because you asked me to explicitly, but because your power is so strong it makes me want to, just to be safe.”
That kind of performance is what keeps us from seeing that each other are actually brave and strong enough to stand up against oppression, and that we’d be supported if we made the first move.
It might have something to do with the fact the kid has seen a shitload of videos where people performing any resistance are then shot to death.
Anytime you can shake a cop’s hand means you know they’re not reaching for their gun. You’ve got to keep their hands in sight at all times these days.
This actually is refreshing!
Maybe Chief Mikulec is one of those good cops I keep hearing about.
Was the officer punished or demoted or just given some paid time off and not actually held responsible?
I mean, I apologize for my children’s poor behavior when it happens but the simple act of my apology doesn’t mean they won’t do it again.
Tsk tsk. The officer wouldn’t even shake the driver’s hand.
The young guy had the courtesy to grin and act polite while the officer tried hard to manipulate him into waiving his rights, and self incriminate.
It’s only common courtesy to shake his hand after he so willingly played along.
“Golly, police officers are so cool with people smoking weed here. Such friendly conversationalists! Wait, why is he asking me out of my vehicle? What’s going on?”
Is this how the cop really thought it was going to go in that kid’s head?
Agreed! 
That was why I included the condition “Maybe” in my supposition that Chief Mikulec is a good cop. It’s a possibility, but far from a certainty.
The words “foolish” and “did not meet the level of professionalism” are pretty strong language for this sort of statement, which I take as hopeful sign.
But even if Officer Presumptuous Breath was actually disciplined for his conduct, I doubt we would ever hear about it, since it’s a “personnel matter.”
Now if/when the rules change so that cops who are sanctioned don’t get to keep their discipline records hidden from the public, that would be a huge step toward the transparency we need.
I’m not even talking about resistance, I’m talking about not actively playing along with the lie that this is a polite and civil interaction. What’s happening here is that one person is trying to kidnap another and throw him in a cage. And yet the interaction is carried out like it was a dinner party.
Like I said, I get it. I’m scared sometimes too. But let’s remember that there are plenty of instances of people being pleasant and still getting hurt. And there are instances of people being frank and open about their disrespect for the cops and living to tell the tale. I think it’s more about the story we draw from all these instances. I wish it was one about bravery and principle, rather than fear and having to toady to stay safe - even if that may be the grim reality for many.
And to his credit, this kid did say directly “I don’t trust cops”, which is pretty brave.
If the cop had been asked “Have you ever been disciplined for your actions as a police officer?”, I’m guessing the answer would be “I’m not going to answer that.” Apparently in cop-speak that means “yes”.
What if it had gone the other way? What if the kid had said just the one wrong thing, not actually self-incriminating, but kinda sounds like it? To say nothing of the wrong sudden move.
Might be a real different video.
Clearly the whole interaction started going badly early on, when the driver refused to answer the officer’s question, “Why is it that everybody who plays frisbee golf smokes weed?” Since the driver didn’t explain the reason(s) why it was that he and everyone else who play frisbee golf smoke pot, he was failing to answer the officer’s question. The officer even said he needed him to answer it! Gosh, it’s lucky the driver didn’t get arrested right then and there! /s
Seriously though, it seems the conversation actually went bad when the driver admitted to playing frisbee golf, which apparently was effectively an admission of wrongdoing as far as the officer was concerned, based on that follow-up “question.” Apparently you really do have to watch what you say to cops, as all sorts of innocent statements will get you in trouble.
The proper response would have been
“When did you stop beating your wife?”
I was thinking more, “Ok, I’ll answer your question when you answer mine: Why is it that all police officers are pedophiles?”
US cops are municipal employees whose main job now is to generate revenue from fines extracted from the public.
