Posted on 06/18/2015 7:31:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
American police live in a place even more wondrous than the one you know from "A Prairie Home Companion." In Lake Wobegon, all the children are above average. In Police Land, every cop is a model citizen, including those who outwardly resemble criminals.
When a cop thrashes or kills someone, the ensuing investigations almost always find that what the officer did was excusable, if not commendable. Jesus Christ would get tougher scrutiny from a band of angels than most cops do from the people who review their conduct.
So it barely registered with most Americans last month when a Cleveland cop was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter for firing at least 15 shots at an unarmed couple as he stood on the hood of their car after a high-speed chase. Outcomes like that, even when the cops grossly overstepped their bounds, are the norm.
Over four years, The Chicago Tribune recently reported, only 4 percent of all 17,700 complaints against Chicago police were upheld. In those rare instances, the punishment was the equivalent of a disappointed sigh. Of the few cops found to have abused citizens, nearly half got off with verbal reprimands, and only a dozen were fired.
Even a court finding of misconduct doesn't count for much. The Tribune uncovered several cases in which victims filed lawsuits and got monetary damages -- even though the department had cleared the officers.
Consider Cleveland. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the police department looked into 4,427 uses of force by cops over four years and gave its blessing to each one. In Houston, every shooting over six years was found by the internal affairs department to be absolutely necessary.
Same basic story in Ferguson, Mo. After the killing of Michael Brown, staffers from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division interviewed the police chief, who admitted that "he could not remember ever imposing discipline for an improper use of force."
The feds also assume that law enforcement officers are less fallible than the pope. From January 2010 to October 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported, Border Patrol agents shot 67 people, killing 19. Three of the agents are still being investigated. Of the remaining 64, 62 were absolved. The other two got a stern lecture.
It's all part of a national pattern. Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip Stinson has done extensive research on killings by cops. His conclusion? "It's very rare that an officer gets charged with a homicide offense resulting from their on-duty conduct even though people are killed on a fairly regular basis," he told The Wall Street Journal.
Lack of accountability is a recipe for lawlessness. In 1961, the Supreme Court said that when evidence of a crime was obtained in an illegal search, it could not be used in state court. The Fourth Amendment had always required cops to get warrants before ransacking homes. But until 1961, police generally ignored the Constitution because they paid no price for violating it.
A New York City police official later recalled, "Before this, nobody bothered to take out search warrants. Although the U.S. Constitution requires warrants in most cases, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that evidence obtained without a warrant -- illegally, if you will -- was admissible in state courts. So the feeling was, why bother?"
Many cops obviously feel the same way about the rules on how they are supposed to handle suspects and bystanders. If they can get away with mistreating people, they will mistreat people.
Modern video technology makes that harder. A cop can no longer be sure that when he beats or shoots a suspect without a very good reason, he can cover up what happened. Body cameras and dashboard cameras will make police more careful -- and document their abuses.
If not for an alert citizen with a cellphone, the North Charleston, S.C., officer who fatally shot the unarmed, fleeing Walter Scott in the back would almost certainly have gotten away with it. Instead, he's been charged with murder.
But digital images matter only if authorities are prepared to punish brutal cops. The shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland was captured on squad-car video, which did not support the police account of what happened. Six months later, his killer has not been charged.
Bad cops will stop killing people unnecessarily when they know they will suffer real punishment for their crimes. Until then, why bother?
In all fairness, police have a difficult job, and one where they are subject to much abuse, as well as false accusations.
So the police are typically charitable to each other, with an “innocent before guilty” attitude. However, if a cop is convicted of a crime, everything changes. All the other cops turn against him, if not actively, then passively. They will no longer support him.
Problems only arise in three situations. The first is when they turn on each other with just an accusation from an outsider. Second is when the rest of the cops do not turn on one of their number convicted of a crime.
And the third is when there is an internal dispute in the department.
“Wow. Police are PUBLIC SERVANTS. We have every right to criticize them here in the U.S.A.”
And we should. Further, we have the right to expect when one of them does something that’s illegal, that he receives justice and we all can be assured that his leaders didn’t get away with a coverup.
I hope that the killings in Waco were done within the law, but the longer the cops, DA and judges there keep the citizens from seeing the ALL the evidence, the more everyone should be concerned that they are trying to cover up unlawful acts. It continues to amaze me that some here don’t care whether the law was followed because “after all, they’re bikers” and somehow aren’t entitled to the same rights as the rest of us.
Because good cops in general are not news, while “bad” cops are
There were far worse articles when this story initially came out and I regret not saving them.
Again, nothing was done except probation for this scum
Some do. Some don't.
Not possible. The median income in Cal is $61K.
2014 Total Compensation report
From the report:
Page 6. Police Recruit – Range $45,622-->$80,574
Now, read through the rest of the report and add in all of the incentives, vacation, sick time, health care and other perks.
Page 80. Market Average Patrol Officer Total Compensation: $101,942
Here’s a sample from Carlsbad CA:
At least do a ride-a-long a few times with a cop and get an inkling of what they do.
What makes you think I haven't?
You could always ask if I have, rather than assume.
Video shows that there aren’t very many good cops.
If good cops were the norm, then police departments would be clean and honest, instead, they are more like Serpico.
Good cops would be turning in, and arresting, and subduing the bad cops, it wouldn’t take video to catch them.
Being passive and silent as you witness cop crimes and abuse for your entire career in law enforcement, when you are a lawman, is not being a good cop, it is being morally weak and a silent partner.
Where are those good cops? How did police and their unions, become like they are, why is their influence on city governments negative and self serving?
U are so full of crap. Police assaulting non cops without cause occurs everyday across the nation. Having a tough job doesn’t excuse malicious and violence against innocent people.
By the way. I don’t expect cops to protect me. The SCOTUS has already ruled they have no duty to do so,
Ping!
If I am speeding and I get stopped by a traffic cop don't I deserve it? By stopping me, the policeman might have saved my life
By the way. I don’t expect cops to protect me. The SCOTUS has already ruled they have no duty to do so,
Correct. The only part of the process where they have any influence is when their unions lobby for laws that make it harder for you to protect yourself.
By stopping me, the policeman might have saved my life
Does the cop wipe your chin too?
Of course he is. Hence the barf that I added in brackets ( ) the to the article
Very well said
Stop being so silly and ignorant you lunatic
Stop being so silly and ignorant you lunatic
When you suggest that cops save your life with traffic tickets, it's the only possible type of response.
You didn’t understand my post at all.
Being passive and silent as you witness cop crimes and abuse for your entire career in law enforcement, when you are a lawman, is not being a good cop, it is being morally weak and a silent partner.
If good cops were the norm, then police departments would be clean and honest, instead, they are more like Serpico.
Good cops would be turning in, and arresting, and subduing the bad cops, it wouldn’t take video to catch them.
“Good” means doing something good, if you notice, we never hear of cops turning in bad cops.
I expected better of Townhall. The two big reasons that cops are so often declared essentially innocent are (1) our policy of “innocent until proven guilty,” and (2) the fact that cops know the law while the people they’re dealing with/accusing them don’t.
I personally think cops should not be charged if they were following policy, as, for instance, the Rodney King cops were, which used to be a major consideration when cops were called up for being out of line, but seems not to be standard anymore. It’s why the cops who arrested Rodney King were initially cleared, but didn’t help them at all in the second trial.
Personally, I am not interested in changing the “innocent until proven guilty” standard. I don’t agree with all the laws the cops work under, but that’s not the fault of the cops. I am also at a loss as to how the cops are supposed to do their job if they aren’t allowed to touch anyone or to literally overpower those who will not comply.
I also believe that, the more people characterize *all* cops as violent and untrustworthy, the less likely good cops are to help flush out the bad ones. Demonizing an entire group rarely encourages that group to self-police; they’re too busy either being defensive, or dealing with people who buy into the demonization, be they those who are demoralized by the resulting self-image, or those who figure that, since they’re going to be considered guilty anyhow, they might as well live up to that label.
I do have major issues with modern-day policing, but those issues are with the laws the police are expected to enforce, not with the cops themselves.
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