TheAgitator has a long list of cases of the police botching raids, prosecutors holding people to double standards, and all of that stuff that I have bitched about here in the past. I wouldn't be so upset about these issues, were it not for the fact that the public is put in such a terrible position. When innocent people are shot and killed, it's just a hectic situation for the officer, but when an innocent person is the first people to get a shot off and kills the cop, he or she "should have known better."
All of this is incredibly ironic when you consider the fact that in most police raids, the "fog of war" would be primarily a problem for the people inside the targetted house, not the officers who presumably have investigated the household and have a reasonable idea of what to expect. The very logic behind midnight and early morning raids is to catch people when they are sleepy, bleary-eyed and not fully functional. It speaks great ill of the moral character of many police officers and prosecutors that they would blame an innocent, sleepy homeowner for shooting a cop or even just offering mild resistance.
The fact that the government is willing to break down someone's door, enter with military-grade armaments and wreck havoc on life, limb and property over narcotics is the final insult. It is bad enough that such extreme abuses are so routinely tolerated. It's even worse that they are committed to keep idiots from blowing their brains out on narcotics, a petty offense that is a "self-correcting problem" if one ever plagued society.
Your concerns are valid. However,I caution you to not paint all of law enforcement, local, state and federal, with an ugly brush when something goes wrong and mis-deeds go unpunished.
You know my law enforcement background. I have extensive experience in internal police and law enforcement corruption issues.
The system and procedures to deal with such issues is not perfect. However, it does require honorable people to do their job.
FYI,I do not support immunity for police/le actions. I also detest no knock laws and know of officers who lost their lives. At the end of the day, when something goes wrong and people get hurt or killed, the rule of law should rule the day. Unfortunately, it does not always happen that way. Fortunately, there is no statute of limitations on homocide/loss of life. So...it can get another look.
The standard for investigating incidents which you report seek to determine whether the officers acted outside the scope of their training and whether they were acting within the scope of authority/approval of their chain of command. If the questioned actions of the officers can be proven to the negative, the findings become the basis for Grand Jury investigations and criminal charges. I've seen it happen and have been a part of it many times.
The system is flawed because it is run by people. Some of which are incompetent and/or corrupt. Sometimes their actions result in criminal behavior.
Below is a copy and paste of some thought provoking anecdotal info in support of the profession. I am also including a link to the US Dept of Justice Bureau of Statistics which collects stats from all of law enforcement in the US.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/lawenf.htm
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DID YOU KNOW?
More than 14,859 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty.
(Over 6,000 officers killed since 1960). There are approx., 740,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the U.S. About 14 per cent of those officers are female.
Every year between 150 and 165 law enforcement officers are killed in the line of duty.
(Approx., 300 children of police officers will need assistance in dealing with the grief of losing a parent.)
Every 54 hours somewhere in America a law enforcement dies in service to the community.
From 1986-1995, 197 convicts murdered a police officer while out on parole, probation, or early prison release. More than 100 police killers during that period were under 18 years of age.
An average murderer spends 5.5 years in prison... a "life" sentence averages 7.7 years...and 3 out of 4 convicted criminals don't go to jail at all.
Two police officers are shot every day in the United States.
Most officers are killed during arrest situations, disturbances and car crashes.
Most officers are killed between 4:01 P.M. and Midnight
25% of officers killed are killed with their own weapon.
Most officers are killed within 60 seconds of contact with suspect. 40% of the time the officer is alone or has no backup available.
More than 189 police officers are assaulted every day in the U.S. (62,000 assaulted yearly) and rising (that is one out of every nine), with 21,000 injured. Many are permently disabled.
The FBI reports that on yearly average: 380 officers are the targets of unprovoked attacks by ambush, resulting in 21 law enforcement deaths.
I am very confident in saying , that if a judge was killed every 54 hours, or 62,000 judges were assaulted annually, laws would be enacted overnight to severely penalize the offenders. It is a sad fact that in the majority of states, assaulting a police officer is only a misdemeanor offense, as in Oregon.
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"Police work is the only profession that gives you the test first, then the lesson".
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Here are some of the most prevalent and acute symptoms identified by police survivors:Feeling Lonely 75.2
Feeling Sad or Unhappy 70.4
Low Energy 68.3
Easily Hurt Feelings 64.3
Trouble Concentrating 56.3
Images that wont leave mind 53.9
Trouble remembering things 52.4
Feeling emotionally numb 52.4
Feeling Angry 51.6
Wanting care for themselves 51.2
Sleep Disturbances 50.8
Difficulty Making Decisions 47.6
(National Institute of Justice Research in Brief)
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There is something that is so sinister about the word 'sedition'. I like it. umm... the word, not the act of.