Police officers are supposed to be *professionals*. One shouldn’t verbally abuse them (or anyone) but by the same token they should know how to bear it without becoming violent or abusing their powers. The problem with Gates wasn’t entirely race, it’s the violent authoritarian police culture that says talking back to a cop is “disturbing the peace” and worthy of an arrest.

Not all orders are lawful orders. In the absence of probable cause, a demand to look in your trunk is an unlawful order.

“I’d add something else interesting that I’ve noticed in all of these threads. A lot of police want the right to carry a gun, and they want to be empowered by the state to arrest and kill. But they also want to pawn off as much responsibility, or risk, that comes from that power as possible. Indeed, what this officer wants is for the people who he’s supposed to be protecting to assume the risk.”

“And you, if in asserting your constitutional right to be free from unlawful search and seizure fail to do as the officer asks, run the risk of having such holes placed in your own”

which seems to state that i could be shot because i dont cooperate and do whatever the officer asks. It is my constitutional right to not follow an officers request as it is his right to arrest me for exercising that right, but to say i could be shot for it makes it seem like i should throw out that aforementioned right out the window once a cop stops me.