Police Officers - Are They Above the Law

Is it just me or does it seem like just about every day now we hear reports about another police involved shooting across the country that claimed a life, ie, a 23-year-old man was shot and killed by St. Louis County police officers in Jennings, Missouri, after allegedly charging at them with a knife; Prosecutors drop charges against a Kansas City police officer who shot and wounded an unarmed man arguing the case was not strong enough to secure a conviction; a police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder after the April 4 shooting of an unarmed  man, Walter L. Scott was caught on video; LAPD officers shot a Skid Row resident on Tuesday afternoon - One more incident of an unprovoked shooting which, thankfully did not result in death; the man who was shot and killed by a police officer early Sunday morning in Jessamine County was 40-year old Michael Foster; A white police officer in an Atlanta suburb shot dead an unarmed black man who was not wearing clothes on Monday; Funeral held for man shot and killed by Smyrna police; An 18-year-old man was fatally shot by police just blocks from his home; Atlanta police are investigating an officer-involved shooting that injured a man on Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard near Garibaldi Street; White deputy sheriff becomes latest American officer charged in the shooting of a black man that was captured on video; Police have released video capturing the accidental fatal shooting of a black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Atlanta police officer accused of killing woman he met on Craigslist. Well that last one is not the same as the others, but interesting and worth mentioning just the same.

From what I've read it appears some police officers are not using good judgement when faced with what has now become routine situations. How in the world you can mistake your teaser gun for a hand gun? Shouldn't they be kept on separate parts of your body to avoid mixing them up? I'm no expert, but it seems to me that a teaser and a hand gun would feel different.  Shouldn't you double check to make sure you have the right thing in your hand before you squeeze the trigger? 

And when these officers of the law are not discharging their weapons without cause, they seem to have the same judgment impediment when pursuing suspects, i.e., Man Fatally Shot After Police Chase, Multi-Vehicle Crash in Houston; Fatal U-Haul Police Chase in Southern California; Officer says passenger was holding pop can, not gun during chase and shooting; Police chase leads to fatal wreck in East Point; Police officers fatally shot a man who led them on a chase Wednesday morning in northeast Harris County; Southern Methodist University police chase ends in fatal crash; Suspect charged in fatal police chase accident in Toledo; A police chase in California left at least seven dead – including four small children; Suspects crashed after a police chase in Cobb County on Wednesday; Duluth police chase ends with fatality;  A 17-year-old driver was killed and a passenger was critically injured when a high-speed chase with police involving a stolen vehicle ended; Teen driver in stolen car killed in crash following police chase; 17-year-old dies after trying to jump from roof to roof in Fordham section of Bronx to avoid police.  

I must admit I am shocked at the amount of officer related shootings and fatal crashes across the country this year alone. Sure each case is different and in some cases the victim was guilty of some infraction but did they need to pay with their lives? Whatever happened to “due process”? In all of these cases the officer appointed himself the judge, jury, and executioner. It may not have been their mindset at the time of the incident (or maybe it was), but the end result is the same. Some of these cases have become racially charged as the officer was “white” and the victim was “black”. Some may argue that officers are trained to shoot to kill in the face of imminent threat or danger, however in some of the cases referenced above, it was a clear case of murder because the victim was either running away from the officer or had surrendered thereby posing no imminent threat/danger to the officer or anyone else.

I don’t think for one minute that the number of officer related shootings have increased, but rather it is the number of documented incidents that have increased as a result of social awareness and social network, along with modern technology which puts video capability in the hands of anyone with a cellphone.  Back in the day, black men were prone to be pulled over while driving by an officer who felt he had just cause because the driver was “black” and fit the “profile” of any given offender they were looking for just because he was black, thus the popular saying “guilty of driving while black” was coined.  But back to what I was saying about increase in documented incidents of police shootings. Had it not been for private citizens who captured the events, those officers would lie about the details of the shooting as well as incriminate the victim by planting guns and/or substance on the victim to justify the shooting as was recently the case in North Charleston, SC. Had the video not surfaced, the officer’s account of the incident would have been the beginning of the end and that victim’s death would have been ruled justified.  Thankfully the video reveals that the victim was running way from the officer when he was shot point blank in the back.  Makes you think of how many other victims were killed in a similar manner and their deaths ruled justified.

It seems to me that some of these officers have no right being police officers, let alone carry a gun because they displayed poor judgment. They took an oath to protect and serve but they have failed on so many levels. I remember years ago on the island that potential police candidates were sent for psychiatric evaluation to determine their suitability for the role of a police officer. If it was found that an individual’s psyche was not strong enough to withstand the strain that being a police officer would inflict upon it, meaning they would make poor judgement when faced with a life or death situation, a recommendation was made not to hire that individual.   I’m not sure if that practice holds true on the mainland, but if it is not then I seriously suggest they adopt that practice. Not that this would be a save all to end all, but it would help weed out some of the trigger happy people who can be a victim’s nightmare. If in fact they already do practice this policy of psychiatric screening, then some serious training or re-training in judgement is required. Officers need to be able to defuse a potentially dangerous situation by pulling back in the interest of the public’s safety. They don’t have to always catch their man that day. In most cases they know where the suspect lives or can tap into resources which will eventually lead them to the suspect another time. I am convinced that the reason a lot of these officers pursue their suspects at all cost  is all about their ego and the need to prove to others, and even themselves, that they can take down a suspect even at the expense of innocent bystanders.  Proper training will ensure that if a suspect tries to engage an officer in a high speed chase that the officer would pull back and let the suspect think he got away. A few days of freedom is a small price to pay as opposed to having the suspect killed in a high speed chase which could also claim the life of others.

I don’t know about you but I think it’s time for a change. Officers need to be held accountable for their actions, accidental or not, and not allowed to hide behind their badge. I see them every day breaking the law because they feel they are above the law. I know you've see them too, i.e., turning on their siring to avoid sitting at a red light, going above the required speed limit, turning without utilizing turn signals, etc. It’s hard for me to respect the men in blue when they don’t respect me. How can they expect to enforce the very law that they themselves have little or no regard/respect for? I know disobeying traffic laws is a far cry from taking someone’s life, but to me they are all on the same plain. If you have no regard for the little things, then it’s only a matter of time before you disregard the big things. I’m just saying – I got issues, what about you?)i(

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 The views and opinions shared here are by the Author and are the property of Todos Escribe. 

Educators - Guilty of Theft by Taking

So the verdict came down a few days ago in what is being called the “largest cheating scandal in the nation’s history”. On Wednesday, a jury of their peers found 11 of the 12 educators on trial guilty for the role they played in falsifying student’s responses on the state’s standardized test in Atlanta Public Schools.  They were all convicted of racketeering - a felony that carries up to 20 years in prison, and some were also convicted of making false statements, which can add more years to their sentence.  The verdict comes 7 years after an investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that exposed the cheating. In a surprising move, the judge overseeing the case, Judge Jerry W. Baxter, ordered that the convicted be taken into custody immediately.  This came as a shock to both the defendants and their attorneys.  Apparently they were under the misguided impression that they would be allowed to remain free on bond until their sentencing. 

While the nearly 3-year investigation of about 44 Fulton county schools uncovered almost 200 employees, including principles and the district’s schools superintendent, in a conspiracy to inflate test scores on the state’s standardized test and misrepresent the achievement of Atlanta’s students for financial gain, only 35 would face a Fulton County grand jury. Among them was Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Beverly Hall, who passed away last month.  Of the 35 accused, 21 of the educators negotiated plea agreements; two defendants died before they could stand trial, leaving the 12 that ended up going to trial.  Of the 12 on trial only one, a special education teacher, was exonerated/acquitted. After giving the order for the defendants to be remanded into custody until sentencing, Judge Baxter said, “I don’t like to send anybody to jail.  It’s not one of the things I get a kick out of, but they have made their bed, and they’re going to have to lie in it, and it starts today.”

What I find interesting is the notion by some people that the judge’s order was too harsh. Let’s face it, they had tons of opportunity anytime during the past 3 years to come clean and save tax payers money by avoiding a trial. They knew they did something wrong regardless of how insignificant the role they may have played on the whole cheating scandal fiasco.  To perpetrate a facade of innocence expecting to get off knowing fully well that they were not speaks volume to their character. The sad thing about it is that these were the people in charge of educating our children.  Don’t think for one minute that this issue started or stopped with these 35 educators. I suspect that this has been going on for a while and is probably still going on in other counties, cities, or states. It just took this long for it to be uncovered here in Atlanta thanks to the reporter at the Atlanta Journal Constitution who first broke the story in 2009. Hopefully this verdict and upcoming sentencing will act as a deterrent and send a message to any future educator who would think to follow suit. The other sad thing is that the true victim of this seemingly victim-less crime are the students.

If I was to wager I would say this all came about – cheating scam - because the teachers failed to effectively teach their students the knowledge and skills they need to successfully pass the standardized test on their own.  Speaking from experience I know firsthand what it’s like to have a teacher assigned to a classroom who is not equipped to teach the children in her care. I remember when my son was in middle school and he was having difficulty understanding the basic algebra concept. I would spend time with him at nights after I came home from my own college classes helping him with his homework.  At one point after successfully showing him a shortcut on how to remember how to apply the greater than/lesser than symbol accurately, he said to me, “that was so easy mom. Why didn't Ms. “Smith” just say that?” He would go on to suggest that I would make a great teacher.  After getting his progress report, which was less than desirable, I made a trip to his school to inquire about this grades. I was told that his grades was a reflection of both his classroom test scores and classroom participation but I should not be overly concerned because he was mastering the CRTs (standardized test) which showed him as performing way above average and in some areas he was performing on high school level.  She went on to say that while his classroom grades were not good, he was obviously learning something because he was performing so well on the CRTs. Of course I took great pleasure in informing his teacher that she should not take credit for his performance on the CRTs because it was my hard work which was responsible for his success. Looking back I can honestly say that had it not been for my consistent involvement and commitment to work with my son at nights he may not have graduated from high school and he would not be as well rounded as he is today. But what about those other students who don’t have parents who are as committed or who have a reasonable expectation for their child’s educational need to be met at school? Who will ensure that they will learn what they need to learn in order to be able to master the states’ standardized test on their own?

The lesson here that we as parents should take away is that we cannot take it for granted that our children’s educational needs are being completely met at school. Apparently financial gain is far more tempting for educators to motivate them to drop the ball and resort to underhanded schemes to achieve the end result that hard work and perseverance use to accomplish. We as parents have a responsibility to ensure that our children are well rounded in and out of the classroom setting. Challenge them, ask questions and above all, don’t be afraid to hold our educators accountable for the job they are being paid to provide. Don’t put anything pass them. Truth be told, until this cheating story broke I had no idea this was even possible. Who would think that the very adults who are entrusted with teaching our children the building blocks they need to ensure they can succeed in life and who should be role models to them, would be found guilty of robbing them of the very educational experience they deserve.  

To that end I wholeheartedly agree with Judge Baxter’s decision to incarcerate those defendants and I hope they all get the 20-year sentence because they are just as guilty as a robber who was convicted of “theft by taking”. As far as I am concerned they took away those students’ right to be educated and equipped to pass the standardized test on their own resolve.  As such, the punishment should fit the crime.  I’m just saying. I got issues – what about you?)i(

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 The views and opinions shared here are by the Author and are the property of Todos Escribe.