re: Cops are Heros and they protect us.

I assume that you read my experience I posted in this thread. In my 44 years, that was the ONE encounter with a LEO that was bad.....very bad. I have had several driving related encounters where the officers were professional and polite. I appreciate what you do for work and to earn a living. My respect for a LEO is no different than my respect for an electrician, plumber, physician, teacher, etc.. who does their job professionally. Respect is earned and like in any profession, there are those who do not earn respect ,yet, demand it anyway. The mad man who accosted me did not deserve my respect but received it anyway because I knew it was in my best interest to not incite him to do something even crazier than what he was already doing. If my plumber, or say the manager of a store feels disrespected by me than we have several options. We can even fight if it came to that. However, if you are unfortunate enough to encounter one of these abusive, power tripping type of cops and you know you have done nothing wrong or illegal .....and you as much as question the harassment, their is no diversity of solutions. His anger at your lack of respect typically results in physical harm to you and trumped up charges. Now, granted, I know this happens in a very, very low % of stops and it is done by a very, very low % of cops. But it does happen and I have no doubt that you know this and might have actually seen it at some point in your career.

I guess the question is how can the LE profession do a better job of making sure that the people wearing the badge and carrying the gun is mentally equipped to do the job? To insure that a meathead just wanting a license to "bust heads" is kept far away from this position of authority?