From: James Wetterau (jwjr@ignition.name.net)
Date: Wed Apr 19 2000 - 10:27:06 MDT
"Michael S. Lorrey" says:
> Zero Powers wrote:
...
> > Sounds nice. But the minute you hold the state to the same standard as
> > individuals, the state gives up all police power (except in those few
> > circumstances were governmental employees or property are harmed or
> > threatened) and all prisons must be emptied. That might sound like a good
> > thing to you, but the day it happens here is the day I move to Costa Rica.
>
> Actually, this is not true. The only greater authority police have that you a
nd
> I don't have is the ability to give traffic tickets, and in some states, arre
st
> for misdemeanor offenses. We are all authorized and responsible to apprehend
> criminals committing felonies, and in the face of threat of deadly force, wit
h
> unarmed individuals present, lethal force is generally legal, though there ar
e
> differing thresholds.
...
In New York State, Murder 1 (Capital) is reserved for killing a police
officer in the line of duty:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/cji/art12527.htm
In New York City, the right to carry a weapon is so restricted that
police are among the only people who can do it fairly automatically.
(The City Council are, too.) The legislatures of New York City and
New York State have thus created a situation in which a police officer
is both trusted with deadly force and protected from deadly force in a
manner in which fellow citizens are not. Then there are the kinds of
guns and bullets police officers have access to -- "cop killer"
bullets.
I believe this imbalance can be disastrous, and leads to the worst
possible relations between the police and the public, but generally
the NYPD have supported (at least officially) New York's laws.
All the best!
James
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