Ethics

Don't Tell the Police They're Wrong

By Ed Brayton

Here's an absurd story from the New York Times. Guy gets arrested for taking pictures of a subway train despite the fact that this is not a crime:

Finished with his camera, Mr. Taylor, 30, was about to board the train when a police officer called to him. He stepped back from the train.

"The cop wanted my ID, and I showed it to him," Mr. Taylor said. "He told me I couldn't take the pictures. I told him that's not true, that the rules permitted it. He said I was wrong. I said, 'I'm willing to bet your paycheck.' "

Mr. Taylor was right. The officer was enforcing a nonexistent rule. And if recent experience is any guide, one paycheck won't come close to covering what a wrongful arrest in this kind of case could cost the taxpayers.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on March 12, 2009 (boomark / email).