August 17, 2005
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
It's one of those things that we always seem to forget the moment after we learn them, but police lie. They lie about as much as ordinary citizens, despite the mythology of courageous thin-blue-line integrity that often surrounds them these days. For example, after the Republican convention it came as a bit of a shock to me that of the 1670-odd people arrested and now processed, roughly 90% of those cases were dismissed, many due to video evidence that the police witnesses had flagrantly lied about the circumstances of arrests:
Accused of inciting a riot and resisting arrest, Mr. Kyne was the first of the 1,806 people arrested in New York last summer during the Republican National Convention to take his case to a jury. But one day after Officer Wohl testified, and before the defense called a single witness, the prosecutor abruptly dropped all charges.During a recess, the defense had brought new information to the prosecutor. A videotape shot by a documentary filmmaker showed Mr. Kyne agitated but plainly walking under his own power down the library steps, contradicting the vivid account of Officer Wohl, who was nowhere to be seen in the pictures. Nor was the officer seen taking part in the arrests of four other people at the library against whom he signed complaints.
[...]
For Mr. Kyne and 400 others arrested that week, video recordings provided evidence that they had not committed a crime or that the charges against them could not be proved, according to defense lawyers and prosecutors.
Among them was Alexander Dunlop, who said he was arrested while going to pick up sushi.
Last week, he discovered that there were two versions of the same police tape: the one that was to be used as evidence in his trial had been edited at two spots, removing images that showed Mr. Dunlop behaving peacefully.
So, as much as it saddens me, it doesn't really shock me to hear that London police were less than truthful about the shooting of an innocent Brazilian man on a London subway last month. But wow - what a different story we hear now (via Kevin Drum):
It has now emerged that Mr de Menezes:· was never properly identified because a police officer was relieving himself at the very moment he was leaving his home;
· was unaware he was being followed;
· was not wearing a heavy padded jacket or belt as reports at the time suggested;
· never ran from the police;
· and did not jump the ticket barrier.
But the revelation that will prove most uncomfortable for Scotland Yard was that the 27-year-old electrician had already been restrained by a surveillance officer before being shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder.
Every time some horrible crime is committed people walk around wondering out loud why we don't give the police a freer hand to search, detain or arrest people. Surely, if you're innocent you have nothing to fear, right? These people are trained to do this, let them do their jobs, and we'll all be safer for it.
But of course, the authorities are people just like anybody else. People who are often sloppy, thoughtless, sadistic, or corrupt. People who lie.
Who Watches the watchers? We do. And unfortunately that's often one of the first responsibilities tossed out the window in a crisis.
Posted by ben at August 17, 2005 06:53 AM