OP-ED: Should We Just Follow Orders? Rules of Engagement for Resisting the Police State

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Should-We-Just-Follow-Orde-by-John-Whitehead-Criminal_Freedoms_Justice_Justice-Delayed-141008-737.html

OpEdNews Op Eds 10/8/2014 at 13:19:11

By John Whitehead (about the author)

The perils of resisting the police state grow more costly with each passing day, especially if you hope to escape with your life and property intact. The thing you must remember is that we've entered an age of militarized police in which we're no longer viewed as civilians but as enemy combatants.

Indeed, anything short of compliance will now get you charged with any of the growing number of contempt charges (ranging from resisting arrest and interference to disorderly conduct, obstruction, and failure to obey a police order) that get trotted out anytime a citizen voices discontent with the government or challenges or even questions the authority of the powers that be--and that's the best case scenario. The worst case scenario involves getting probed, poked, pinched, tasered, tackled, searched, seized, stripped, manhandled, arrested, shot, or killed.

So what can you really do when you find yourself at the mercy of law enforcement officers who have almost absolute discretion to decide who is a threat, what constitutes resistance, and how harshly they can deal with the citizens they were appointed to "serve and protect"? In other words, what are the rules of engagement when it comes to interacting with the police?

If you want to play it safe, comply and do whatever a police officer tells you to do. Don't talk back. Don't threaten. And don't walk away. In other words, don't do anything that even hints at resistance.

Keep in mind, however, that this is not a fail-safe plan, especially not in an age where police officers tend to shoot first and ask questions later, oftentimes based only on their highly subjective "feeling" of being threatened.

FULL story at link.

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. Whenever bushes show up, authoritarianism follows.

Thanks for posting.

[daleanime]

2. K&R....