Hopefully Duin and the O will not get the same treatment..... I was actually kinda shocked that the O would actually print something so critical of "Portland's finest".

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf?/base/news/1237857905239420.xml&coll=7

Now you know why I left Phx. Great place to visit, DON'T live there.

This comment relates to the bike light story in the Oregonian; not to the phoenix blogger story.

The portland police are out of control. I believe this is the consensus among those of us who have had encounters with needlessly hostile, aggressive, and supercilious portland cops. Hopefully it will become the consensus of a majority of informed voting citizens.

The state has a monopoly on the legitimate exercise of violence.(Weber). The monopoly is granted because the state's exercise of violence is legitimate. The only way legitimacy can be achieved is by officer self-restraint. By failing to exercise this restraint, the portland police use violence illegitimately.

I doubt we could elect a Multnomah County Sheriff who would do anything to address the problem. I don't know if the Portland Police chief is elected or appointed.

If you'll concede that the police frequently use violence illegitimately, and that reform from within is impossible, you might agree that our best option is to redefine "crimes" like riding a bike without a light as violations instead of misdemeanors. Legislatures can define misdemeanors and vest officers with the discretion to arrest for their violation. Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, 532 U.S. 318 (2001).

Just a suggestion. And my unsolicited complaint.

It's unfair to assume that all police are irrational, violent bullies. It's also smart.

After reading countless stories of abusive, out of control cops, I realized that I have come to view police officers as big dogs. And I know it sounds funny to say that I don't mean that in a bad way (I like dogs a lot -- it's not an insult ...).

The way I mean it is that, when I'm out and about and I have an encounter with a big dog I don't know, I'm very careful and very aware that I might be dealing with a well-armed, athlete with a grudge who can be irrational and lightning fast, and who is pretty impervious to reason, and who may be totally focused on establishing dominance and may see aggression in any action that doesn't resemble submission.

Sadly, this seems to be how you have to view cops you don't know. We've simultaneously ratcheted up the levels of random violence -- the chances that the cops will encounter a well-armed maniac -- and the level of stupid infractions that cops are supposed to stop you for (which is where they are likely to run into those well-armed maniacs). So we basically stress the crap out of these guys with countless little stops.

I want a new deal: let's take some of the stress off everyone by getting cops out of traffic enforcement entirely. Let's make all traffic violations just that, violations, and make traffic enforcement part of DOT's job, using technology and unarmed folks. If someone is using the car as a weapon, then and only then would police get involved because you're no longer in doubt that the person is violent towards others. But all the safety things (taillights, etc.) -- no police role, period. You got a tailight out, the DOT guy snaps a picture and you get the citation in the mail.