Gates's arrest follows disturbing trend in policing

The arrest of Professor Gates's was wrong on many levels, without even getting into racial matters. Many who are both black and white agree, and here is an excellent summary.

I am very disturbed at the increasing zeal in which LEO's conduct their business. Whether it is Fairfax County police killing someone for being an unarmed bookie because they had itchy trigger fingers, or the dozens of instances in which family dogs are killed, I am pissed at seeing these assholes act like they are marching into battle in Baghdad.

The police are around to protect us, to serve as an intake to the courts. They are not here to wage war against some unseen criminal element. In the case of Professor Gates, the police assumed he was guilty, because there had been reports of a break in.

What really doomed him was when he questioned their authority, even after allegedly giving them his ID. Is it now a crime to yell at a police officer? Heaven forbid, you hurt their image of godliness. I for one do not have much respect for their authority, because I question why another human should have authority to tell me what to do based on their employer. And they can even tell me what to do when they are off the clock!

Why do we continue to promote this reckless behavior? We as a society need to put limits on police power, and professor Gates was doing just that, by standing up for himself.