Protect and Serve... Who!

Once again you have to ask yourself if the police are protecting the public... Who is protecting the public from the police?

I caught this story almost by accident while going through the online newspapers this weekend....

"Two NYC police officer are accused of raping a drunken woman after they were called to escort her home.

Last December 7, a taxi driver called 911 after a passenger had vomited in his car and couldn't find her cab fare.
The woman’s apartment surveillance video showed the two unidentified officers helping her inside her building, and it also showed them returning to the building for a second time about half an hour later.

Both men have been stripped of their guns and badges and were placed on modified desk duty.

During an Internal Affairs investigation, a packet of heroin was found in one of the accused officer’s locker, but he claimed that he had forgotten to voucher the drugs after confiscating them in a separate case.

Both cops were given a drug tests and passed."

(Original story here)

Having lived in NYC during what can only be called the Giuliani "era of terror" where police where allowed to do whatever they wanted with the official position being (at times in complete disregard to the facts given) "We need to allow time for all of the facts to be brought forward before we make any hasty judgements! Our legal system says that all are innocent until proven guilty"!

However this same thought pattern was never the case for some unlucky person picked up in random and often illegal sweeps and raids in the ghettos across the city! In these cases we were told that whoever the cops arrested has a previous record and therefore more than likely was guilty of whatever crime they were accused of, by the public questioning the actions of NYC's finest they were only hampering them from doing their job!

So who is in place to protect the public when police go bad? In reality this is not an isolated case, a google news search will support this statement! And the fact that it has happened to others will not make the trauma of being violated go away for this young woman! However...(and here is my spider man quote of the week!)

"With great power comes great responsibility!"

The hiring process or the training process or the professional development process of Americas law enforcement needs to seriously be looked at and overhauled and the police of this country need to be held to a higher standard!

What do i mean by that?

1) When a cop or cops commit a crime "job stress" should no longer be an acceptable excuse! We all have job stress in one way or the other! I have days that I may not be able to get anything done because the stress and anxiety of getting everything done is at times hard to bear! However if I go out and kill or rape or assault someone because of my "job stress" not only will I be charged and convicted the judge will more than likely ask that if the stress was so unbearable why didn't i quit my job instead of hurting another human being?!? Or even seek professional help?

Police are not drafted into their job! This is a personal choice! At any given time they can resign from their position! Police have some of the best mental health resources available to them and can usually take a leave of absence with little fear of administrative repercussion for any job stress or mental instability issues!

In other words... You applied for the job, went through the training. and understood what your job entailed!

2) You have a gun with basically a license to kill (James bond reference there)! The reason being is that a weapon is given to you to protect yourself as well as the public safety on a whole! It is not given to an officer of the law to become an extension of his/her ego... your badge as well is not given to you for the purpose of bullying or intimidation it is given to you to identify yourself to the public as an officer of the law in the simplest terms... one of the good guys! Just like your weapon it was not issued to you (the police officer) as a tool of intimidation!

So if a police officer is caught misusing the resources given to him should he not be held to at least the same standards that the rest of the work force must abide by! If I use my computer at work to search for porn I know that there is a good chance that I will be suspended or fired! However even though my misuse of job resources may be unethical and may even offend my coworkers the badge and weapon given to a police officer can have more detrimental and far reaching effect! Police have used there badges to escort drugs from airports to drug traffickers they have used badges to allow criminals into areas they may not have been able to access for nefarious purposes and they have a long standing trend of menacing innocent civilians with their weapons in bars, nightclubs and even supermarkets! So should the misuse of tools given to an office to facilitate his job not be an offense that carries a higher punishment?

3) Accountability on all levels! Police in the last few years have complained that they can not help the public with criminal situations/investigations (especially in the ghettos of America) because of what they call non cooperation or the failure to communicate information to law enforcement or to use ghetto terminology "snitching"! The official stance on this is somebody somewhere saw or knows something! and believe it or not if you have information about a crime and do not divulge it to law enforcement... you as a citizen can be charged with a crime (obstruction of justice)! so what happens if an officer knows that his partner has committed a crime and does not come forward with the information? or higher administration is aware of wrong doings by their subordinates? shouldn't they be charged as well? In the military (Global Police Force?) the chain of command is setup so that not only are you accountable for your actions but those under your charge as well! So the excuse of I did not know that they were doing (place crime here) usually does not work as an excuse! And as a superior you might find yourself charged as well!

4) The crime to punishment ratio should be ten times as severe for a public official as it would be for a private citizen!

If I rob a bank and get caught (not even including the fact that I am black) I am going to jail and if the DA has their way I am going for a very long time! So why when a public official or more specifically an officer is caught he is given the benefit of the doubt? or if he is sentenced his public service becomes a factor in giving him a lesser or less severe punishment? They way I thought society was supposed to work was... Those entrusted with the care safeguarding and security of the public safety are indeed held to a higher standard of behaviour and ethics? So if a police officer is caught robbing that same bank they should be sentenced more severely if only for the fact that they have broken the public trust!?!

Back to the story at hand!

so these cops even though stripped of their badges are still at work? Collecting a paycheck? and the whole "package" of heroin thing in your personal locker! The last time i checked there was a protocol in place as to how cops should handle evidence especially controlled substances (if only to keep them from having their own personal street pharmacy) and mismanagement of evidence is grounds for suspension and /or termination! Then a rape charge thrown on top of it?!?!?!?

Like Craig in South park said "I would be so cool if I could get away with that"!

While writing my book The Ghetto Survival Guide I went over a whole chapter that looks at how those that have been entrusted with the public trust have basically gone completely bonkers almost as if they are attempting to bring to life once again the cops characters as seen in the Blaxplotation films of the 70s!

The four points I bring up are just four of many things that need to be addressed with law enforcement and how are elected officials see that maybe giving a free for all pass to police in the spirit on the war on crime or the war on drugs might take a bit of scrutiny as well.

Some of the mail I have gotten about my posts on line as well as my book would lead you to think that I am only concerned about Blacks and Latinos and those that live in the ghetto... Just to clarify to you all... an injustice is an injustice! mismanagement of policy is still mismanagement of policy! Its just that we on a whole as Blacks and Latinos just see it a whole lot more than the rest of America!

My thoughts and prayers go out to the young lady who has had to live through this traumatic event.

So if the police are protecting and serving... who are they protecting!