Call the police! No, wait a sec . . .
This is a long one, but: It’s time to get into it here. Stay with it. It’s something that has everybody’s attention, one way or another (sure, there are lots of badge-bunnies and cop suckers out there (shorthand for those who think that police are never, ever wrong; that private citizens must always defer and capitulate; and that everyone with a badge and a gun is a "hero") who are saying, over and over again: "Yeah! Got ‘im!" or, "They’re all dirtbags . . . ," or something else totally redneck/bigoted/resentful-‘n’-angry/Trump-like, but unfortunately, that’s the sign of the times in which we’re all living - - except for those who’ve been removed from the living . . . ). There’s an awful lot about it that’s disturbing; a lot that’s really sad; a lot that’s some kind of scary; but, just about (notice: just about, not, "all") all of it’s plain wrong.
Police killing civilians. Doing it, for the most part (notice: for the most part) with impunity. Police covering up for other police when those doing the covering know that the ones whom they’re protecting are just plain wrong (can we say it? Dead wrong?) And that by covering up, they, themselves are likely committing crimes (accessory after; misprision; sometimes, aiding and abetting).
The mandatory (and appropriate) disclaimer: we’re not saying that all cops/police/agents/game-and-fish wardens/transit police/school police/marine patrol police, and whatever else is out there with badges and guns and any kind of enforcement authority, no matter how narrow (or, broad) are "bad." To be even more clear (and some of you will say, "Yeah, yeah, they always say that . . . . . " but for the one at this keyboard, it’s true), over the years I’ve been having contact with law enforcement of all kinds and stripes - - and it’s been for lots and lots of years, both as prosecutor and defender, I’ve been involved with, and in some case have gotten to know well, some awfully good people in the field (let’s straighten something else out: it’s not a "profession:" "a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic training," according to Webster’s): people who really care about what they do and about the people for whom they’re doing it, people who are totally committed to doing it right, people who take their obligations as seriously as they take their powers and prerogatives; in short, people who are just plain decent and honest, in both the conventional and the moral sense.
There. I’ve said it, and I mean it.
But: there’s way too much that’s wrong out there now, and there are so many different levels and kinds of wrong. It’s hard to decide where to start. Why don’t we start at the top? But: what’s "the top?" Is it the over-protected, over-privileged, too-powerful police unions around the country (primarily at the municipal and local levels), whose lobbying powers are right there on a par with N.R.A. and Big Pharma? Unions whose mouthpieces are just totally cavalier about making stuff up (" . . . and the officer was in fear for his/her life . . ;" " . . . the officer thought the subject had a gun . . .") and being nastily and meanly critical of anybody - - anybody - - who either seeks answers and accountability or suggests that in a given incident the cop or cops was/were wrong? Those who criticize prosecutors for even so much as suggesting that "an investigation" will be "opened" into a shooting or tasing or beating with an asp or baton, or the use of anything with capsaicin ("pepper spray") or CN ("chemical mace")? These would seem to be (in trendy-speak) "the enablers," the places and people to whom those with something to cover, hide, or defend run, knowing that they’ll get almost impervious cover.
Or: is it the elected state prosecutors and judges who just about always (note: just about) turn blind eyes to events and episodes that at minimum warrant and need inquiry and inspection, if not plain, simple indictment and prosecution (prosecutors, of course) or dismiss cases or acquit enforcement-community defendants in circumstances where private citizens would be at true risk of conviction and jail (judges, of course)? And there’s no secret why the people in those sectors do as they do: they need and want to be elected or re-elected, and to get there, they need (1) endorsements and (2) money, and the police unions are the most fertile sources, directly and indirectly, of both of those things. (Try to run for a seat on the bench, any bench, where a police union comes out with a criticism that that candidate is "soft on crime," "liberal" (a code-word for tough on police, and/or conscious of The Constitution), or something similar, and see how far you get.)
Maybe it’s the law enforcement administrative community, those police chiefs and sheriffs who’ll hire anybody when they need or want to fill vacancies, no questions asked, and who, when they have absolutely no choice but to fire somebody, will never, ever disclose either the firing itself or the reasons why, when asked by the next place the discard goes - - kind of like certain sectors of the world of medics, where anybody can get hired by the next hospital or medical group after being kicked out of (or excluded from) the last one, or stripped of a license in one state only to be credentialed in another. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of police with ghostly trails miles and years long, trails of shootings, beatings, thefts, drug-dealing, sexual abuse (both "on duty" and off) and other screw-ups which, in the private sector and in real life, would keep a person from getting hired for anything, anywhere. "The code," though, written in blue ink, keeps them from being identified, keeps them protected, and keeps them on the streets.
Perhaps (just, perhaps) it’s the police themselves: more of them now than ever before are un- or under-trained and -experienced; emotionally ill-equipped to handle the stresses of a potentially conflict-laden situation (though it says, someplace, that that’s what they’re trained for, and it’s an everyday part of the job, what they signed on for and agreed to), and elementally possessed of a smug, sometimes mean-spirited, bully-boy (or -girl) attitude. All you need to hear to know that is the all-too-frequently-repeated "defense" or "explanation:" "s/he refused to obey my commands." Police have never been authorized to give "commands." They may, in proper circumstances, give "orders," but (1) to require obedience or compliance, they must be lawful orders (a cop can’t arrest you for, say, not taking off your clothes if he or she "orders" it and you refuse, or for not giving up your club sandwich at the local diner if you’re "ordered" to) and (2) failure to obey an "order," even if lawful, is never in and of itself a justification for the use of deadly, dangerous or lethal force ("Drop the gun!" may be one of those few that is).
And then, there’s the covering up. Frequently expressed as the questions, "Who polices the police? Who prosecutes the prosecutors?", it is so rare that one officer or agent will implicate another in anything, report or document anything, intercede in or put a stop to anything that should otherwise be derailed or corrected or dealt with, that those few who have done it have paid heavy prices. Shunned and treated as pariahs at a minimum, it’s not unusual to see them (or, worse, their families) harassed, intimidated or threatened. The in-group will be quick to "hand them up" for something they didn’t do, or something that everybody else does but never gets called out for. Their jobs are at risk. Why? Obvious. "You want me to cover your ass when you screw up? Well, buddy, you’d best cover mine." Simple as that.
Go here: http://www.killedbypolice.net/ . Take a quick look. Children (including very young children); unarmed people; faultless people who had the audacity to stand up to a cop or ask questions; women who simply aren’t (physically) strong enough. And of course, way too many people with dark skin.
Like the guy said: There’s trouble in (wherever we all live, every one of us), and it ain’t going to be fixed by a bunch of trombones and trumpets. For those relatively few of you with guns and badges who do it the right way, still: sorry. The truth hurts. Do your part to start cleaning it up and putting it all right. You’ll feel better, and more and more people around you will really like you.
For the rest of you: look at today’s headlines, tweets, posts, or mainstream news. Even today, this day, it’s still going on. People are protesting and rioting. Cops are for the most part getting more, not less, confrontational. The divide between us and them is widening.
And (more) people are dying.
Police killing civilians. Doing it, for the most part (notice: for the most part) with impunity. Police covering up for other police when those doing the covering know that the ones whom they’re protecting are just plain wrong (can we say it? Dead wrong?) And that by covering up, they, themselves are likely committing crimes (accessory after; misprision; sometimes, aiding and abetting).
The mandatory (and appropriate) disclaimer: we’re not saying that all cops/police/agents/game-and-fish wardens/transit police/school police/marine patrol police, and whatever else is out there with badges and guns and any kind of enforcement authority, no matter how narrow (or, broad) are "bad." To be even more clear (and some of you will say, "Yeah, yeah, they always say that . . . . . " but for the one at this keyboard, it’s true), over the years I’ve been having contact with law enforcement of all kinds and stripes - - and it’s been for lots and lots of years, both as prosecutor and defender, I’ve been involved with, and in some case have gotten to know well, some awfully good people in the field (let’s straighten something else out: it’s not a "profession:" "a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic training," according to Webster’s): people who really care about what they do and about the people for whom they’re doing it, people who are totally committed to doing it right, people who take their obligations as seriously as they take their powers and prerogatives; in short, people who are just plain decent and honest, in both the conventional and the moral sense.
There. I’ve said it, and I mean it.
But: there’s way too much that’s wrong out there now, and there are so many different levels and kinds of wrong. It’s hard to decide where to start. Why don’t we start at the top? But: what’s "the top?" Is it the over-protected, over-privileged, too-powerful police unions around the country (primarily at the municipal and local levels), whose lobbying powers are right there on a par with N.R.A. and Big Pharma? Unions whose mouthpieces are just totally cavalier about making stuff up (" . . . and the officer was in fear for his/her life . . ;" " . . . the officer thought the subject had a gun . . .") and being nastily and meanly critical of anybody - - anybody - - who either seeks answers and accountability or suggests that in a given incident the cop or cops was/were wrong? Those who criticize prosecutors for even so much as suggesting that "an investigation" will be "opened" into a shooting or tasing or beating with an asp or baton, or the use of anything with capsaicin ("pepper spray") or CN ("chemical mace")? These would seem to be (in trendy-speak) "the enablers," the places and people to whom those with something to cover, hide, or defend run, knowing that they’ll get almost impervious cover.
Or: is it the elected state prosecutors and judges who just about always (note: just about) turn blind eyes to events and episodes that at minimum warrant and need inquiry and inspection, if not plain, simple indictment and prosecution (prosecutors, of course) or dismiss cases or acquit enforcement-community defendants in circumstances where private citizens would be at true risk of conviction and jail (judges, of course)? And there’s no secret why the people in those sectors do as they do: they need and want to be elected or re-elected, and to get there, they need (1) endorsements and (2) money, and the police unions are the most fertile sources, directly and indirectly, of both of those things. (Try to run for a seat on the bench, any bench, where a police union comes out with a criticism that that candidate is "soft on crime," "liberal" (a code-word for tough on police, and/or conscious of The Constitution), or something similar, and see how far you get.)
Maybe it’s the law enforcement administrative community, those police chiefs and sheriffs who’ll hire anybody when they need or want to fill vacancies, no questions asked, and who, when they have absolutely no choice but to fire somebody, will never, ever disclose either the firing itself or the reasons why, when asked by the next place the discard goes - - kind of like certain sectors of the world of medics, where anybody can get hired by the next hospital or medical group after being kicked out of (or excluded from) the last one, or stripped of a license in one state only to be credentialed in another. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of police with ghostly trails miles and years long, trails of shootings, beatings, thefts, drug-dealing, sexual abuse (both "on duty" and off) and other screw-ups which, in the private sector and in real life, would keep a person from getting hired for anything, anywhere. "The code," though, written in blue ink, keeps them from being identified, keeps them protected, and keeps them on the streets.
Perhaps (just, perhaps) it’s the police themselves: more of them now than ever before are un- or under-trained and -experienced; emotionally ill-equipped to handle the stresses of a potentially conflict-laden situation (though it says, someplace, that that’s what they’re trained for, and it’s an everyday part of the job, what they signed on for and agreed to), and elementally possessed of a smug, sometimes mean-spirited, bully-boy (or -girl) attitude. All you need to hear to know that is the all-too-frequently-repeated "defense" or "explanation:" "s/he refused to obey my commands." Police have never been authorized to give "commands." They may, in proper circumstances, give "orders," but (1) to require obedience or compliance, they must be lawful orders (a cop can’t arrest you for, say, not taking off your clothes if he or she "orders" it and you refuse, or for not giving up your club sandwich at the local diner if you’re "ordered" to) and (2) failure to obey an "order," even if lawful, is never in and of itself a justification for the use of deadly, dangerous or lethal force ("Drop the gun!" may be one of those few that is).
And then, there’s the covering up. Frequently expressed as the questions, "Who polices the police? Who prosecutes the prosecutors?", it is so rare that one officer or agent will implicate another in anything, report or document anything, intercede in or put a stop to anything that should otherwise be derailed or corrected or dealt with, that those few who have done it have paid heavy prices. Shunned and treated as pariahs at a minimum, it’s not unusual to see them (or, worse, their families) harassed, intimidated or threatened. The in-group will be quick to "hand them up" for something they didn’t do, or something that everybody else does but never gets called out for. Their jobs are at risk. Why? Obvious. "You want me to cover your ass when you screw up? Well, buddy, you’d best cover mine." Simple as that.
Go here: http://www.killedbypolice.net/ . Take a quick look. Children (including very young children); unarmed people; faultless people who had the audacity to stand up to a cop or ask questions; women who simply aren’t (physically) strong enough. And of course, way too many people with dark skin.
Like the guy said: There’s trouble in (wherever we all live, every one of us), and it ain’t going to be fixed by a bunch of trombones and trumpets. For those relatively few of you with guns and badges who do it the right way, still: sorry. The truth hurts. Do your part to start cleaning it up and putting it all right. You’ll feel better, and more and more people around you will really like you.
For the rest of you: look at today’s headlines, tweets, posts, or mainstream news. Even today, this day, it’s still going on. People are protesting and rioting. Cops are for the most part getting more, not less, confrontational. The divide between us and them is widening.
And (more) people are dying.
posted by DLWMiami at 1:36 PM
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