An excellent report last night on ABC’s 20/20 about police out of control, and other police refusing to do anything about it because of the Blue Wall of Silence.
The report showed numerous videos of cops, off and on duty, becoming violent and beating people for pleasure. It’s a really bizarre report, and calls into question at least a portion of the people to whom we give guns and shields. It makes one wonder how poorly they screen for people who psychologically unfit to be cops. Or perhaps who would be our clients but for the shield.
One point made in the story is that the pervasiveness of video may be the first crack in the blue wall. Conduct that cops used to deny, and whose denials were believed and the complainers discredited, is now provable when caught on video. Suddenly, cops gone wild becomes cops caught on video. Hey, Joe Francis, this could be a whole new division for you.
The story also points out that most cops are ashamed of these conduct of those who engage in this violence, but can’t bring themselves to do anything about it because of cop culture. I understand exactly what they are saying, and I don’t care. It is disgraceful for a cop to conceal the misconduct of another cop, and the fact that he’s gutless to confront the cop culture just means he’s gutless. It is not a good reason.
Check out the story.
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The people who ought to be the most angry are other police officers. He needs to go up the river.
I guess, then, that we should expect lawyers to turn each other in what we witness ethical violations, etc.. How about doctors?
The huge differences between cops committing violent crime and lawyers committing ethical violations aside, the answer is yes. And we do greive each other. And Docs too. But it’s a lot harder to catch ethical violations on video (since they aren’t always apparent) than a bunch of drunken cops beating up patrons and bartenders in a bar for fun.
You’re right. So how come they don’t reject the culture and do something to protect the dignity of their job from the animals? They have the ability to stop it. They chose not to use it.