Fernwood,
If what he did was wrong but not illegal..
Then that means Citizens treatment will be dependent upon the Policies of each Police Department and not the Law, That is very improper, very wrong.
The young person in this incident here pointed out that his impression when speaking with the Department Chief was that the Chief was more concerned the Officer was caught than by the Officers conduct.
Unfortunately I find that believable. It also supports my earlier contention that the Officer is being used as a scapegoat, being thrown under the bus to avoid addressing the real issue.
Since this sort of conduct is not legally pro-scripted there really is no common standard and two citizens in the same situation could be impacted in dramatically different ways when interacting with LEOs from different departments and areas. Even in different ways depending upon the Officer.
That is very wrong. even dangerous for both the citizen and the police.
Should not some “Standard” be established as a “bright line”? A codification saying this conduct is not lawful..
For example;
An Officer may not threaten a citizen or threaten to retaliate if he does not gain compliance or the citizen refuses to comply with the Officers request when he is not legally required to do so.
It seems to me that at this time both the Civilian Officer and the Citizen are caught up in a no win situation where both must guess at what is acceptable and non acceptable conduct and that the goal post (the standard) is a moving target.
That is not right or fair to either the Civilian LEO or the Citizenry.
Make the law clear.
Establish a statewide, better still a nationwide legal standard regarding this.. that will be progress.
W
PS
I still say something good can come out of this for everyone Civilian LEO employees and the Citizenry. We should not allow this Officer to be the Scape Goat and instead demand that our legislative bodies change the laws related to this.
Make the law clear and unambiguous. That is a much better result than just firing one LEO and allowing the system to cover up the problem.
Some have indicated that abuse of authority is in a US code. Also that Texas had it codified. This is really a federalism issue that maybe codified by the states. But a system of standards of conduct that can be grounds for firing is probably in place that would allow discipline of officers who violate that code. Most cops do not go off like this one. He is the exception. But with a alert populace more of this type of behavior can be brought to the light of day and the bad apples can be cleaned up. I was concerned the number of people who felt that Darrow, who is also a Freeper, was wrong to use current technologies to catch out the cops that are bullies. If cops perform in a professional way then there would be no scandal. Police needs to police themselves. By the way, I appreciate your courteous and reasonable post.
-snip-
We should not allow this Officer to be the Scape Goat and instead demand that our legislative bodies change the laws related to this.
What do you think should have happened to Kuehnlein?