Since I have been told by police officers that they were trained with the expectation that they were to adhere to a higher standard of conduct than what the ordinary citizen needs to as a part of duty, I consider your opinion to be status quo with that police officers are currently trained to do, if not part of everyday practice. I do agree with you on this point, status quo or not.
However, I do think you give too much benefit of the doubt that the officer has an emergency when they are taking liberties with traffic laws. Citizens may be too quick to state it is unnecessary, but I think (and neither of us have proof) that far more of these incidents are nonemergencies than you are giving responsibility for. Considering the percentage that I have seen from point of liberty to destination, the majority are clearly non-emergency situations, and the police were not called to the location. Your area may be different, and I applaud your officers and management for a better standard than exists here.
I actually not only read the thread about the IL law regarding secret compartments, but I was an active participant. It was a complete defense of status quo saying that the legislature, police, and courts did exactly what should be done, even though the wording has considerable excess latitude in it. I saw no criticism or plan for improvement stated by you for the law or anyone involved in the process of it in any of your statements. This is a poor example of stating that you have forwarded ideas based on bettering the justice system. It actually proves my point of a wholesale defense of whatever procedure is implemented by the police.
I'm not saying I drive to the law all the time, as a good number of traffic laws are ridiculous. However, as you said before, cops should be held to a higher standard than they enforce.
I agree that the police have the responsibility to protect the public. However, this does not mean that the protection should be at the sole discretion of the police. I am not saying that public opinion is the only guiding force. You are polarizing my statements into black and white, which is not how the world or my philosophy works. However, if there is widespread dissatisfaction with a behavior, it is time to create a new one which isn't as offensive to the public while retaining the ability to protect. Also, if you think these dissatisfactions are only small minorities, you are sadly mistaken. I hear these opinions far and wide across demographics and interests. Maybe they never get to the ears of the police, or they are dismissed at that level as a small minority, but the traffic liberties dissatisfaction isn't limited to small minorities.
"Current procedure works" is about the worst excuse I know of for not seeking improvement. I am not for change for the sake of change, never have been. However, just because a procedure works well does not mean a procedure cannot be made which works better. That is what I expect of myself and others, a vision for making things better than just just defending and explaining the current procedures.
You may be a citizen just like the next Joe. However, we all see the world through lenses. No matter where you are, on duty or not, you are still seeing through lenses tinted by being a police officer. You are asking us to try looking at the world through the tint of a police officer, I am asking you to try looking at the world through the tint of a non-police officer.
