Opinion: Law enforcement abuse of power is unforgivable
By Kathryn Reed
Maybe it should be called the injustice system.
Due process is clearly not a phrase that is applied equally to all who come in contact with law enforcement.
While there are plenty of stories about individuals who have been wrongly accused being set free with new evidence, what about those who are left in limbo? It’s an entirely different form of purgatory.
Our criminal justice system is supposed to be about being innocent until proven guilty. But the way the system works – and information is distributed – it is more like guilty until proven innocent.
A person is arrested and the public perception is the suspect is guilty. All the media has to go on is the police report or what the cops say. Reaching the suspect behind bars isn’t as easy as picking up the phone. And often if an attorney has been retained, the line of communication is immediately cutoff.
That keeps the story one-sided. It’s all about what law enforcement has to say.
Yes, the suspect or person of interest can choose not to listen to legal advice. But based on that seldom happening, the conclusion one can draw is that it’s safer to be tried in a courtroom than the media.
There are two residents of South Lake Tahoe who have not been arrested, but their lives have been turned upside down by law enforcement and subsequently the media. One usually tells his side, the other is mum.
I’m talking about Johnny Poland and Angela Swanson.
Neither one has been charged with a crime. Neither one has been arrested. Both have been the targets of law enforcement. Both are in limbo.
The cases are completely different, but the consequences to date are similar. An investigation is going on, law enforcement is not talking, evidence has not been presented to them or the public, and they are spending money to defend themselves against the unknown.
What is outrageous is that this is almost 2013 and it’s allowed to happen in the United States.
Law enforcement should not have the power to ruin lives. Investigate and charge. Go to court. See what the judge or jury says. But limbo – that should never be tolerated.
Law enforcement seldom seems to be held accountable for the wrongs they have committed.
No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. But cops, district attorneys, parole officers – their mistakes can destroy lives.
Look at the Jaycee Lee Dugard case. An 11-year-old is whisked away from a bus stop in Meyers, found 18 years later in 2009 at a ramshackle abode only three hours away in the Bay Area. Parole officers came to the house. Jaycee kept being raped. Unforgivable.
It’s also unforgivable what is happening to Poland and Swanson.
Let’s not forget that in the Jaycee Lee Dugard case her stepfather was the one and only prime suspect up until the day she was found, based on nothing more than the gut feelings of the investigating officer. Although his trials and tribulations throughout this time wouldn’t even be considered a blip on the radar screen compared to what Jaycee Lee suffered through, his life was still turned completely upside down due to no fault of his own.
And then there is the issue of the court of public opinion which is ALWAYS based on very little info that is being disseminated by closed minded loudmouths!
There is no way any changes will take place as long as the cop unions have so much influence in Sacramento. Ditto for the other interest parties who profit off this convoluted and complex set of laws, rules, and regulations.
“Justice delayed is justice denied” – that is supposed to be the premise of the “speedy trial”, unless it includes the prosecutorial issues that Kae brings up. . . then it sometimes shifts to “if we wait until the fuss dies down, the attention span of the public dies, too – then we can do what we can do with the mess we created”. . . do Kae is right: justice itself becomes the victim.
For a profession that is supposed to be about “balancing the scales” of Justice (remember, ‘she’s’ supposed to be blind), injustice is then both unfair & a disrespect to our “strong” foundation of ‘law & order’. . .
South Lake Tahoe is unique in that it is the police that more or less determine what the D.A. puts forth (no case forwarded to them, no case) – unless of course the D.A.
sees some particular benefit to pursuing it. (?)
These two cases are important wake-up calls, as this is what integrity, transparency, and justice are about – not “where there’s smoke there’s fire”, as emphasized by most media reports. “Being arrested” IS too often the indictment, as her article points out. . .
Coincedence or Not, that this editorial is written the same day there’s a story about the SLTPD being understaffed? While knowing many good people who have been on the force, there have also been many bad apples, so to speak.
It’s tough to hear that they’re short-staffed, something that they’ve always claimed, when one confronts first-hand being harassed by them! They don’t have the time to deal with real crime, but they have the time to bother law-abiding citizens?
When one gets the chance to talk ‘off the record’ so to speak with a good officer, they don’t even deny the existence of the bad apples, but just kind of shrug with a ‘what are you going to do’ attitude?
The answer many times is nothing. The bad ones stay on, get their checks and then pensions, all the while the SLTPD professes being under funded.
And I have no idea the guilt or innocence of Mr. Poland! If he has done something wrong, prosecute him! But can’t believe there’s not some time limit on being in limbo like this?
peter principle in action…
Police, traffic police, parking police, drug police, building code police, tree police, trash police, water police, dirt police, bear police, phone police give it a rest already.
The questions is. “who will hold them accountable?” Its great to write about it, but what action will follow? The authorties well know that it will just disappear. unless…
this city should not forget what happened to maria crist..of kindertown..the city police took her business and her income and almost her life away…too..i am sure that there are others that have similar stories.
how do we hold them accountable?
Kindertown was shuttered by the California Department of Social Services. It had nothing to do with the city.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
If there is a problem with sltpd, consider outsourcing to county Sherrie dept like bay area cities have done recently. You don’t have to hire the bad ones!
the example of half moon bay provides a solution…