Thursday, November 07, 2013

Law enforcement misconduct roundup

Grits has noticed a number of recent Texas misconduct cases involving representatives of the criminal justice system in recent days. Here are a few that caught my eye:
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19 comments:

  1. doran11/07/2013 05:45:00 PM

    Well, Grits, that list is a mixed bag. For one thing, I am surprised at how may LEO's have actually been sued, maybe successfully maybe not, or have faced criminal sanctions for their behavior. More than I had expected.

    The entry about the HPD officer pleading guilty to rape set me to thinking. Given the tendency of grand juries and prosecutors not to indict or prosecute cops who kill people who don't really need killing, it occurs to me that a cop is much more likely to face charges for raping someone than for killing that same person. Is it only me and my dark, bleak view of life in this new century and new America, or is that a reasonable conclusion to draw.

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  2. Gritsforbreakfast11/07/2013 05:50:00 PM

    The Houston cop convicted of rape was actually caught on video, so I'm not sure you can draw many conclusions from it. Perhaps it's cynical to say so, but if it was just his word against hers, I'm not sure we'd have seen the same outcome.

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  3. South Tex11/07/2013 06:45:00 PM

    Anybody with a sense of business will look at that list and tell you if you replace "cops" with "walmart / best buy associates, truck drivers, teachers, etc." that it looks pretty routine.

    Yes cops should know better and yes cops should not do a lot of the stupid @ss things they do, but with the exception of the money seizure and the use of force deals, not one item of particular stands out.

    I daresay there's more evidence of attorneys and doctors doing more and worse wrongdoings than that.

    The arrest afidavit one I liken to a doctor writing a prescription under false pretenses.

    Perhaps grits you can offer up a comparison of law enforcement misconduct and medical misconduct?

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  4. albeed11/07/2013 07:01:00 PM

    With a Texas Justice System like that, who needs criminals?

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  5. Anonymous11/07/2013 10:16:00 PM

    You're walking a fine line there Mr.Hanson. We document child sex crimes committed by police officers and are visited quite regularly and called cop haters, anarchists, low-down troublemakers, and &*(%^%(%%$$%^!

    Be warned, you cop hating anarchist, anyone who believes police officers should abide by the same laws as the general public isn't well liked by those in law enforcement.

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-to-survivors-of-child-sexual-assault-by-law-enforcement-officers/180584842010594

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  6. Anonymous11/07/2013 10:22:00 PM

    BTW, you missed quite a few including one of the worst child sex crimes ever committed in the world: http://www.click2houston.com/news/former-west-columbia-police-chief-michael-parker-facing-sex-charges/-/1735978/21724588/-/pwrqqfz/-/index.html

    Sorry about that but it just seems to me that this case should be international news yet the media is ignoring it.

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  7. Gritsforbreakfast11/08/2013 07:33:00 AM

    Thanks for the additional case, 10:22/16, I tacked it onto the list. FWIW, I didn't claim this was comprehensive, just was compiling ones I'd run across. Also, at this point I've been called every name in the book; if that bothered me I'd have shut down the blog long ago.

    South Tex, this blog focuses on the justice system. Why don't you compile similar data for doctors and we can compare.

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  8. Anonymous11/08/2013 08:51:00 AM

    Pretty soon lawmakers will introduce a bill preventing the media from printing negative stories about police officers. Every crime they commit will be handled by the departments themselves kinda like the Houston police already do. Don't think it can happen? It already almost did in Washington state where a county sheriff lobbied to create a special task force to investigate anyone who made negative comments about cops: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Sheriff-wants-task-force-to-focus-on-threats-899851.php

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  9. Anonymous11/08/2013 10:19:00 AM

    Ok Anonymous 08:51:00 AM, I just read the link to your story and you completely misrepresented what was stated in the article. I don't like cops myself.....have seen too many dirty cops over the years, but for you to say something like that makes you look like a complete idiot when you look at the story.

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  10. Anonymous11/08/2013 02:17:00 PM

    Injustice Everywhere did a fine job of compiling nation-wide incidents for years. Until, the site was donated to a person that let it fade away.

    The cops harrassed & arrested the site owner of one of the copbusters in retaliation.

    The reason why you can't put cops and docs criminal acts next to each other and compare them is because it's apples and oranges.

    The reason why cops comitting crimes doesn't matter to a cop is because you are brainwashed in complicity from day one by your mentor (blue wall of silence).

    Excusses or attempts to redirect the topic might be construde as knowing you did some bad shit yourself but had it pushed under that blue carpet and to defend a bad brother comes natural. Which is why we read your shit with a salt shaker on standby. Good try though. Cops being charged with malpractice of (Law) is a good idea and the credit goes to a cop.

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  11. Anonymous11/08/2013 05:38:00 PM

    I AGREE WITH 7:01

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  12. Anonymous11/08/2013 05:56:00 PM

    10:19 You are naive if you don't think the plan Sheriff Rahr had would have focused solely on threats of violence against police officers. It's even acknowledged towards the bottom of the article:

    "The Sheriff's Office would develop strict rules to ensure the unit's work doesn't intrude on civil liberties. It would set policy for when to purge information."

    For years law enforcement has been saying that sites whose focus is about cops who commit crimes are encouraging violence against them through their posts. Several of the sites have had their administrators homes raided and were arrested on trumped-up charges. I know of what I speak. Expect Us...

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  13. Gritsforbreakfast11/09/2013 06:12:00 AM

    2:17, Injustice Everywhere quit blogging because he couldn't find a financial sponsor for the blog and couldn't make a living at it. It became too great a burden to do without pay. He wasn't intimidated to quit. If and when Grits ever shuts down it will assuredly be for the same reason. The foundations and donors that support crimjust reform don't value this sort of work, for reasons I've never understood. That's why this is still a hobby after nine years and not something for which I draw a paycheck.

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  14. Gritsforbreakfast11/09/2013 06:18:00 AM

    5:56, I agree with the commenter above that you overstated your case. The story you cite was from three years ago - can you identify any civil liberties infringements from Sheriff Rahr's efforts? I haven't heard of any.

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  15. Anonymous11/09/2013 09:22:00 PM

    GFB, only because Rahr was unable to get sufficient support from anyone in the legislature and her task force never materialized. All this was was a premise to harass police accountability activists. She would have sought and likely got the identities of those posting negative comments about cops. She resigned soon after this and is now executive director of the Basic Law Enforcement Academy in Washington state where she is currently embroiled in a cheating scandal among recruits: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Cheating-scandal-at-state-police-academy-229559581.html

    Be warned, you haven't heard the last of this attempt to silence detractors. Watch and see if there isn't a very similar program within the next decade. And when it happens, remember you heard it here first. BTW, a legislator in Australia authored a bill outlawing websites which cast Aussie cops in a bad light. I can't find the article and don't know if it passed or not.

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  16. Anonymous11/10/2013 11:16:00 PM

    You missed one:

    http://www.khou.com/news/local/Former-Harris-County-Sheriffs-deputy-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-child-231218671.html

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  17. Anonymous11/11/2013 02:10:00 PM

    This is all very interesting, but what your agenda! If your saying cops are bad, are you meaning all cops? Like our government there you have corruption and likewise in our military. But why just point your finger at law enforcement? Please explain the differences. Because not all are corrupted and there is a lot more good law enforcement vs a hand full of bad ones. So why are you highlighting the a handful of bad ones?

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  18. Gritsforbreakfast11/12/2013 07:44:00 AM

    @2:10, because they're all portrayed as "isolated incidents" and no patterns can be discerned unless they're considered in aggregate. I published this for the same reason newspapers publish local crime blotters. Do you also question those?

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  19. Anonymous11/12/2013 10:38:00 AM

    I'd like to see more coverage in the media about corrupt TDCJ correctional officers. For instance, a correctional officer at Hughes Unit in Gatesville was recently arrested for bringing in contraband to inmates--I believe he is currently in the Coryell County jail. Is the TDCJ trying to keep this misconduct quiet after the McConnell Unit incident?

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