California Police Arrest Man for Video Recording, then Kill his Dog
Unless you have a real emergency and need assistance, it's best to avoid the police whenever possible, even if you've done nothing wrong. Local police forces have many officers that are poorly trained and believe that they have plenary power or act as if they do in any situation. Of course, this isn't true about all local police officers, but if you don't know which officers are the good ones, you should just avoid all police whenever possible. Even large "local" police departments have very negative reputations in America; especially the NYPD, LAPD and Chicago PD.<p>I think that that stories on HN about FBI abuses of power are popular because people expect more from the FBI. It's comforting to think that there is a highly trained law enforcement group that can intercede when a local department is incompetent or inadequate, and the realization that the FBI can be just as bad or even worse than local law enforcement is disheartening.