One of the most routine tools in the police officer’s arsenal is the query, “you don’t have anything to hide, do you?”  It’s amazing how well that works, striking fear in the hearts of law-abiding people and criminals alike, causing them to throw open their doors, trunks and mouths.

But once again, don’t ponder their question too long, when one need only see how the police handle the question when they’re the ones under scrutiny.

For example, consider the reaction of Miami Beach cops, after nine cops pumped a bunch of bullets into unarmed 22-year old Raymond Herisse.

After killing Herisse, the officers chased down bystanders, including Narces Benoit and a photographer for a local news organization, and confiscated their cameras and cell phones.



Benoit hid his cellphone’s SIM card in his mouth when cops seized and smashed his phone. 

Or maybe you prefer a healthier video, say bike riders perhaps,  where they go after the video after beating the cyclist?

And then there’s the “glitch” that was used to conceal the beating five Cleveland cops gave an arrestee who had the audacity to have his belt buckle touch a cop (a vicious assault to the face, as officially described).



Could there be a theme developing?

Don’t blame the cops.  Neither the public nor the courts understand how very difficult their job is, the risks they face to keep us safe from criminals, and watching them make sausage (of people) could have the unsavory consequence of reducing public confidence in our trust in law enforcement.  Plus, it doesn’t help their ability to tell the story their way, you know, with the cops being the hero and not merely beating and shooting people whenever they feel it’s a good idea, if we can actually see what occurred.

To spell out, yet again, that the sanitized versions told in court, emphasized by dreamy eyes prosecutors who believe every word a cop says, and adamantly refuses to believe that a police officer would ever lie about what occurred on the street, seems unnecessary.  The cops tell their own stories in these videos.

Nothing to hide?  Sure.

And they come courtesy of the chronicler of such matters, Huffington Post/AOL rockstar Radley Balko, who does the dirty work of collecting and collating the never-ending stream of horribles that were disbelieved for generations until the advent of video.  Rumors, by the way, of Balko’s being in a bidding war for the  Aaron Spelling estate in Hollywood are unsubstantiated.