They Who Only Watch Also Commit Crime

In the Spring of 1991, as we all are aware, a certain Rodney King was arrested and severely beaten by 4 police officers... as 17 other officers simply watched. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the incident was not that police brutality exists in Los Angeles, not that fellow officers at least on occasion do not report such, but that the entire incident was filmed. The Rodney King beating became America's Ugliest Home Video. Being a police officer is an extremely difficult and stressful job. But it is also a job which is fiduciary in nature. The entire public has placed its trust in the honorable discharge of police duties. We are all vulnerable not only to their legitimate command, but also to their whim and caprice. When officers are caught committing aggravated batteries and the city's prosecution does nothing, we move ever closer to loss of freedom, to a police state.