Please read this. It is a story about Baltimore Police officers abusing and falsely arresting a married couple who stopped to ask for directions. At worst, they may have rolled through a stop sign, and they wound up cuffed, arrested, and locked up for the night. Seriously. Please believe it. Don't say to yourself, "These people probably were obnoxious, or drunk, or offensive, because police officers would never act this way." Some police officers do act this way. Some think this way. Unfortunately, most people don't want to believe it. Certainly prosecutors don't believe it, and most judges cannot conceive of a police officer doing wrong. The same goes for politicians, and most of the media.
I'm not a bomb-throwing anarchist who hates the police. However, I have witnessed enough times an officer lying under oath, or abusing a citizen in some way knowing he can get away with it, that when I see a story like this one in the media, I pray that people are paying attention. I've been in court picking a jury when a prosepective juror tells the judge and attorneys that he would not believe that a police officer would ever lie. As a professional, I have to turn to the judge and say "strike for cause, your honor." What I want to do is turn to the prospective juror and say "Are you a complete fucking idiot, or are you just trying to get out of here before lunch?"
We are taught as children that the police are our friends. I wish that were always true. I know that what is true is that they are people, and within the law enforcement population one will find the same personality defects, neuroses, mental illnesses, addictions, bullies, cowards, and ignorance, that one will find in the population in general. Why is that difficult for many to accept? Some police officers are courageous, morally unimpeachable, and humble. Some are criminals. There is a lot of room in between for all the human frailties and shortcomings, in varying degrees, that lead a person to bully, lie, cheat, or steal.
