[x220]

Police de facto have more rights because they can expect lenient punishment (or no punishment) for crimes they commit even when out of uniform. You can argue until you're blue in the face about de jure rights but those don't matter very much when a cop pulls you over and fears for his life.

[Aloha]

Not by intention however, but I'd mostly agree they do in practice.

[roenxi]

Linking cause and effect in the big picture is too slow to stop and worry about intent. History is replete with horrific injustices that didn't happen because anyone intended it to turn out that way.

Intent is a reasonable yardstick to assess who goes to jail and who doesn't. It is a terrible way to deal with systems and processes. There isn't time and it isn't productive to defend a system with bad incentives and outcomes because it wasn't intended to be that way.

[tehwebguy]

It is entirely intentional.

[imtringued]

Where is this intention written down? Can you show me the relevant law?

[tehwebguy]

Qualified immunity laws and case law is what you are looking for.

[Jamwinner]

Not to mention being 'on the level'.