I have noticed a recent increase in how Law Enforcement is handling many situations nationwide. People who are detained with no regard for their rights. People harassed for taking pictures in places that are permissible.

Understand what I am saying here, as a former Marine and Peace Officer I understand that Police and other law enforcement agencies need to be able to protect the public, but when law abiding citizens are threatened and taken away in handcuffs for doing nothing wrong, then there is a problem. In the video below a person was not violating any laws, and yet he was threatened, handcuffed, and taken to the police station. Now to us watching this, it is not a big deal. What if you were the one who was threatened by 3 Police Officers and then cuffed and escorted away in front of everyone around.

The embarrassment isn’t even the worst part of the whole deal. When law abiding citizens can be harassed, threatened, and hauled away without regard for rights or even common sense, there is a real problem. Consider the following:

“When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out. ”

Martin Niemoeller

I am not advocating that Law Enforcement not be allowed to do its job, just that they uphold justice and what is right. Otherwise we are all in trouble.

Reference:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, . (2009, May 4). Martin niemÖller: “first they came for the socialists…”. Retrieved from http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007392

Here is a great example of how photography can really show the unique side of a community. Checkout Seattle Houseboat Photos to see how others live. I loved the movie Sleepless in Seattle, but I never knew that these houses floated on the water.