> The officers were willing to make an arrest to retaliate against First Amendment protected activity because they knew they could do so with impunity.
It's worse than that, NY has an ordinance explicitly allowing people to film police. This is a case of the police enforcing laws that simply don't exist and prosecutors supporting them. It's by definition lawlessness inside the police force.
No? Ruby ridge and Waco made it pretty conclusive that any american response to that situation would be MORE militarization of police. When has any sovereign country responded to violence with a reduction in police authority and power?
Hell, for two decades we have taught our cops that the world is a warzone and all citizens should be considered threats. They're itching for a "war", for a chance to play with all their toys. There's a significant amount of literal right wing militias in the american police.
RR and Waco are fundamentally different because they involved the government cornering criminal groups and placing them under siege until they capitulated/died.
The scenario I'm talking about involves extremely difficult to detect and prevent vigilante action against corrupt individuals.
The kind of law enforcement that you're talking about who are itching for a 'war' will fold as soon as they face a threat like that. They're not actually there for a war. they're there to bully.
I've yet to see any evidence that the Branch Davidians had committed crimes that the ATF had enough evidence for to effect arrests. Even if the ATF had had such evidence of such crimes, that didn't justify ninja-style wall scaling and entering. No-knock warrants are a disaster for everyone: for the innocent, for criminals, and for the police who serve them.
As for RR, the ATF solicited the crime, and it took them a lot of effort to get what's-his-name to actually commit that crime. That is just not OK!
It's worse than that, NY has an ordinance explicitly allowing people to film police. This is a case of the police enforcing laws that simply don't exist and prosecutors supporting them. It's by definition lawlessness inside the police force.