@Oceander
@sinkspur
I got pulled over last week for the first time in about 20 years. The cop was acting erratic before he even saw me. Apparently this middle aged overweight white guy (me) was a huge threat because he was extremely jumpy and his female partner watched me like a hawk. Even after I advised I was a permit holder (proving I am law abiding) he was still one wrong move from shooting me. It was very scary.
Thankfully I have never been in that position, but one thing that becomes clear with resources like youtube, where people can post videos they took inthe heat of action, is that there are a lot of cops out there who simply don't have adequate training for how to handle themselves when the adrenaline starts going. There are, of course, a lot of cops who are good people, too, and who don't lose their cool; who do have adequate training. But like a rotten apple in the barrel, a few untrustworthy cops can ruin the reputation of an entire police force because there is simply no way to know ahead of time - before things happen - whether the cop you're dealing with will lose his cool, and nothing good comes from learning the answer after the fact, so the only rational reaction given those facts is to simply not trust any cop until and unless you know him or her well enough to gauge whether he/she is a risk.
