Please see above: you’re blaming the stable boy for the fact that the carriage house reeks of horse shit.

“The principal cause of cops lying to secure convictions is that they are encouraged at every step of the way to do so, from the top – that’d be by people who have been to college, by and large.”

That’s been my point all along. But the cops-are-douchebags-end-of-story-now-I-feel-better-about-myself crowd just refuses to understand that.

You know what happens when an honest cop goes into a prosecuting attorney’s office with a perfectly truthful report? It sounds like this:

Attorney: “If the knife was on the console you have no case. We won’t issue a warrant for 1st degree domestic assault. Although it would be very different if the knife was found in the suspect pocket. Judge Putzfeld would accept that.”

Cop: “Are you asking me to…”

Attorney: “Of course not. I’m just saying, you know, we could issue this warrant if the knife had been found in his pocket. I’m saying that’s the only way we can issue it.”

The former only means you spent a little more time in highschool classes. The latter means you took a long, arduous series of exams.

How is, say, another year of highschool a more highly educational and maturing process than leaving it to, possibly, go out into the adult world? I know highschool drop-outs who now have good jobs and are some of the most erudite people I’ve ever encountered.

The principal cause of cops lying to secure convictions is that they are encouraged at every step of the way to do so, from the top – that’d be by people who have been to college, by and large. Those people make arrest and conviction such a priority that they’ve made sure cops know that quantity, rather than accuracy and legality, determine their rise (or fall) in the ranks. Yes, they really do have quotas, although the authorities always deny it. And it is rare for anyone to be held accountable for even the worst police conduct.

And no, it isn’t always this way. When the police see themselves as keepers of the peace rather than as a military operation acting against “the enemy” (the citizens), they don’t behave like this. It isn’t a matter of whether they have training, it’s what they are being trained *for*.

But there’s one difficulty.

The police officer in question admitted he lied in order to get inside the defendant’s home. He admitted this, according to the Judge: ” A person who admits his lie in the opening seconds of his testimony before the court…” .

Without that initial lie, this likely would have been another one of the great multitudes of cases where police lie under oath but because there’s no one coming forward to call them on it (other than non-sworn citizens… people who seldom count unless they have blue blood or connections to the Court) they get away with it over and over and over again.

So, bully for the judge in this case. But by the same token, he made a frankly, OBVIOUS RULING. But I guess we have to be thankful for simple measures these days.

None.

Fuck the police forever and ever, amen.

And eternal shame on the judge for equating honest prostitutes with lying scum douchebag pigs.

I’m sorry, my friend…but it is lazy, counter-productive, and wrong to brand an entire group of people as mindless, even if that group happens to be “street cops”.

It’s even worse for you to accept the notion that FBI agents are somehow better than patrolman. Better at what, I’d like to know.

Because if I had to choose right now between a South Philly street cop kicking my ass and an FBI agent visiting my house to “ask a few questions”, I’d take the ass kicking twice with mustard.

Orthopedic surgeons can sometimes fix the kind of damage done by regular cops, but I don’t know any lawyer slick enough to keep me out of prison when one of your highly-educated Quantico grads comes after me with a federal warrant in hand.

You really don’t know what you’re wishing for.

I’m curious to know HOW you remember what police culture was like in the old days. Isn’t it just possible that cops have mostly stayed the same, while your knowledge and understanding of police misconduct has grown dramatically? Isn’t it possible that sources like The Agitator have merely exposed things that were always there, buried beneath the propaganda of the mainstream media and D.A.R.E.?

Also…it’s really hard to accept the idea of a better time in police work when most of the issues we talk about here were fodder for the culture as far back as Dirty Harry (1971), Serpico (1973), Dirty Harry, Prince of the City (1980), etc.

More generally, interactions between cops and citizens should be presumed coercive (meaning that even beyond proving that a person “consented”, a cop should have to prove that the person’s “consent” did not stem from a belief that a cop might decide to punish non-cooperation).

I’ll grant you that an education would steer most away from LE… and those who still wanted to be in LE after graduation would most likely end up at the FBI et al…

Not as mindless street cops.

Matt with all due respect you are the one who don’t; know what he is talking about…

From the State of Florida’s own website..

To becoming a certified police officer in Florida:

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/getdoc/16b5a8f6-412c-4c72-817e-d26cb05b2e3d/how-to-become-an-officer.aspx

1. Meet the Minimum Qualifications established in Florida Statutes 943.13

Individuals must:

be at least 19 years of age.

be a citizen of the United States.

have earned a high school diploma or equivalent (GED) for law enforcement and corrections applicants. A bachelors degree is required for correctional probation officers.

Not have been convicted of any felony or of a misdemeanor involving perjury or false statement. Any person who, after July 1, 1981, pleads guilty or nolo contendere to, or is found guilty of a felony, or of a misdemeanor involving perjury or a false statement, shall not be eligible for employment or appointment as an officer, not-withstanding suspension of sentence or withholding of adjudication.
never have received a dishonorable discharge from any of the Armed Forces of the United States.

You only need a degree to be a “correctional probation officer” whatever that it…

So a few years back we got TOUGH ON CRIME. What that actually means is that the procurers and police would charge everyone with so many crimes all related to one offense that they PLEA BARGAIN to a guilty plea and have forgotten how to honestly prove their case. (OJ Simpson, Kacy Anthony, Rush Limbaugh) are just the largest cases that prosecutor lost of did not file charges because these people had money to hire competent attorneys.

So now the judges basically are just an extension of the prosecutors office in our kangaroo court system and prison industrial complex. Want to stop cops from lying get more judges that will do their job and throw out their cases based upon bad conduct.

I’m old enough to remember when police culture was different. Most cops were trustworthy; they felt their primary duty was to be helpful to their community; and they could distinguish among good citizens, minor troublemakers, and criminals. No, it wasn’t always like Andy Griffith in Mayberry. But it certainly wasn’t SWAT teams shooting a guy who made sports bets.

Why did the judge need to go into such a long statement? Perhaps he was PO’d by police behavior. But also, he needs to explain WHY he didnt just defer to the police, which is SOP.

What I’d like to see is statement from the Chief Judge admonishing the Chief of Police. The police might not like a decision, but they should not attack the judge for one decision they don’t like. See Maricopa County.

Both seem to suffer from economics. Demand is high — in an effort to meet that demand, society gives us more people to meet teacher & police, but at a cost/penalty; they aren’t as educated/intelligent/talented for that job.

We hire more people, but the pool of talent is diluted, their education/intelligence suffers because the standards are lower. The standards are lower because there is a need for more?

How do we solve this in an economy like we have now?