how do you talk to a cop?

By most accounts the cops at the 1968 Democratic convention were pretty brutal.  A little less than forty years later I was in a demonstration protesting the Iraq invasion and they were most cordial. They lined both sides of Michigan Avenue and if you wanted to get off or get on at any point they were like very good Sir, here we go.

The first Black Lives Matter marches that came down State Street were peaceful but I didn't like the attitude of the protestors,  From 21 floors up they seemed to be all in the face of the cops, and on tv and in the newspapers you could see them yelling in the faces of cops who appeared to be taking it all in stoically.  I was thinking sure this is all against police brutality, and sure some cops are brutal, but that doesn't mean that particular cop in whose face the protestors were yelling was one of them,  Maybe he just wanted to be home with the wife and the kiddies, and those marches were endless one after another.

Of course it was only a few of the protestors that were in the faces of the cops,  Most of them were well behaved and I think it is safe to assume that they were expressing their objection to police brutality in a lawful manner, and I don't see where we can see anything wrong with that.

Early this spring we had the much more tumultuous demonstrations leading to rioting and looting,  One side said there were innocent protestors upholding their first amendment and the cause, and the rioters and looters were a different group.  The other side said they are all the same,  Then the shootings in Kenosha, then in Oregon and it seemed like we going to get into war in the streets,  But that was three weeks ago and nothing much has happened since then.

But the question that started these posts was how do you talk to a cop?  Like that beer summit that Obama has with that scholar guy which I admit didn't seem to change anything, but at least they had it, maybe it was worth something.  But how do you talk to a cop?  I don't know.