It’s more that they don’t really need to care if it gets out.
There are almost never any consequences for anything an Officer in California does to a civilian, so why would it matter if the department looks bad?
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You know, I think a lot of people—maybe not “everyone,” but a lot of people—horse around on the job. Maybe it’s some kind of psychological need to flout the rules and get away with it. Now it’s one thing when that flouting the rules involves browsing Facebook and Wikipedia instead of writing that report you’re supposed to—but quite another when the rules you follow are matters of life and death or the laws of the land. The more important the rules of the job, the more harm that comes out of breaking them.
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But if the cops shared a nude picture from the phone of an 18 year old woman that was taken (by her) a few weeks before she turned 18, that’s technically distribution of child pornography. Does “think of the children” trump “the thin blue line” or “silly public, the laws are for YOU (not me)”?
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Don’t worry he’s just a single bad apple, playing his voyeuristic game with a bunch of other single bad apples. It’s not as if there is an institutional problem of any kind.
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Thanks for the setup, this needs to be said in every one or few bad apples police statement.
“It only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole barrel.”
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I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again- People entrusted with the public welfare, who use that power to victimize people, are the only humans lower than child molesters. There is no punishment too severe.
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Well, up until the Supreme Court ruling this summer, cops were routinely going on warrantless fishing expeditions searching the phones of people they arrested (even though such behavior was pretty obviously beyond the pale), and clearly this abuse was something they began when the searches were official sanctioned. They just switched from it being part of official fishing expeditions to personal ones, adding efforts to hide what they were doing. (Which only failed in this case because of some synching issues between devices.) In this case, since it happened shortly after the court ruling, the warrantless search amounted to police misconduct which caused the entire DUI case to be tossed (as it should have).
Well, in this case the expression can only be used ironically to begin with, as it’s clear that it isn’t a few individuals but a widespread pattern of abuse, and it’s not a corruption that originally came from one bad apple but that was a logical outcome of the official policy of warrantless cell phone searches (that the cops have apparently been reluctant to give up now that it’s no longer legal in order to continue “the game”).
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It is all an outgrowth of the judicial philosophy of assuming good faith on the part of the agents of the state unless there is beyond a reasonable doubt that there is not just malfeasance but actual premeditated criminal intent with real income generating corruption or hard and clear felonies.
Until the moral hazard of bearing the cost, not just financial but social, for unnecessary and expensive legal defense from incorrect application of police powers on the citizenry instead of law enforcement the police will always push boundaries while we ‘civilians’ feel the burned fingers from their exploration of the stovetop.
(edit)
There is a fear that if hard rules were imposed police would demand higher wages or recruiting drives would fail. Airplane pilots and surgeons are expected to work within strict rules when doing the actual ‘doing’ part of their jobs, why cant society treat police like professionals rather than petulant pre-teen sociopaths? I suspect America prefers its police and prisons brutal as long as they are aimed at someone else and so sabotages reform whenever it raises it’s head.
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If the shoe fits…
I believe dobby is asking more from the citizens. This isnt just a problem within the police force, the problem really lies at the feet of the people who allow it to continue.
I honestly believe that while we worldwide may have lost franchise over much regulation where we cant afford the price of control we can still affect change over police reform. This is important but non-financial social reform that is still left to voters to decide if there is public passion behind the movement. I don’t see much passion for change except in minority and niche attitude populations.
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I think perhaps you’re being a bit generous towards law enforcement here. With the warrantless cell-phone searches, I rather think they saw an opportunity to (abusively) make their jobs easier with something that hadn’t yet been explicitly denied by them by the courts, even though it was pretty clearly unconstitutional. (As, indeed, they often do.)
I’d be happy with substantial pay increases and a cushy retirement package if it meant being able to uphold worthwhile standards.
Of course, losing those benefits should be an inherent risk of failing to meet those standards. There is something very wrong with a society that allows a CEO to bankrupt their company or an unprovoked cop to assault someone with pepper spray or a congressman to refuse to do their job- and then just walk away with a better outlook than someone who actually does their job responsibly.
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At least the cops are making our points for us.
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“Barry Grove with the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office said
investigators have known about the case for weeks. They are
investigating multiple cases similar to this one.”
Sounds like the bunch has been spoiled.
I make no secret of my contempt for exploitive people. Also I very much doubt that anyone is significantly little/powerful compared to anybody else. But if you define “power” as coercion, then you are stuck with the fruits of this way of thinking. Perhaps people are merely conditioned to assume that somebody is better than them? In any case, I don’t credit those who are unable or unwilling to account for their own decisions and actions - regardless of how many similarly inept “friends” they might have.
Good to know.
Now what will the citizens do if it turns out that they are told to eat this rotten fruit anyway?
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I think it has more to do with the ability to finance a team of lawyers respected by the court to issue the proper motions on one’s behalf when required. It also has to do with being in a class who can exchange favors of value, being outside this class means doing without the special favoritism bought with a reputation of favors and the hope for more.
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