WAIT! So FDP Officer Wilson, whos ILLEGALLY refusing to make a report for fear of being incriminated

[Savannahmann]

190. I'm truly astonished.

I can only assume you're part of the brotherhood of the badge. Or you're someone who doesn't want to believe your friend, brother, husband, son, wife, daughter, or mother is doing all the horrible things that are posted about cops on so many websites. You want to believe the fiction of the thin blue lie.

Some people are all upset that Brown got killed by a cop. Why shouldn't people be more upset about a dead six year old? Why should I care any more about Mike Brown, who I think assaulted a cop and a store manager, that I do about Angel?

So what is the difference? The case of Angel will remain open, perhaps forever, but there is a fair chance that the person who murdered that little girl will be judged by a jury. There is little chance that Michael Brown's killer will ever be judged by a jury. There is even less chance that the multiple offenses committed by the police daily will ever see the inside of the courtroom, except to punish those victims of the crime.

You see, that is a part of the difference. Let's say someone random on the street bashes me in the noggin and steals my wallet. I go to the hospital, get some stitches, presuming I live, make phone calls to everyone under the sun to shut down credit cards etc. I file a police report, and I then go about trying to put things back together. It takes a day or so to get things started. Perhaps another day in the hospital while my concussion is taken care of. Expensive sure, but I have insurance so that takes care of some of it.

Now, let's say I am brutalized by the police who pummel me while I am surrendering, or after I have handcuffs on. What happens then? It starts out the same, hospital to have my wounds acknowledged, if I'm lucky. Then I get to go to jail, and a courtroom, and then potentially years in prison, for assaulting an officer's hand with my head. Talk about adding insult to injury. Then my life is ruined. I can't get a decent job because I have a criminal record. I can't really rejoin society because nobody trusts an ex convict. When it's the word of a cop versus the word of a citizen, the jury made up of folks like you who figure I must have done something to deserve it, I'm going to jail. Simple as that.

So how often to the police use excessive or unnecessary force? Half the time. HALF. When the police started wearing cameras, the use of force dropped by more than fifty percent. That proves that statically speaking (accurately extrapolated unlike the tongue in cheek response above) half of the people who are beaten, tasered, pepper sprayed, or shot should not have been.

A robbery is bad, a beating is bad. But to pay for the beating for the rest of your life because a gang lied to cover up the crime, that is much worse wouldn't you agree?

What makes the scandal of the priests who abuse children so bad? Is it the abuse of the children that is the issue? Yes, partially. What makes it worse is that the person who did it was one you trusted implicitly. This is a servant of God who abused you. Then it gets worse, the church covers it up, moving the priest to another location, where the horrific act is repeated, in many cases several times. The priest is to blame, and the church is certainly to blame. They did not act to protect the innocent children, they acted to protect the church, and the offender. Unthinkable in my mind.

I said that the cops were a gang. They are. They tolerate no dissent, lie with impunity, protect each other against all of "us". They lie and cheat on the littlest thing. I mean, if they can't follow the rules on a traffic ticket, why should I believe them when they are offering testimony about something more important?

The police are career criminals. They lie, cheat, steal, and profit from it under the color of law.

The difference is that if I commit those crimes, and since I'm not in the brotherhood of the badge, I get caught, and go to jail. Even if I don't commit the crimes, the police can manufacture evidence and convince a jury full of folks like yourself who are happy to convict me satisfied that I must have done something to get arrested. Having the police abuse the citizens, commit those crimes under the color of law, and escape any penalty, is akin to having the Mafia as your neighborhood enforcers. Yeah, they'll make sure that anybody else who steals from you or assaults you get's punished, but the mafia themselves will never be held accountable for stealing or assaulting or even murdering you.

There is no excuse. None for the police to behave this way. There is no excuse as to why they are not held to the highest possible standard. There is no reason why we should not demand that the police be of the highest moral character, and held accountable for their actions. There is every reason why we should demand just that.

Some time ago, I suggested some reforms that were desperately needed by the police forces. I'll go ahead and highlight them here if you don't mind.

1) Mandatory polygraph testing of the police every six months. The officer must be able to pass this test in order to maintain employment and status as a police officer. The questions would be easy enough. Have you lied under oath in the last six months. Have you lied on a police report in the last six months. Have you used excessive force in the last six months. Have you failed to report anyone who has done any of those things in the last six months?

Less than a dozen questions, half an hour max. If they can't pass the polygraph, they're not arrested, nor are they charged with any crime. They just don't get to have the badge and gun. I'll even sweeten the pot. Let's say the cop is having a bad day, problems at home, whatever. He flunks the test. He's not even fired then. He's rescheduled for another test in two weeks. This way the officer can sort out whatever has him upset, and pass the test and return to work.

We polygraph people all the time, for security clearances in the Government as one example. If you have a top secret clearance, if you are trusted with that material, and you flunk the polygraph. You just aren't allowed back into the secure areas ever again. Why should the authority, the power of the police be treated any differently than the authority to examine top secret materials?

2) Charge the police who lie to protect the officers who are using excessive force. In the links above you'll find cases where an officer was charged for assaulting a citizen for no reason. In both cases the citizen was charged for assaulting an officer. In both cases, there were other cops around. You know and I know they all wrote reports, and signed those reports under penalty of perjury. When those lies are exposed, why aren't the cops charged with the crime of perjury, fired, and barred from ever working as a cop again?

If one is caught, usually on video, and is actually fired. Then all those who covered up for him should be punished too. The death of Angel is a tragic event. I certainly want the guilty to be tried and convicted according to the rules. Most importantly, I want the actual guilty, not a handy guy who the cops just came across to do the time for a crime he did not commit.

I still say your effort at distracting with the tragic death of a six year old girl was just that. An effort at distraction. To show that the cops aren't that bad. No, they aren't that bad. They're worse. The individual or individuals who murdered Angel might one day face justice as determined by a jury of their peers. The police who commit similar murders will face no justice what so ever. Instead, they will get a nice retirement paid for by you and me.

Oh, and justifying all the violence that the police commit unnecessarily as just too bad since most of the victims are criminals, that is just beyond the pale. The Russians have a word for that sort of thing. Nekulturny. Used in this context, it defines out a little different. It would translate to uncivilized barbarian, or barbaric. That almost goes far enough to express the disgust I felt when I read the assertion that it's just too bad since most of them are criminals. Nekulturny indeed.