The_Critic said:
chadachada123 said:
The_Critic said:
People are real quick these days to jump on police officers when these types of stories are so few and far between. There are thousands of Police officers in the united states, many that put there lives in danger so we don't have to deal with drug dealers, rapists, murderers, thieves, child molesters and anarachy.
I think it's something as a nation we have taken for granted. And then when a nutjob does something stupid, we as a society jump on the group as a whole.
It's highly disappointing to see the state we've come to as a people.
The problem isn't that some cops abuse their authority once in awhile.
The problem is that THE VAST MAJORITY OF THEM FACE NO PUNISHMENT WHATSOEVER, or such a disproportionate punishment compared to what a citizen would get, when they should get as harsh or more-harsh of a punishment since they were trusted with authority to begin with.
There is no way for you to know the extent of their punishment. News always will have it's own bias, they will either make it look like the officer got scott free or they will make it look like the officer was justified and should be awarded for what he did. If the "news" is all you have to base your opinions off of, IMO you can't argue this.
Just know that Internal affairs will deal with it as is seen fit. If he did something criminal he will be brought before a judge of his peers, and if he is found guilty he will be punished according to whatever the judge deems a fair punishment.
Long, long post, skip to the middle for the explanation of how the US works, or to the end for the main point.
I...I don't think that you seriously believe this. Either that, or, given your use of "internal affairs" (British/English term), you aren't an American citizen and don't understand just how corrupt our police forces are here. While the FBI (federal) does investigate SOME cases of police corruption, it is quite rare, and state/county/local police forces have and do abuse their authority for various reasons. And they can do so with little threat, both because most fellow officers will cover for them and because many judges will give lesser sentences (if any) for officers that break the law.
I'm not using the news to say whether or not an officer is justified in their actions (and semi-frequently side AGAINST news pieces that try to make the cops actions appear justified when they aren't). I'm saying that the news shows fairly often that cops are not punished for their actions, let alone punished fairly.
Here's an example where an officer shot an innocent person 6 times and then attempted to cover it up, changing his story to make him appear to be not at fault, and then being cleared of all wrongdoing by his district:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/phoenix-family-lawsuit-cops-shot-homeowner-intruder/story?id=8756441#.T4-3M9WQnKd
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2009/03/hero_homeowner_shot_mistakenly.php
Best part? The actual criminal in that case was only given a warning, because he was "unarmed" (the gun was found on a subsequent search by the homeowner). This all isn't a "look at the way the news spins it! I agree with the news!" It's a "here are some hard facts about what happened, and this is the punishment they received or didn't receive. This is unfair."
Explanation of the US Justice System
You must understand how the US justice system works. For criminal cases, officers investigate their district (which is generally small, a county or town, and, rarely, a state) for crime-breaking. They can arrest on-site or can wait for a warrant from a prosecutor. The prosecutor is who determines if a crime will be charged in a court of law. After this (and after the Grand Jury that determines if there's enough evidence for a trial), a judge reviews the case, and, in some cases, is allowed to dismiss the case if the judge finds the claims unsubstantiated. The case may then go to trial, with the accused being allowed either a judge or a jury trial. After this, a verdict is made, and if guilty, the judge will have a hearing to determine the punishment.
Each of these stages has a people with little oversight that can clear an officer of wrongdoing, these people each having personal/political reasons to side with the officer. Police officers can and will cover up and attempt to shield fellow officers, prosecutors will choose to not investigate or charge officers unless they are extremely high-profile, and judges will use various methods to lessen the appearance of guilt or otherwise side with officers, especially in small civil cases.
In large civil cases of police brutality seen before a jury, the state or county overwhelmingly loses. In criminal *jury* cases, officers also overwhelmingly are found guilty in many cases. Even so, judges (who determine the actual punishment, not juries) will almost always give officers exceedingly light punishments compared to normal citizens.
In addition, if a prosecutor chooses not to charge someone with a crime, there is very little (read: nothing) that can be done short of bringing federal charges into the case, which is only done in very high-profile cases, as the feds don't exercise much authority (having most of their authority in drug trafficking, corruption, and terrorism, not assault or "minor"/relatively insignificant corruption) over state or county proceedings.
Besides, in civil cases where the state or city is ordered to pay millions in damages, that money comes directly from taxpayer wallets, and in many cases the state or city's police department will deny any wrongdoing after the fact and will let the officer keep his/her job with a slap on the wrist at best.
TL;DR version:
Just read this tiny collection of just some of the cases in the US, and take note of how often the officers in question face penalties, how harsh the penalties are, and how rarely the penalties are criminal penalties as opposed to just being fired (hint, "not often," "not very," and "far too much," respectively):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cases_of_police_brutality_in_the_United_States
Edit: here's an additional link which has cases where officers killed somebody, whether justified or not. Some of these are clear brutality:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States
If you want to chalk these all up to "media spin" and not recognize that a great deal of them are because of our justice system failing...Power to you, brosif...
