by Eric Peters EricPetersAutos.com Recently by Eric Peters: Clover Taxonomy II
A reader sent me the following video, which puts into stark relief the double standard that applies to cops vs us:
Probably you have seen such flouting of “the law” by the enforcers of the law yourself. It is a routine thing – a commonplace. Cops “speed” – and they don’t buckle-up for safety. Or at least, don’t have to. Chiefly, because no one demands they do so – with the ever-looming threat of “or else” not hanging over their heads. There are no “safety” checkpoints for cops, either – even though it’s just as possible a cop might be driving drunk as it is possible one of us might be driving drunk. But cops get a pass… because they are cops. Apparently, a potentially drunk cop is not dangerous.
Only we are.
Same goes for all the rest of it. A cop “speeding” is – apparently – able to suspend the law (according to cops) that “speed kills.” When one of us “speeds,” of course, it always “kills.” Even though it doesn’t – not necessarily or even probably.
Yet when a cop’s “speed” does actually kill – as in this example – the consequences are, well, different. Instead of immediate arrest and multiple serious charges, the cop whose speeding did kill gets placed on administrative leave for a time. Meaning he gets a paid vacation. Eventually, he will probably be turned loose with a tut-tutting (and perhaps not even that, as in the case of the cop in the link above who did kill). There are many such stories, incidentally. This cop who killed is far from the only one who killed. Or who committed an act that would result in anyone else – that is, anyone not wearing a state-issued costume – being dragged from their car at gunpoint and thrown into a cage.
For instance, this porker:
