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Police officers are heroes. They voluntarily put themselves in harm's way to serve and protect every citizen, and society grants them powers above and beyond the average citizen to achieve their mission.
Unfortunately, this power can be abused, turning the heroes into villains. Extra power, in a free society, must be coupled with extra responsibility, and exposing misconduct is key to holding those with power accountable.
Below are some - but not all - of the worse police abuses to have occurred or come to light in 2013. Much of the misconduct involves racial or sexual elements, a fact that is entirely unsurprising but still disturbing.
Black men arrested for being with white girl
Landry Thompson, 13, was visiting Houston, Texas to attend dance classes this month. Her mother had given dance instructor Emmanuel Hurd full guardianship over her during the trip.
But police began questioning Thompson, Hurd and another dance instructor while they were at a gas station. The police later decided to
handcuff the dance instructors and trainee. Thompson was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, but she was released back into the custody of Hurd about 11 hours later.
"I was horrified," her mother, Destiny Thompson, said. "She was with the people I wanted her to be with. She was with people I trusted. And now she was taken away from those people and in a shelter with people I didn't know."
Comment: For an in depth look at why and how our society became so hysterical, See:
Good Times, Bad Times 1: The Hysteroidal Cycle
Good Times, Bad Times 2: Insiders and the Hysteroidal Cycle