Quote: In other words, you want to fuck with a bad cop, fine. A bad cop is up there with a child molester as far as violating the most basic tenets of trust in our value system.
Let's keep some perspective here. Yeah, a cop that deals drugs, runs prostitutes, takes bribes, brutally beats suspects--yes, that's a bad cop. But a cop that SMIRKS ? Or is a little-heavy handed with an irate visitor may not win any etiquette or "nicest cop of the year" awards, but I'm not about to equate him with a child molester for goodness sake.
This cop deals every day with a lot of people, some in their turn, not very nice, and a few who are conceivably or actually dangerous (some folks in the Big Apple are actully known to carry weapons about their bodies). His way of dealing with it is to be a hard ass. Maybe another approach would be better, but let's not rank him as a depraved criminal.