Well, I'm glad your'e not a cop, Anon #1. "Patting down" is SEARCH, legally, which the Constitution (per Supreme Court) says can ONLY happen where there is "reasonable suspicion" of a crime. Since when does a handshake--of any type--qualify as "reasonable suspicion"? Secondly, we do not know that the writer was "loudmouth"--check for your own streotyping there--and asking the cops what they are doing is ALWAYS legal and appropriate, as long as it doesnt acyually obstruct or interfere. (And "interfere" does NOT mean "annoy"). In this case, if he identified himself as the pattee's brother, it was not only legal and appropriate for him to ask, it was inappropriate and , frankly, stupid of teh cops to not answer--their (possibly--Im not jumping to a stereotype) arrogant behavior unnecessarily created a tense situation.
If people are really serious about reducing crime, specifically drug-related xrime, they MUST be in favor of a scrappingof the notorious Rockefeller drug laws--the senseless (except as a way to enforce racism) criminalization of socially harmless drugs such as marijuana and other draconian measures in this area have served primarily to give police a free hand in 'minority' neighborhoods. This intereferes with legitimate police activity aimed at "hard" drugs, gang or mob involvement in the trade, and related violence.
To the (exaggerated ) extent such militarization of drug policy has succeeded, it has done so at an unacceptable cost: increased hostility between nighbors and police, further erosion of civil liberties for individuals, and Orwellian "solutions" (like spycams!) that are worse than the problem.
Indeed the police are there "to serve and protect", but the question is: whom? Im not denying that cops serve a useful and necessary function sometimes, and that most cops honestly believe they they are there to serve and protect ordinary folks. In reallity, professional police (less than 200 years old, actually) were invented exactly to serve and protect the propertied class; any positive functions they perform are secondary to their mission. Im not saying that we shouldn't try to work with police and support them when they do something right; I'm saying let's never forget whose side they're on.