A quick comment on the case of the two cops conspiring to plant evidence, which Michael Kelly did a fine job in today’s paper addressing. I won’t bother to recap the details; you can find those in Kelly’s story. I just wanted to provide my two cents on this story because our civil rights and specifically the right of due process are something I hold dear. There is a lot about our government you can find fault with but there is not much worse a government can due than deny the individual his or her right to life and liberty, and violating the concept of due process can lead to just that.
Look, for all we know the potential victim of this evidence planting is a drug dealer, so it’s easy to write this off as just a couple of cops trying to go the extra mile to catch a criminal. But let’s remember the case of David Kofoed, who assumed the victims of his crime were innocent as well. Police are fallible just like the rest of us. This is why we have the concept of due process because the government is supposed to maintain a presumption of innocence for all its citizens. If you relax that presumption of innocence, the result will be that innocent people will wind up in jail; that is the undeniable reality. I’d rather have a few more criminals go free (for a little longer, anyway) if it means fewer innocent people winding up in jail. I couldn’t imagine being one of those innocent persons sitting in jail right now, and neither could you (I’m assuming our readership is small enough that the odds of an innocent person reading this from jail are minute). It must be a special kind of hell to live that.
I’m glad Police Chief Alex Hayes is taking this seriously, though I could think of worse punishment for Kara Hindman than being placed on 11 month paid leave and Frank Platt getting to retire with a pension, as this behavior cannot be allowed to continue within our police departments. I want to echo Michael Kelly that Officer Steve Kult should be commended for exposing this behavior when he did. If you have read anything about police abuse you know that the blue code of silence is an unfortunate reality in many police departments across the country. Let us hope this case was a rare lapse in judgment by an otherwise upstanding local police force.
The thing about Kara, is that she is still at it! I was selling a car a couple days ago, Me (hispanic) dressed like I dress (Hat, kind of baggy pants) was walking with my white friend (dressed "normal") who wanted to buy my car, Next thing you know Kara and her partner speed up behind me, get out of the car, and put my hands behind my back because I was "acting suspicious" (not my white friend got to walk away without getting bothered)
ReplyDeleteI challenged her about the real reason I was getting searched, and both her and her partner got very angry, she told me "If you don't study criminal justice or your not a cop don't tell me how to do my job" , I corrected her and told her that I have been studying C.J. for the last year, she then said "Well your not a cop so shut up or ill find a reason to lock you up"
Long story short, my record was clean so they let me go since I had no warrants or anything, But her partner kept asking me what gang I was from, just because I have a small amateur L.A. tattoo on my hand, that I got when I was a stupid 13 year old. This supports my suspicion that I got bothered just because the way I was dressed.