by David J. Broderick

Police are a necessary evil to ensure not only the stability of government but domestic tranquility. While there is no doubt in my mind that the police have a tough job - I take issue with those who continually turn a blind eye to police misconduct defining the police as heros due to one tragic day in American History(Conservative Talk Show Hosts). Good police officers are worthy of my admiration but I can not and will not broadly lable the entire police department as heros. In addition, police officers are paid to do a job and the mere fact that their job is dangerous does not automatically qualify them as heros. The mere fact that a police officer dies in the line of duty does not absolve him or her of their past wrongdoings if they committed any. Each police officer ("hero") must be examined individually and awarded the title of "hero" individually.

I make this point because of talk radio's constant chant, "You can't label the whole police department as bad just because of few bad apples." Well, I have news for talk radio - You can not label the whole police department as heroes when there are numerous bad apples and the good apples are compromised to protect the bad apples by keeping their mouths shut. If these yahoos on the radio would take 10 seconds to think before they speak they would not make the foolish comments they make.

 

A police officer is charged with enforcing the law no matter who commits the crime. If a fellow police officer commits a crime then his bretheren must arrest him - no excuses. If any of his bretheren seek to cover up the event, make mistatements to the press or merely even keep their mouth shut about a crime they witnessed than they have committed a crime themselves and should be arrested and tried like every other citizen.

 

Recently, a 16 year old boy, was beaten by police officers while handcuffed. The police denied the incident until a video tape showed up (crime one). Shortly after the video tape surfaced, the police department did some line rectification stating that the 16 year old boy resisted arrest and assaulted a police officer. This statement released by the Police Department illustrates their contempt for the citizenry. The prior conduct of the boy prior to being handcuffed does not justify slamming him into the car while handcuffed and subsequently punching him in the face. THE POLICE DEPARTMENT WAS SILENT ON THOSE EVENTS. The officers involved should have been immediately arrested and charged with a crime and I mean all of them. Those officers standing by while other officers beat the boy had a duty to protect the boy once he was in custody; therefore, those officers should have been arrested and charged with a crime as well.

 

During the 4th of July, Mayor Michael Bloomberg made numerous public service announcements about driving while intoxicated. Mayor Bloomberg touted how the police would take your car and you will lose your license. My question for Mayor Bloomberg - What ever happened to the drunk police officers who caused injuries to others? What happened to them Mayor?The public announcement would have been more effective had Mayor Bloomberg stated that not even police officer's are exempt.

 

In New York you had a young African American man gunned down by four police officers. Murder? I do not think so. Manslaughter - I think so. However, talk radio expressed no outrage with gunning down an African American. Forty-one (41) bullets were released. I am sure 4 would have done the job. Did Mr. Diallo have a gun? No. What was his crime for which he was shot? His wallet looked liked a gun. Give me a break. The officers who shot Mr. Diallo do not deserve to rot in hell for an honest mistake but they most certainly deserved a couple of years in prison. Moreover, those police officers and NOT the City of New York should be the ones to pay the monies for their negligence. Maybe if those officers knew they would be personally accountable they would have acted differently.

 

The same holds true for the police officers who assaulted Mr. Louima. Every officer who knew of the events of that evening had a duty to arrest Officer Volpe and his crew. There is absolutely no excuse for allowing a man handcuffed to be sodomized with a stick. The department's subsequent silence warrants an indictment of the entire precinct. Charles Schwarz wants his freedom and if Charles Schwarz is innoncent of the crime he should go free. However, if and when Charles Schwarz found out that Justin Volpe committed the crime, Mr. Schwarz was under an affirmative obligation to arrest Officer Volpe. Therefore, the real question Charles Schwarz must answer is why did you fail to arrest Officer Volpe once you knew he committed the crime. Again, maybe if these police officers were held personally responsible (financially to their victim) they would not have committed the crime and/or participated in the crime. Again, why should the tax payers of New York City be made to pay for the crime.

 

In Los Angeles, Rodney King was beaten by several police officers while others watched. Those officers who watched should have been arrested and tried but they were not.

 

The list of crimes committed by the police department against the citizery is much larger then one can imagine. Yet the media fails to document those events taking police department spokesman at their word.

This was written for you to reflect upon. The X-Files slogan is correct - "Trust No One." Most of all do not trust your government - always question. If the government is telling the truth then it has nothing to hide and nothing to fear.

If you have any questions, you should always feel free to contact us.