As Adam Tarosky wrote in his friendly opinion piece, not all cops are out to get us. Nevertheless, they are not always as friendly, respectful, and even law abiding as Adam's report on his little ride-along suggests.

Of course we need cops, of course they do much good, but they also have the tendency to abuse their power and are grossly guilty of targeting people based on their appearances rather than factual knowledge about what the individuals have done.

Let me illustrate with a personal example. A couple of years ago two State College cops rang my doorbell and then walked into my house at 6 a.m., they entered my living room and shined their flashlights in my face (as I came out of my room to see who was in the house).

Since my roommates and I did not lock the door they took it upon themselves to enter. As it turns out, they were looking for someone who lived there a couple of years before, a fact we discovered after they harassed me for a few moments.

These cops abused their power, they entered my house, uninvited, and harassed me unduly. Another example, I have had my car searched by police three times, though I have never received as much as a speeding ticket. Why, I looked different than them.

This is unwarranted and unconstitutional, but there is nothing I can really do about it.

Yes, we need cops, but we cannot let them behave as they choose, unchecked and unscrutinized.