Posted on 02/04/2013 2:26:43 PM PST by virgil283
In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldnt be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so. That may sound harsh, but numerous law enforcement officials have put the matter more bluntly. . . . Police departments have been rewarded in recent years for the sheer numbers of stops, searches and arrests. In the war on drugs, federal grant programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program have encouraged state and local law enforcement agencies to boost drug arrests in order to compete for millions of dollars in funding. Agencies receive cash rewards for arresting high numbers of people for drug offenses, no matter how minor the offenses or how weak the evidence. Law enforcement has increasingly become a numbers game. And as it has, police officers tendency to regard procedural rules as optional and to lie and distort the facts has grown as well. Numerous scandals involving police officers lying or planting drugs in Tulia, Tex. and Oakland, Calif., for example have been linked to federally funded drug task forces eager to keep the cash rolling in. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Speaking as a former Prosecutor, while the overwhelming number of Officers are good decent people trying to do their job the best they can, the Public would be floored at how often they lie. It is certainly more than a rare event.
There seems to be similar incentives for prosecutors to proceed and aid and abet the Police in sleazy practices..
I object to drawing broad conclusions from individual examples. Because the police in the Bronx or NYC think that ‘making numbers’ is their job does NOT mean that every PD or even every officer thinks or behaves that way.
I find it interesting that this an ever increasing effort to make our police officers out as the bad guy and never to be trusted no matter what. Across this nation there are many local PDs and Sheriffs offices that do a very tough job and do it well.
I am tired of the singularities thrown about as proof
Police, prosecutors and judges - all work for the GOVERNMENT.
The police are the hands of the government. Those conservatives here who (rightly, in my view) lack trust in the government should reflect on what that means regarding the police.
“Because the police in the Bronx or NYC think that making numbers is their job does NOT mean that every PD or even every officer thinks or behaves that way.”
Well, ok. EVERY officer is certainly not true. How about most officers? My retired cop friend has plenty of stories of cops lying in court. All totally justified, of course. If you trust cops, you are a fool.
I know that they don’t view themselves as my servants.
And again you generalize from an instance to the whole....logically flawed under any conditions.
Your cynicism is a sad commentary on your life
The real culprit here is the prosecutor. If cop perjury led to prosecution, conviction, and heavy prison time for the perjuring cop, then false testimony from cops would cease.
Police, like most people, respond rationally to the incentives in front of them. If they are rewarded for arrests, and not penalized for lying in order to get those arrests, then many will lie.
America has changed since I was growing up in small town America in the 50’s. And not for the better.
With the exception of eliminating legal segregation.
Show me the law where it says a LEO must always tell the truth to a suspect in the same way that a suspect must always tell the truth to a LEO.
I find it interesting that this an ever increasing effort to make our police officers out as the bad guy and never to be trusted no matter what. Across this nation there are many local PDs and Sheriffs offices that do a very tough job and do it well.
When the LEOs start trusting every single citizen they meet, then we can trust every LEO we meet. Just as they assume that every citizen they meet is a potential cop-killer, then citizens must assume that every LEO we meet is a crooked cop.
I am tired of the singularities thrown about as proof
There are two types of cops in the world --those who've been caught in their lies and those who have yet to be caught lying.
They do it because there are no consequences for it. That’s why.
And, judges. I have personally witnessed two cases in which the cop lied on the stand about facts material to the case (perjury) which led to the dismissal of the charges and the only thing the judge did was to give the lying cop(s) a stern talking-to.
One rarely gets more Justice from the Legal System than one pays for.
But in the public sector, employees are typically evaluated by the number of tasks completed: welfare cases processed, new food stamp reciepients signed up, or number of tickets issued.
Results [society's problems reduced] don't figure in. Just look busy.
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