HispanicVista Columnists
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By
Sal Osio, JD - From the Publisher's Corne
- February 15, 2010
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Mi Punto de Vista
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The Law Enforcement
Conundrum
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By Sal Osio, JD
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- Sal Osio is the Publisher of HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com). Contact at: SPosio@aol.com
There are over 17,000 police force
departments in the country and over 100,000 cases of police
brutality reported each year. These statistics do not include
cases of misconduct. The unreported incidents probably exceed
manifold those reported, primarily due to intimidation of the
victims who may be on parole, illegally in the country or, in
the majority, just plain afraid of retaliation. Sadly, most of
the victims of police lawlessness are
Police misconduct is a disgrace to law
enforcement in
This is not to imply that the majority of police personnel are guilty of misconduct and illegal force. The opposite is true. Most policemen are family men, involved in their local community, law abiding, conscientious of their duty to protect their neighbors, courteous, civil and professional. The problem is that after decades of reckless hiring of misfits, flawed training, superficial supervision and the failure to weed out the unqualified personnel, our police departments are saddled with ‘bad cops’ who lower the standard of law enforcement and wreak havoc on our communities. We face a national epidemic of police misconduct – the threat to our civil liberties and to the core of our criminal justice system. The challenge is to weed out the ‘bad cops,’ retain the good cops and, in the future, hire qualified candidates. To this end we must identify the causes leading to rogue cops who denigrate this noble profession. The causes are many. Let’s examine some of the principal symptoms of the epidemic and some palatable solutions.
Hiring. We hire ‘Rambo’ type applicants with a psychological deficiency – persons prone to violence with a bully background, lacking in civility and education/culture. This psyche is readily identifiable by reference to the person’s adolescent upbringing. The cure: Psychological testing to weed out unfit applicants; requirement of a minimum of two years college education, preferably with social science courses; and, a well balanced life style.
Training. The police academies must instill social responsibility and skills in the treatment of the population that trainees are being charged to protect. The attitude of ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ must be abandoned. A common dicta is “When approaching a suspect remember that one of you is going back home. Who will it be?” The paradigm that the police officer’s first duty is to protect himself and be constantly aware that he is in danger must be replaced with the mandate that his primary duty as an officer of the law is to protect the citizenry and to respect the rights of his constituents, acting always with civility. He must be free of the paranoia that his life is on the line when approaching a suspect or other bystanders.
Use of force.
Only reasonable force should be used when an arrest is
required. Although all police manuals mandate this directive
only lip service is practiced.
A weapon should be only used under the most excruciating
circumstances, not as a matter of course when ‘feeling insecure
or threatened,’, as is more often the case. When shooting
unarmed suspects the rehearsed justification is that the officer
had reasonable suspicion that his victim was armed.
Unfortunately, homicidal cops are taught in the
Harassment. Racial profiling, discrimination against Hispanics, abuse of women, discrimination against gays – these are typical of the less educated and the emotionally disturbed cops. Even is cases where a black cop is abusive of a black victim … psychologists trace the misconduct to the syndrome wherein the abused becomes the abuser. Periodic psychological testing, in addition to carefully evaluating complaints, should be undertaken to identify the ‘risk’ cops and refer them to treatment and rehabilitation. And, if unsuccessful, to the dismissal of the culprits.
Abuse of authority. The combination of the uniform, the badge and the gun – the ultimate authority – intoxicates the person who is otherwise insecure, deficient in education and culture, lacking in emotional and mental stability. These persons abuse their authority. Abuse is the way in which the wrong doer experiences a ‘high,’ a pride in being, a gratification of conquering an opponent, the satisfaction of self superiority - all of these. Only through selectivity in hiring and dismissal from the force as a menace to society can these abusers of the public trust be neutralized.
Forced confessions. Although technically illegal, this is not an uncommon practice.
Off duty bullies. Off duty policemen should never be armed. When off duty, police officers are frequently under the influence of alcohol and other substances. They are easily provoked and prone to use their weapons. These incidents are not isolated. They are a common cause of brutality and of homicide.
Substance abuse. Police officers should not be allowed to imbibe alcohol or consume any mind impairing substances while on duty or at any reasonable time before going on duty. Random checks for substance abuse should be undertaken, particularly as a policeman checks in for duty.
Stress. All police personnel should undergo mental stress testing periodically and receive treatment as needed or be released from duty. Overtime work and substance abuse are the primary causes of stress.
Corruption. The seasoned patrol cops have a cache of ‘goodies’ available to them. Fortunately, bribery and payoffs are rare. However, the local prostitute’s sexual favors for being allowed to ply their trade, the local dealer surrendering ‘joints’ for being left alone – these are common practices, dismissed as harmless, which nonetheless corrupt law enforcement. Better supervision of street personnel and the routine reassignment of territories are effective remedies.
Perjury. As witnesses most lawmen are notorious for the commission of perjury. The adage ‘the end justifies the means’ is their mantra – anything to get a conviction. And, unfortunately, this is the same mantra of prosecutors who, in fact, suborn perjury. Recently a Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney was quoted in the LA Times as explaining that a policeman’s perjury, as a result of which a new trial was ordered, was actually not harmful because there was other evidence supporting a conviction. (LA Times7/26/09 “Gun Charges Dismissed Over Officer’s Contradictory Testimony”). In other words, it is OK to commit perjury. It is OK to suborn perjury, as long as there is other evidence supporting a conviction. This unconstitutional practice and violation of civil rights may in itself be more serious than police brutality. In this case, the solution is the prosecution of both the police officer and the prosecutor. However, there is a prevailing unholy alliance between the judiciary and the prosecution which prevents this. Elected criminal court judges count on the support of law enforcement unions.
Manufacturing evidence. Another common practice, akin to the commission of perjury, is the manufacturing of evidence in order to gain a conviction. “Planting the gun” on the victim shot by police, an ancient practice to justify a killing allegedly in self defense is less common today than the ‘discovery of manufactured’ incriminating evidence. Corrupt prosecutors actually sanction this practice. Naturally, the solution is to prosecute the conspirators to this felony. But there is an unholy alliance which prevents this.
Concealment of evidence. Exculpatory evidence which would tend to establish the innocence of a suspect is normally an embarrassment to the police who made the arrest allegedly for good and sufficient cause. Law enforcement regrettably is less interested in justice and more interested in a conviction. They rationalizes that, if not in the present case, the suspect surely is guilty of a similar or more serious crime for which he got away. Therefore, a policeman conceals exculpatory evidence and allows an innocent suspect to ‘walk the plank.’
Frame up. The police are fond of sticking their victim with the commission of a crime. Whether through entrapment, a sting operation or coercion to implicate the victim, the end result is an arrest ‘with cause’ and a probable conviction of an innocent person. However, the cop gets credit and a sick satisfaction of being the hero who brought the ‘criminal’ to justice.
Insular. Anti-social cops are insular. They stick together. Their social world is the same as their professional life – insulated. They drink together, play together … and, in the process, shut out the rest of society. They live in the world of ‘us against them.’ These policemen are the most prone to violence. Police departments need in-house psychologists to identify these sociopaths.
Compensation. A few well suited, well educated and trained personnel are more effective in law enforcement than a larger force rooted with the unqualified. In this case less is better than more. Accordingly, the compensation for the qualified personnel should be increased substantially over prevailing salaries in order to select the cream of the crop. Overtime pay should be abolished since this leads to stress and irritation on the job. Pundits argue that it would be too expensive to increase compensation significantly. In my view it would be much less expensive than the billions of dollars spent each year to compensate the victims of police misconduct. The average seasoned police officer has a median salary of $45,000-$50,000 per year. Disgraceful! The base salary should average $60,000 per year. Were it not for the 2.5 times pay for overtime our police would not be able to afford a lower middle class living standard.
The Code of Silence. Omerta among policemen is as strong as it is within the Mafia. Protection of one’s ‘comrades at arms’ has a priority over accountability and protection of the community. This in itself is unlawful and implicates the officer as an accessory after the crime. Officers should be granted immunity against prosecution for information relating to the commission of a crime. And if they refuse to testify they should be prosecuted like other criminals.
Internal Affairs. In-house investigations must be professional, fair and open to public scrutiny. Too often investigators become beholden to their comrades and the police labor unions, sweeping under the rug the implicating evidence. A whitewash of misconduct is the condoning and encouragement of such conduct.
Public disclosure. An independent watch dog commission, or independent ombudsman, must oversee the conduct of the police department and the public needs to be duly informed of internal affairs investigations, its findings and recommendations.
Politicians. A principal cause of police brutality is an unintended consequence: The irresponsibility of elected officials who pander to police unions in the name of ‘law and order’ – the politics of fear - to remain in office or to get elected. In the process we pass more needless laws and give our tacit approval to excessive police enforcement instead of protecting the victims of police brutality.
In a private interview with an old friend,
a retired LAPD officer, he referred to the California Highway
Patrol as the elite among law enforcement agencies in
Troublesome is the history of our premier
law enforcement agency – the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(“FBI”). Today the most selective, ethical and exemplary, the
agency underwent an auspicious start based on ‘the end justifies
the means’ code of conduct. An authoritative and documented
history is contained in the best seller book “Official and
Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover” authored by
Anthony Summers.
Bigotry, coercion, black mail, concealment, perjury – these were
among the many peccadilloes of
I have outlined above what are some common issues which give law enforcement a black eye and the good cops an undeserved censure - much to their chagrin. To the reader who is in shock, I recommend further research (enter ‘police brutality and misconduct’ in your Internet search engine). Go to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on this subject. Go to your local newspaper and research ‘police brutality and misconduct’ in your area. It is a national epidemic.