Exactly what point has been made???
First off, the ACLU makes me hurl. Nothing but a bunch of inbred America haters. Some of the quoted incindences were allegations, not convictions.
I find it hard to believe that somebody is convicted of molesting a child, gets probation from his job, and no civil charges are filed.
Matthias, I was careful to cite only the more egregious/proven examples, being well aware of the difference re: indictment vs conviction. In the local child molestation cases I cited, to the best of my knowledge the sentences were as quoted. Perhaps the likely fate of a former LEO sentenced to jail for child molestation had something to do with it. As to subsequent civil actions, I do not believe the offenders committed these offenses in connection to their duties.
To follow Haggis's, here's another truism: "The evil always believe the good to be stupid", to which the corollary might be "The good generally assume that other folks are decent folks like themselves" ...which assumption would probably especially apply to how most regular folks (including myself) regard Peace Officers.
I was browsing around on the web attempting to locate the specifics of a particularly notable recent case in which a local County Sheriff used $12,000 in seized drug funds to take a trip to Vegas or some such. One of his Deputies then informed the FBI. Unable to produce the missing funds, the Sheriff then attempted to raise the money by selling a load of seized marijuana to a drug dealer, who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent (I believe the Sheriff was sentenced to light jail term and is currently walking around free on some legal point of procedure).
Truly a comic case, and unbelievable except that it happened, and well documented in local newspapers and even "Texas Monthly" magazine. To the best of my knowledge it happened in Dimmit County but, short of subscribng to the local newspaper or "Texas Monthly" archives I couldn't find it on a web search.
Oh, its probably there, but its hidden under MULTIPLE accounts of LEO criminal offenses, I ran out of patience searching. This multitude of criminal offenses does not include a number of incidents of the innocent being wounded or killed, usually in SWAT-style drug interdictions.
"The point" that I have gotten out of these recent threads is that a few LEO's do bad things, but these bad things happen much more often than I would have thought (see the above corollary).
If even 1% of LEO's are bad, in my city that would mean 20 bad Patrolmen on the streets, and I think I could dig up incidents of 20 local Cops getting into trouble over the last few years. Including four who were recently nabbed in a FBI sting agreeing to escort a shipment of what they thought was cocaine while on duty, a Patrol Officer unable to account for ninety minutes spent in the company of a teenage runaway, and another recently charged with rape while ostensibly following up on a complaint.
I know that cases such as these understandably anger honest Cops more than anyone, and as I said it is not my intention to portray most Cops that way. The problem is bigger than I thought, and I'm gonna get off the topic.
It is alarming to reflect upon the fact that, given the information gathering facilites available to LEO's, the potential for a few bad Cops to do harm is greater than in years past.
What I also find alarming is the apparent thin line between order and chaos, and how much depends upon the integrity and courage of honest men (and women). Thus far the police in this country seem to be fairly effectively policed, either by their own or by federal agencies like the FBI and by the presence if a free, if irritatingly biased, press.
What scares me is an image of some possible time where the watchers are themselves corrupted (plausible down here close to the border, with so much illegal money around). If that ever happens we'll be just like Mexico.
Birdwatcher
