When can police engage their conscience instead of enforcing unconstitutional law???

Question

There are certian laws, like a law mandating people to wear their seatbelts or give big brother a weeks salary,that are completely contrary to the ideas the founding fathers had in ralation to individual freedoms and liberties. The list goes on, big brother finding slick ways to take peoples guns etc..Do people in law enforment not have a conscience when it comes to robbing people of individual liberties under the guise of "public safety"...

First of all,I've never been ticketed for not wearing my seatbelt I was simply using that as one example of stupid laws that big brother has shoved down our throats,under cover of darkness,while I and most Americans were at work and had no idea what is going on.. The responces I got to this question just confirms my suspitions at how easily people are suckered in to giving up their freedoms. Trooper I too have seen the bodies being in the medical field but so did the soldiers on the beaches of Normandy who fought to keep tyrany from prevailing in this world.Try thinking a little deeper next time you challenge someone's intellect..

Answer 1

Part of an officer's job is to enforce the law. The officer does not make the law. It makes no difference if the officer believes in the law or not. He or she enforces it and is not there to determine the legality of the law. Officer's do have discretion in some situations. I personally did not write many seat belt tickets, I gave mostly warnings. Some of my coworkers wrote all of them.

Are you the one to decide what individual liberties should or should not be enforced? Laws are enacted through a process and that is what our founding fathers were trying to do.

Police officers use probable cause to determine if a crime was committed by someone. The officer is not determining guilt. That is determined in the court system. Your thinking seems to not be correct because the courts interpret the law, not the officers. The courts decide guilt and innocence, not the officers.

Answer 2

Did it ever occur to you that police officers have seen the smashed bodies, with guts hanging out, lying on the pavement or in the woods from being in car accidents and being thrown from the vehicle because they weren't wearing their seatbelts often enough that they agree with these laws simply to save your life even though you'd rather hang on to a piece of paper and ideals instead? Perhaps saving lives to them is more important than ideals so that the idealists can whine another day about how unconstitutional it is to force someone to wear a seatbelt. No police officer is "robbing you of your individual liberties." Those same founding fathers you harp about would put people in jail for unpaid debts and kept slaves. Do you honestly think that they'd be all sweaty over seatbelts?

You didn't have the seatbelt on, not because of your "civil liberties" but because you either forgot to put it on or because you don't like wearing it. Otherwise, you'd be glad you were caught, find a constitutional lawyer, and fight the fine that you're mad about having to pay. That what protesters do; stir up trouble to fight it in court. So, stop whining and pay the fine.

Answer 3

I am tasked with enforcing the laws
The legislative branch of government makes the laws
The people vote in the legislators
You are the people
You are responsible for the 'unconstitutional laws'
If you want them to not be enforced, get off your lazy butt and go out and vote, and get enough people to vote your way so change can be done.
But for now, you have the freedom not to wear your saftey belt, in turn, I also have the duty to enforce that law, so if you want to risk it, go ahead.

Trooper 3316 makes an amazing point once again.

Answer 4

The writers of the Constitution had no idea what seat belts were, that could very well be why they didn't address it.

If I said everyone pays for shoplifting, because it drives retail prices up, very few would argue.

But those same people do not understand not wearing a seat belt drives up the cost of auto insurance due to increased medical costs for injuries. I don't get it.

Since becoming a police officer, I have investigated 7 fatal accidents. For those who have not experienced this, I can tell you I won't forget a single one. For those of you who have, there is no need to explain why I remember so well. Every single one could have been prevented by seat belt use. Five were from head trauma, after being ejected. Two were from chest trauma, from impact with the steering wheel.

I am one officer, on one department. Multiply my story, and you can see the financial impact from not wearing seat belts is substantial, and the law understandable. I write seat belt tickets. A lot of them.

Answer 5

I will type slow so you can keep up. Driving is a privelege, not a right. so anything connected to driving is only an elelment of your privelege. If you don't like it, don't drive. and as far as a conscience goes, I would gladly not enforce seatbelt tickets if you would agree to let me leave your stupid butt laying out in the middle of the field where you were ejected. after all, this may be your way of "expressing your freedom".

Answer 6

There is no conscience in law inforcement, unless of course it is another police officer or one of their family. Haven't you heard the saying...........The road to hell is paved with good intentions? Well, it's true.
If you are a bully, you would make a good policeman.

Answer 7

Law enforcement officers have no official say in which laws they are duty bound to uphold and which ones to ignore. If a law is unconstitutional, it's up to us citizens to challenge the law's constitutionality in a court of law to have it overturned.

Answer 8

There is no reason to hate cops because you got a speeding ticket. Just slow down and there will be no reason for you to get pulled over.