Stand Up, Sit Down, Fight, Fight, Fight. The point of all this is that, with some exceptions, the cop doesn’t care whether you are standing or sitting, in the car or out, speaking or silent. What he does care about, and cares beyond your appreciation of his purpose, is that you comply with his commands so that he has established his command presence, feels in control of the situation and, therefore, has no fear that you’re a threat to his safety.
Forget constitutional rights, the officer will engage in whatever harm he feels is required to establish his control to the point of killing the victim, if necessary, in order to assure that at the end of the run, he goes home safely. He may feel badly about it afterward, but he has been trained to take command at all costs in the course of the interaction. Cops complain that non-cops don’t get it, and indeed, we don’t. Not because we’re incapable, but rather because we don’t adhere to the First Rule of Policing as manifested by their overarching need for command presence.
From any perspective but that of a cop, this sounds utterly insane. Yet, this is what is running through an officer’s head as he interacts with the public, and why he feels entitled to enforce absurd and arbitrary commands by inflicting pain. Now you know. [Simple Justice]
A look at why cops torture and murder people so often. The author’s explanation make sense, and fits what I’ve heard myself.