As individuals, most police officers seem to be normal people. But let two or more of them get together in an official capacity and they are transformed into self-righteous, arrogant bullies.

I interact with cops on a daily basis and know several by sight. They like to talk about cars and fishing and football. They drink beer and watch TV. They tend to be conservative and patriotic and a teeny bit reactionary. Out of uniform, they could be mistaken for ordinary average citizens. I like most of the ones I know.

But when they put on that uniform, they turn into something completely different. Something about wearing a gun and a badge seems to unleash latent fascist tendencies. They act as if their position justifies any action no matter how cruel or demeaning. In fact they seem to derive a malicious joy from frightening and hurting people. Watch any episode of COPS and you'll see what I mean. Pay attention to their faces.

And boy, do they love their toys. It doesn't matter if you're on the ground and all they have to do is put the cuffs on you, they don't feel truly fulfilled unless they terrorize you with pepper spray, an attack dog, or a TASER.

They deliberately frighten and confuse the people they intend to arrest as it gives them a justification to use increased force. For example, during an arrest its very common to have several officers shouting orders at a suspect at the same time. Many times these orders are contradictory, ("Get down! On your stomach! Roll over! Don't move! Put your hands behind your back! Put your hands behind your head!") making it impossible for the suspect do what any one officer wants him to do. This is not just heat-of-the-moment confusion; they do it very deliberately so they can put a hurtin' on the suspect. They like beating people up.

Perhaps the worse thing about the way police are constituted in this country is that you are not allowed to defend yourself from the police when they are abusing you. It doesn't matter if you're shackled hand and foot and chained to a wall and the cops are beating you with sticks; if you even try to defend yourself from them, its assault on a police officer. You don't have to take a swing at them; just lifting your arm to deflect an incoming baton strike is viewed as a threat. They beam at each other happily and then resume beating your ass with renewed vigor and sense of purpose...you just "justified" your ass-whuppin'. Woohoo!

Another disturbing aspect of our police forces is the twisted mind set that they encourage among themselves. I once took a course, usually reserved for police officers, in which the primary topic was how to get voluntary compliance out of anyone, even the most hardened criminal, by application of various dime-store psychological techniques. The gentleman teaching the course, a former state trooper, insisted that proper use of these techniques would result in 100% voluntary compliance. I was amazed. I raised my hand and commented that it seemed to me that, with these remarkable techniques, police would no longer need to use firearms. The instructor looked at me blankly and replied that use firearms was one of the methods for obtaining 100% voluntary compliance. He had convinced himself, along with however many cops that had taken his course, that compliance obtained through threats of deadly force was voluntary. Using his logic, one could argue that rape is really consensual sex.

When police officers put on the uniform they know that they are taking a job in which life and limb are at risk. We all saw the same TV shows all our lives; we know that cops get shot at, cussed out, and generally abused ... by everyone from career criminals to indignant speeders who "pay your salary by GOD". But then they want to get all offended and self-righteous when the job lives up to that promise. Can you imagine what would happen if boxers or hockey players tried to prosecute someone for punching them in the face or body-checking them into a plexiglass wall while doing their jobs? The law says that these professionals give implied consent for these things to happen to them by the simple act of showing up for work. They, unlike most cops, accept that this is part of their jobs and deal with it.

Current police culture and training have established vaingloriousness as the norm for law enforcement personnel. Surely we can institute effective police forces without creating such monsters.