Police Can't Be Punished for Wrongdoing

There have been many, many cases where police officers have very likely been guilty of some sort of wrong-doing. They seem, at times, to be too quick to beat, Taser, or shoot an alleged or suspected "perpetrator," frequently one who was unarmed--the more so, it seems, if the perpetrator is black (and this has at times included Latinos and even Asian Indians). Thus America's African-American population sees racial bias in this police behavior, and we have had riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and most recently in Baltimore over the treatment African-Americans receive at the hands of the police.

It's possible that sometimes the police officer's use of force was justified but it should be clear to any open-minded person that the police sometimes do wrong. Maybe at times it's an error of judgment that should not be judged criminal; but many times the police are pretty clearly in the wrong and even literally get away with murder. (A disclaimer: I generally try not to come to a conclusion as to whether a jury's verdict was correct because the jury members heard all the facts and I did not.)

In a recent case where a policeman fired shots into or at a group of people, the judge basically dropped the case. In Ferguson, the officer in question was not indicted by the grand jury. Where charges are pressed and the case proceeds to trial, the officer, if found guilty, gets no more than a slap on the wrist. As one example, there was a case here in Chicago where an off-duty police officer was tried for basically beating up a female bartender, half his size, who refused--as she should have--to serve him further drinks because he was drunk.  This event was caught on video and posted on YouTube, where it has had half a million views: Officer Anthony Abatte Beats Female Bartender  This officer was found guilty but his punishment was probation.

I think that the police get a break and get a blind eye turned to their guilt at every stage of the judicial process. Basically it is nearly impossible to convict and punish a police officer. Here are some of the reasons:

• First, public prosecutors, district attorneys, and such are reluctant to bring the most serious charges that they could against a police officer. The reason for this is that prosecutors need the good will of the police collectively because they know that they are going to need the police to testify on their side, the prosecution, in future criminal trials.

• Second, judges and juries are predisposed to be sympathetic to the police, to not only give them a lot of deference and sympathy but to believe their testimony. Again, in the typical or common sort of criminal trial, it's a case of the "good guys"--the police, representing law and order--testifying against defendants who, despite the supposed presumption of innocence, are likely to be seen as the "bad guys."

• Third, police are extremely unlikely to testify against other police. They have a solidarity with one another such that they will lie and conceal or distort evidence in order to help to acquit another police officer. And police hierarchy, police unions, and "police spokesmen" (really no more than public-relations professionals) universally defend the police and are totally unwilling to ever admit that a police officer could be at fault in any particular case.

An interesting statistic: for the latest year for which statistics are available, police in America shot 111 people. That is more than were shot in the United Kingdom since 1900. One big difference in the police procedures of the two countries is that U.K. police most of the time do not go about armed.

I don't know whether the riots we have had are ultimately going to do any bottom-line good, but if justice is to be served in America and unjustified killing is to be even reduced, we need some changes in how the police are treated by our  judicial system. Another approach might be to avoid hiring as a police officer any man or woman who has excessive aggressive tendencies or might be racist. But here I might be putting too much faith in the ability of psychological testing to identify those who ought not to be made police officers.

Note added June 18, 2015. Often, when there are initial accusations of wrongdoing against a police officer, he or she is put on paid suspension. Isn't that the same as a paid vacation? Wow, maybe we all need to commit acts to get ourselves more paid vacation time.

Note added July 22. 2015. From a recent story on the TV news, I learned that, out of 400 shootings of civilians by Chicago police since 2007, only one was found to be not justified by the (supposedly independent) Independent Police Review Authority. Perhaps even more disturbing, a member of that board who submitted findings that a shooting was not justified was ordered by his superior to change the conclusion of his report (i.e., find the shooting justified). This man refused and was fired. It's worth noting that the man is a former lawyer and thus is presumed to have a good idea of what the standards of evidence are.
So, even the supposedly independent police review board is definitely tilted in favor of the police and thus virtually never issues a finding that a shooting of a citizen by the police was not justified.

Note added September 30. 2015. Check out this link: Police Lie and Cover Up

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