Well in the past two weeks we've had:
- An officer get picked up for (but not charged with) DUI in a neighboring jurisdiction & who wonders why the chain is talking about firing him anyway... particularly since this is just the latest in a string of incidents involving this idiot and poor judgment.
- Another officer who went through the phone pics of an arrested subject, and upon finding several intimate pictures of a female then forwarded the pictures to his own phone - without deleting said forwarded messages either. Very understandably causing an upset subject to call Internal Affairs upon his release.
- And our latest winner, picked up on Federal charges involving child pornography and offenses with underage participants.
On the ironic note, it sure makes me glad to be low-profile & out of the limelight due to the presence of common sense.
On the other, this stuff pisses me off on multiple levels.
#1, any of the above are violations of not just the law but of common decency - all of which deserve the appropriate punishments.
#2 it's shit like this that makes it harder for those of us who try to live up to the standards and do the right thing. The vast majority of the cops out there bust their ass every single day, fight the good fight, and do their best to live by a higher standard. But, every time one of these idiots does something it taints all of us. Citizens and the community don't remember the good ones - they remember the news stories about "yet another' dirty cop. They don't look at how hard I work for my reputation and integrity - they just ask why it seems some of us feel untouchable or above the law. For all we bitch about the breakdowns in society and the system, or we takl about how the mopes and thugs are getting worse - hold up the mirror to what is going on in our houses.
I'm waiting to see what happens with each. We have a new chief, and this is his opportunity to establish the tone of his discipline and tenure. I find each of these offenses unforgivable & I hope that they are treated as such - but I also hope that it's done fairly and openly. That way not only the department but the community can see that we will not tolerate such people masquerading as one of our own.
2 comments:
You're standing on a very important soapbox, more so because you are a part of the system.
Keep shouting! They can ignore you, but they can't ignore everyone who agrees with you.
For what it is worth, I think that part of the problem is also that the other kind of cop is the one that your average law abiding citizen is more likely to have contact with.
The most common contact is a traffic stop. There are two kinds of drivers. The first kind of driver gets stopped all the time because they drive like an ass, in which case they have lots of contact. The second only gets pulled over for chicken-s tickets, which means the only cops they have contact with are the kinds of cops who write chicken-s tickets. Add in the pressure that some municipalities create by pushing for more citations, and it's a situation Robert Peel would never approve of.
Post a Comment