This isn’t a question of sympathy, it’s a question of what types of behaviour on the part of the police are in society’s best interests. I don’t have sympathy for a shoplifter, but if the police beat a confession out of him, I am troubled by their actions.
The world where the police can suggest targets to a group and supply the materials for action is also a world where you can take your taxes to an accountant, have him suggest some “aggressive” reporting of expenses, and when you agree you are arrested when it turns out the accountant was an undercover fraud squad officer.
It’s a world where you can take a Porche out for a test drive and discover that the sales man who gave you directions to a deserted highway and suggested you speed was really an undercover police officer padding the unit’s statistics.
I can’t even imagine how badly this could go if undercover police officers were to pose as high school students. Actually, I can, there has already been at least one case where a female officer suggested a male citizen procure drugs for her and then arrested him when he complied.
I don’t need to sympathize with tax cheats, fast drivers, or love-smitten young men to fear the police state that doesn’t have enough criminals to catch and therefore must manufacture some of its own.
Summary: yes, these people are unsympathetic. But also yes, it’s important to ask questions about the choices the police are making to prosecute them.
The world where the police can suggest targets to a group and supply the materials for action is also a world where you can take your taxes to an accountant, have him suggest some “aggressive” reporting of expenses, and when you agree you are arrested when it turns out the accountant was an undercover fraud squad officer.
It’s a world where you can take a Porche out for a test drive and discover that the sales man who gave you directions to a deserted highway and suggested you speed was really an undercover police officer padding the unit’s statistics.
I can’t even imagine how badly this could go if undercover police officers were to pose as high school students. Actually, I can, there has already been at least one case where a female officer suggested a male citizen procure drugs for her and then arrested him when he complied.
I don’t need to sympathize with tax cheats, fast drivers, or love-smitten young men to fear the police state that doesn’t have enough criminals to catch and therefore must manufacture some of its own.
Summary: yes, these people are unsympathetic. But also yes, it’s important to ask questions about the choices the police are making to prosecute them.