Originally Posted by
bocastephen
You have this backwards - cops that know the law and restrict their actions to remain within it at all times are the very, very limited exception. 95%+ of cops will just push the limit as far as they can go - they have nothing to lose except having charges dismissed on arraignment. They bet you won't push a false arrest suit against them and just keep a bucket of BS handy to justify their catch-all charges of 'disturbing', 'disobeying', etc.
Frankly, I'd like to see fully empowered citizen review boards being given the power of oversight and ability to suspend or terminate any member of their police force who is found to act in a manner which is not fully and completely inside the intent and letter of the law.
Originally Posted by
QUERY
Were that the case, our society would be deep trouble. There is the media and there is the FBI to help out when there is police corruption. Also, no one is bulletproof. We had a case here in Milwaukee many years ago where 2 police officers tried to arrest someone who had not done a thing. This guy knew that and feared that he would be killed so he grabbed one of the officer's weapons and killed them both. He was acquitted of the shootings because the evidence turned out to be in his favor. Like I said previously, the bad ones don't last.
To Boca's point: there are a number of police jurisdictions that use arrest and threat of arrest as intimidation - or as punishment in and of itself even if there is no court appearance. Many police officers know (and some LEOs are trained to know) that *even* if a case has no merit and will be dismissed that the mere arrest and cost of defense for the person arrested will be as much or more than the punishment available under law.
If it costs $10,000 to defend youself against charges (20 hours of lawyer time at $500/hour, or 40 hours at $250/hour) + the value of your time + any loss to you for time off from work (vacation/paid time off/lost commissions/etc) from dealing with trumped-up charges, and all of a sudden you've spent more than the fine for a misdemeanor.
That's punishment in and of itself.
Further, an arrest alone is enough to keep you from getting a new job (or in some cases it's enough to lose your job) as most employers are running background checks. Employers are not bound by the "innocent until proven guilty" doctrine - and many will reject you for a mere arrest.
As for citizen review boards, I believe they were tried here but citizens don't deal with police matters on a daily basis so they are unfamiliar with how things work. Race factors in here as well. I'd prefer an out-of-state review board composed of ex-LEOs(retired) that have no ties to the locality where they will be evaluating an incident.
I'm not sure how well review boards w/ex-LEO types will work. There is a measure of "professional courtesy" granted between SOME LEO types, including retired. It would be like having mediation boards stacked with people from industry...