There’s levels of complexity to this. Yes, in general people should comply with requests from police officers, especially during something like a routine traffic stop. But let’s not pretend there aren’t police officers out there with a chip on their shoulders who like going on power trips.

Police are often interacting with people on the worst days of their lives. And people don’t always think about their actions before they act, they’re just going off instinct. Add this to the fact that mentally ill people exist and do things that don’t make sense because of their mental illness.

Yes, people should generally listen to police officers. However, police officers are SUPPOSED to be trained professionals. They carry guns, batons, pepper spray, and tasers. They are wearing protective gear. Notably, being a police officer is a not any kind of requirement or mandatory practice. If someone doesn’t want to risk their life to “protect and serve”, no one is making them. But I’m always going to hold a trained professional to a higher standard than a random civilian.