***NOTE***
The case referred to in this paper is FICTIONAL; there is no such murder/rape case in San Diego as far as I am aware.
----------------------------------------------------
San Diego Breach of
Trust: Murder and Rape Committed by Law Enforcement Officer
The recent case of a woman raped and
murdered by a law enforcement officer (LEO) has broken the bond of
trust between the criminal justice system and the community. The
officer will be referred to as “John”. Not only did John commit a
heinous crime, but it is likely that members of the law enforcement
community covered this incident up. It is also possible that the
crime took place in an environment where assaults committed by LEOs
were common. Considering the case under the systems theory it can be
seen that if the public does not trust the police to do their job
then there is no "balanced state" and the criminal justice
system cannot run properly. The purpose of this task force is to
examine John's case in view of current perceptions about law
enforcement officials and police misconduct. An additional goal of
the task force is to examine whether the criminal justice system is
appropriate in sentencing, both to law enforcement officials and to
the general public. The task force also needs to determine where
these perceptions are generated and how to manage them more
effectively to reduce problems within the community. In addition,
this task force will make recommendations to rebuild the community’s
trust, dispel false perceptions regarding policing and the justice
system, and to suggest preventative measures to the criminal justice
system to prevent future occurrences.
Case Summary
A brief summary of the case shows that
a suspect profile was generated and pursued without any basis; this
becomes more suspicious as the initial investigation dismisses a
witness with information damaging to the police department, and
refuses to share the evidence that the subject profile was based on.
There is also no mention of a police connection to the case through
the Red Dome bar. These are items that can easily be interpreted as
a cover up; whether this is the case or not, this appearance has
certainly caused a breach of trust with the public. An additional
complication in this case is the racial component, as both the
victim, and the falsely accused suspect were African-American.
Perceptions Regarding
Law Enforcement
The myths regarding
policemen are the ideas that guide the public perception of the
criminal justice system, and have an impact on the trust that the
public has in the system. Danger, misconduct, brutality, duty,and
honor are perceived by the public, and sometimes by policemen
themselves, in a manner that does not always fit the facts on the
ground. However, "Popular
culture, of course, informs law. Law in its flexibility, for better
or worse, facilitates the further direction of popular culture
"(Lubet, 2002, p9)
One common myth is that policemen
drink more than the general population does. Lindsay et al show that
doesn't seem to be the case. The rates found by Lindsay, William, and
Shelley (2008) don't seem to differ greatly from statistics given by
the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA}.
Lindsay et al found that 70% of officers drank once a month or less
as compared to the NIAAA figure of roughly 60% (n.d., Table 2)
Another common mis perception is that
LEOs have a higher-than-average suicide rate . However, Remsberg
finds that “multiple studies have shown the police suicide rate
actually to be lower than the norm “( 2013, para. 26).
A myth common to both LEOs and to the
public is that law enforcement is among the top five most dangerous
jobs . Remsberg contradicts this; “Police rank 14th in danger,
between heavy equipment operators and electricians. (2013, para. 9).
A contrasting reality sets in for many policemen, who then have to
fight boredom. “A lot of police officials feel burned out; not from
the stress of their jobs but from boredom. They join the force
expecting excitement but instead get bogged down in paperwork and
rules...”(South University Online, 2014, para. 5).
There are a wide range of activities
that could be categorized as police misconduct, which raise an
equally wide range of myths and realities. Various segments of the
public may view the police as racist, corrupt, and brutal in turn.
There is definitely anecdotal information to support each view,
however the task force found few statistical studies to determine the
realty behind these views, as most studies examined were based on
anecdotal compilations. “U.S. police misconduct statistics are hard
to come by because the government does not regularly collect data.
One attempt to track misconduct is the "National Police
Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project" which estimates
misconduct rates using newspaper reports “ (Wikipedia, 2014,
para.35). A potential problem would also arise when attempting to
track misconduct in a law enforcement environment itself gone bad, as
in the New Orleans' police attempt at covering up the shooting deaths
of civilians (Thompson, 2011, para. 4,6). Finally, one myth that
coincides with police misconduct is the “code of silence” with
which police officers protect one another. Westmarland discusses the
reality of this myth in the article, “Police
Ethics and Integrity: Breaking the Blue Code of Silence” (2005)
One view about the police that many
policemen would like to share with the public is the primacy of the
crime fighting mission:“Citizens largely think of police as crime
fighters” (Plant & Scott, 2009, p.13). However, politicians
seeking fine money, and political interest groups seeking to legally
define morality, have certainly diluted the police mission since the
time of the Peelers with a cacophony of mala prohibta crimes
Of interest to note is the source of
myths that paint the image of the police sub-system of the criminal
justice system.. Both entertainment media and news media have
influenced these views through a center-of-attention effect. Movies
and TV have portrayed policeman from the spectrum of the thoroughly
corrupt Bad Lieutenant to the anti-hero Dirty Harry. However, the
majority of news coverage focuses center-of-attention on police
misconduct. Further study is required to determine exactly how much
is driven by the “need” for sensationalist copy, and how much is
driven by political bias. There is anecdotal evidence of anti-police
bias, as discussed at The Oregonian (Norton, 2008,).
However, that does not imply that all media coverage is biased.
Due Process in the
Criminal Justice System- Equal Treatment Under the Law
The task force also needs to
discuss the issues that affect sentencing of offenders. What factors
influence how fair the system is?
Racism is an issue that can
affect prosecution and sentencing. One example is that
of Tulia, Texas, where the criminal justice system arrested 38
African-Americans for drugs; all charges later set aside by the
courts. "The prosecutions were, these lawyers said, the
consequence of poisonous small-town race relations, a misguided
desire to claim victories at any cost in the war on drugs and a legal
system in which poor defendants did not have a fighting chance
against thin but confident testimony from a single police officer.
"(Romero
& Liptak , 2003,
para 4)
Plea bargaining also has a negative
impact on the fairness of the system , "You have two people
who've committed the same crime. They have the same background, and
one is going to get twice as severe a sentence as the other because
he's exercised the right to trial. I think it's a perfectly designed
system to produce conviction of the innocent. " (Frontline,
2004, para 2)
How fair is the system as a whole?
Since 1973, 130 people have been released from death sentences
(Amnesty International, n.d., para. 1).1365 have been executed since
1976 (Death Penalty Information Center [DPIC], 2014, p.1). In
addition there are approximately another 3300 offenders on death
row(CNN, 2011, para 2). This leads to a rough estimate of 3%
wrongful convictions. This correlates with estimates of 1% to 3% of
wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system as a
whole(Godsey, 2012, para.2). This is an example of both the criminal
justice filter and of due process at work.
Finally, as Truth in Sentencing (TIS)
programs evolved it has been seen to have two effects. The first,
that criminals received the same sentences for the same crimes,
removing some political considerations that caused unfair differences
in sentencing. The second, that criminals are punished for their
crimes, and prevented from committing additional crimes. Yavapai
County Attorney Sheila Polk states that TIS efforts are successful,
“A second reason why we should not scrap TIS is that evidence-based
research indisputably shows that since 1994 our crime rate has
steadily dropped--an astonishing 42% between 1995 and 2008--as our
incarceration rate increased by 18% “ (2011, para. 6)
Recommendations
to Avoid Injustice Caused by the Criminal Justice System
The first recommendation made by the
Task force is that all officers are to be equipped with a digital
video/audio camera at all times during their shift. This is in
addition to cameras mounted on police vehicles. Supervisors will be
responsible for verification of operation prior to, at some point
during, and at the end of shift. Officers will either behave
themselves, or have immediate evidence of misconduct. The presence of
cameras will reduce the number of misconduct complaints; “Where
they have been used, they have proved their worth. In a three-month
experiment with 74 Oakland, Calif., police officers, complaints were
filed against 15 of the cops when they patrolled without video
cameras. But when they were driving cars with cameras, there wasn't a
single complaint filed against any of the 74. “ (Chapman, 2010,
para. 6) This will also allow for defense against many baseless
lawsuits filed against LE agencies. With the rising tide of lawsuits
pursued against law enforcement agencies (Archibald & Maguire,
2002, p.2), a cost analysis should show the cost of the cameras to
easily offset the costs of lawsuits. In addition, video evidence is
useful in preventing assaults against officers and preventing racial
profiling
A major
impetus of the COPS grant program was the enhancement of officer
safety. Not
only
were officers being assaulted at an alarming rate; they were
increasingly becoming
accident
victims while performing their duties on the highways. COPS believed
that the
use of
the in-car camera would possibly deter assaults while providing a
safer working
environment.
Another
emerging issue was racial profiling in policing. COPS leadership felt
that
providing
agencies with technology capable of producing both video and audio
records
of
traffic stops would be extremely useful to agencies investigating any
public challenge
regarding
racial profiling. Based on these two critical police issues,
forty-seven state
police
and highway patrol agencies quickly took advantage of these camera
grants.(Albright, n.d., p6)
Police act based upon training and
experience. The environment on which that experience is gained
affects what a policeman learns. This process can also be described
as the police socialization process. Socialization can have good
effects or bad effects; an example of a bad effect though
socialization is the “code of silence”. Training must be an
ongoing process, and reinforce current policy as the criminal justice
system adapts new strategies. Training must also continuously
emphasize the officer's responsibilities to both crime control, and
to due process.
Law enforcement agencies need better
screening for officers .Some cities have even dropped application
exams. “The Chicago Police Department is seriously considering
scrapping the police entrance exam “ (Spielman & Main, 2010,
para 1)
Stop prosecuting citizens for
videotaping police. The downside of this is the possibility of
dishonest editing for political reasons, as seen in the Occupy UC
Davis case (Kincaid, 2011). However, by arming police with cameras
of their own, such propaganda will more easily be countered. This
alone will repair trust in the community.
Recommendations Specific
for San Diego
First, an investigation into the
officers conducting the first investigation. Did they have ties to
John or to the owners of the Red Drum? Collusion is hard to prove in
such cases, yet the absolute evil of this crime warrants a detailed
investigation.
A policy investigation of officers
frequenting the Red Drum. Was assault a common occurrence? If
criminal activity is discovered, that would need to be pursued. If
officers are being falsely accused in the atmosphere of this crime,
their innocence needs to be proven.
The Use of Capital
punishment
There are three considerations to the
use of the death penalty; is it humane in that the punishment fits
the crime, is it effective in preventing crime, and is it fairly
applied? Capital punishment is as humane as it needs to be,
punishment must fit the crime. There is debate on this issue, but it
seems that a position on either side is derived from morality, not
objectivity. Capital punishment can only be used in crime control for
specific deterrence. General deterrence is based on the premise that
other potential criminals will decide not to commit crime in view of
punishment, however crime is mostly committed by people with low
impulse control who aren't going to spend time weighing consequences.
"Criminality is a time invariant personality trait, namely
self-control" (Engel, 2012, p.15) The costs involved with
capital punishment lie in the death penalty appeals process “There’s
no reason in the world for a death penalty appeal to take 20 years,”
Negron said from Tallahassee. “That’s not justice, that’s
people making a mockery of the justice system.'”(Holsman, 2013,
para 4). Capital punishment must be used equally. A due process
system requires that all citizens are treated equally by law. Just
because someone has been an exemplary citizen up to the time they
committed the criminal act is no excuse for leniency. Likewise,
mental incapacitation should be no excuse. Finally, “police stress
syndrome” is not an excuse for rape and murder.
Ramifications for San
Diego
The best possible outcome for
the city is the conviction and execution of John, a confessed
murderer and rapist. The position that the city’s council should
take if the officer is convicted and awarded the death penalty would
be to support the decision. This would show the community that the
criminal justice system works.
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