I cover a lot of police misconduct cases on this site. I always try to note that my beef is not with police in general, but with the policies in place that make excessive force (a) more likely to happen, and (b) unaccounted for when it does. No, I don’t think you can blame the whole of police officers for the relatively small (but growing) percentage who misbehave. But you can blame most cops for refusing to hold those few accountable.

Here’s an example:

A witness testified in court yesterday that an off-duty Wilkinsburg detective barged into a house in New Kensington two years ago and pointed a gun at the four men inside.

Detective Michael J. Adams, 43, is on trial in Westmoreland County on burglary and assault charges in the June 11, 2004, incident. Mr. Adams’ friend Brian Keener, 49, faces the same charges.

Prosecutors said Mr. Adams was enraged when someone damaged his BMW with a rock. A week after the incident, police said, he and Mr. Keener tracked the suspected rock-thrower to a house on Charles Avenue in New Kensington and used a baseball bat to smash a Jeep parked in the driveway.

Witness Colton Gilg testified yesterday that Mr. Adams pushed his way into the house while wielding a gun, slapped the men’s faces with his badge and flashed handcuffs before placing the barrel of his service revolver in the mouth of one of the occupants, Anthony Febbraio, whom he accused of damaging his car.

Neighbor Lorna Cropcho testified that she and her husband heard cries for mercy and violent swearing coming from the usually quiet home. They confronted the strangers inside and threatened to call police.

Mrs. Cropcho identified Mr. Adams as the man who put his badge to her face and who, she said, told her “Feel free. I am the [expletive] police.”

And now, the puncline:

Mr. Adams was placed on leave for 30 days after the incident. He is now back at work on the Wilkinsburg force.

I doubt every member of the Wilkinsburg police department is as depraved as Officer Adams obviously is. But what’s the difference between engaging in that kind of behavior and tolerating it?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 5th, 2006 at 9:22 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.