Disturbing the peace of the police

Basic police training is to control by force of personality whatever situation you are in. The problem is many police do not understand that they do not necessarily have a legal right to dominate everyone anywhere they go, at least not in America.

Some police, therefore, take offense when someone verbally disputes the lawfulness of their orders, and arrest people at that point. It is often for the 'holy trinity' of disorderly conduct, failure to obey a police order, and resisting arrest. Faced with all that hassle, most people back down and pay a fine, reinforcing bad police conduct. The officer in the Prof. Gates matter has made it quite clear in recorded interviews that he took offense at Prof. Gates' resistance to being further hassled in his own house after he showed proof he belonged there. When he took offense, he arrested.

Frankly, although it is more often people of color who face this, white teenagers also do, and sometimes other whites. We need to be more careful choosing police recruits to avoid those who crave authority for personal reasons. And train police that a disturbing of their personal peace is not a disturbance of the public peace justifying an arrest.