Any fact or stats to back up ANYTHING that you just spewed? How about some common sense? Do you really think that cops want to “prey on the average …citizen?” You should go on a ride-along and see the crap that our law enforcement officers have to deal with every single day and then ask yourself if they have the time or energy to do anything BUT focus on criminals. Seriously, go on a ride-along before you lump all law enforcement in with the bad apples.

Cops are trained to interrogate/interview suspects. Police officers are accustomed to dealing with the rottenest, most dysfuntional, and dishonest segment of society, and in their defense, it would seem only natural to develop a hardened distrust of people. However, from my viewpoint it seems as though the Redmond police treat everyone as a suspect until proven not guilty.
The reason I say this is because my teenaged son (who is basically a good kid – i.e., he’s never been in trouble with the law) has had some negative dealings with local police due to the fact that him and his friends have been nearby where an act of crime had been reported.
Apparently a “six-wheeler” had been stolen in that area and over a 25 minute span, while questioning the boys, the police officers tried repeatedly to coerce the boys into admitting that they had indeed stolen the vehicle. One officer kept telling them that they woudln’t be in trouble if in fact they had stolen this “six-wheeler”. They were also told by the officers that they simply needed to know if the vehicle was really stolen – as per a false admission of guilt from the boys would somehow serve this purpose. The boys kept asking the officers what a ‘six-wheeler” was, but of course, their questions were ignored.
I was livid upon hearing this and was poised to make a formal complaint until I was reminded of the time my son was only fifteen and had all but been searched for drugs by a police cadet at our local skate park. This incident stemmed from the fact that my son removed his helmet while skating – which was foolish. The cadet wrote him a warning, which I was grateful for, as my children both have tried to get out of wearing their safety helmets when my husband and I were out of sight. This should have been enough from the cadet as my son was quite intimidated by him and I’m sure was clearly obvious to anyone watching them. However, he started questioning my son about having drugs on his person or in his backpack. My kids have both been homeschooled, and this was the beginning of some new freedom for my son. I’m sure it was obvious to the cadet that my son was terrified and near tears by this timeas well but, he kept pressing my son about drugs and asking him who his friends were, etc.
I called the redmond police department and demanded to speak to the Chief – which I did. He was a total jerk to me and defended the cadet’s actions due to the high volume of problems with dealing drugs at the park. I reasoned with the chief that not everyone who skates there is a crook, and that my child was new to being allowed there unsupervised, and that he was homeschooled – which made it unlikely that he would even know what was happening around him while skating.
Being reminded of this incident, my gut told me not to bother with a complaint about the ‘six-wheeler” incident, as is seems that these officers think that they are doing a great job.
Recently, my son was jumped by two young men one evening while walking home from Wal-mart alone. These men – who were not provoked by any action or word from my son – got out of their car and began shoving my son, asserting that he had yelled obscenities to them. If you knew my son, you’d know that he is a quiet, soft spoken individual. My son is not stupid and would never try to start trouble – as he hates confrontation – especially so since he was alone. At any rate, these two men were unreasonable despite my son’s repeated assertion that he was not interested in fighting or any other sort of trouble. Despite this, he was punched and kicked a couple of times before the two men got back into their car and drove away. My son never tried to throw a punch back, as he said his movements were defensive at best because he was afraid of what might come to him if he really had fought back against the two men outnumbering him.
Of course I was once again livid and wanted to report this to the police, however my son reasoned that it would do no good, as he hadn’t been able to remember the license plate nor notice the make/model of the car that the two men were in. He said to me, “Why bother Mom? They probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
This is the image that the Redmond police have created for themselves. What ever happened to the ideal “To serve and protect”?

I’d say old anon there got nailed with some kiddy porn and is pissed that they won’t give it back.

Where do you live? I find that by obeying the law, I don’t get into much trouble. Last time I had an interaction with a cop was renewing my CHL. They were friendly as can be.

Yup. I am from around here. My son is 18 and still cares what others think – unlike myself, however I choose anonymity because my son would be embarrassed if he knew that people were reading about him. He doesn’t want to be portrayed as a victim. “Better” is a relative term, by the way.

these cops have nothing better to do with their time than to harrass hard working, tax paying citizens. i have seen it nightly, as an employee of an establishment open 24 hours. they will park out of sight and pull people over for no reason, other than leaving a certain business. they will even come in and ask questions about incidents that have nothing to do with my place of employment. i guess being out after midnight automatically makes you a criminal. is it a crime to drive after midnight? i overheard one saying “if youre driving after midnight, youre either drunk, a paperboy, or a cop.” what a great attitude from those i pay to “protect and serve.”