This Machine Kills Accountability: The Ongoing Persecution Of Good Cops

Legal Issues

from the reason-for-termination:-did-the-right-thing dept

There are several ways the many problems with American policing could be addressed, but maybe a good starting point would be the way good cops are treated. It takes a concerted effort to remove a bad officer from the force. And, far too often, an ousted officer simply finds a new agency to work for.

Good cops are a relative rarity. There are several who go through their career with a minimal number of sustained complaints, but that alone isn’t enough to earn them the label of “good.” Far too many are unwilling to speak up when misconduct occurs. Of course, the entire system discourages officers from speaking up. Those that do are ostracized, at best. At worst, they’re pressured into giving up their law enforcement career.

There’s no better example of law enforcement’s skewed priorities than the follow cases. In the first, officers who leaked body cam footage to the press to expose an officer’s abusive behavior are facing more serious consequences than the cop they exposed. (via PoliceMisconduct.net)

The officers are accused of downloading and leaking body camera video and confidential records on Officer William Martin. The video shows Martin’s controversial arrest of Jacqueline Craig – the Fort Worth mother who called police to report an assault on her son, back in December.

Officer Martin received a suspension for his actions, but Pridgen and Keyes were demoted. As a result of that demotion the two are no longer a part of Chief Fitzgerald’s executive team and both have been busted down to the rank of police captain.

The video released went viral, and for good reason. It showed Officer Martin assaulting someone who had called the police to report a neighbor had choked her 7-year-old son for littering. If there’s anyone to blame for how an attempt to file a police report became a viral example of inappropriate use of force, it’s Officer Martin:

“My son is 7-years-old, [he] don’t have the right to grab him and choke him,” Craig tells Martin, referring to the neighbor.

“Why don’t you teach your son not to litter,” asks Martin in a mocking and accusatory tone.

“He can’t prove to me that my son did or didn’t, but it doesn’t matter,” Craig says. “That doesn’t give him the right to put his hands on him.”

“Why not,” Martin asks.

A bystander’s video, posted to Facebook, was damning. The officer’s own body camera footage was even worse. And yet, it’s the officers who leaked the footage losing their titles and pay, rather than the officer who deployed the excessive force.

At the press conference this morning Craig’s attorney, Lee Merritt, talked about the punishment for Officer Martin versus the punishment for the FWPD officers. “Martin amassed a series of felonies on that day from assault, to aggravated assault, to perjury, official corruption, false arrest [and] to each of these he received no criminal investigation, no criminal prosecution. He received a 10-day vacation and he was returned to the force with a scheduled promotion,” Merritt said.

What hurts more, a demotion from the chief’s executive force, or ten days off and the gentle reminder not to escalate routine policework into a viral media event?

The second incident is even worse, in terms of changing cop culture. An officer who didn’t kill someone is suing his former employer.

A West Virginia police officer who was fired after not shooting an emotionally disturbed man with an unloaded gun filed a civil rights lawsuit Wednesday against his former department.

Mader’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia and the law office of Timothy O’Brien, claims he was wrongly terminated, and that the county, city and police department violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $75,000.

Rather than view a suicidal person as an unfinished story just waiting for cops to write the final chapter, the officer talked to the man and attempted to resolve the situation without violence. This plan was ruined by the next cop through the door, who immediately shot and killed the suicidal man. The gun the man was holding was unloaded. Sure, the next officer through the door didn’t know that, but it’s not as though the officer took any time to assess the situation — something that might have included speaking to the officer who was already present in the room with the “dangerous threat.”

Officer Mader was fired. The other cop was praised. According to the department, Mader “put two other officers in danger” by not immediately killing the suicidal man. In his notice of termination, Mader was let go for “failing to neutralize a threat.” Oddly, the only person who spent any time talking to the suicidal man didn’t see him as a threat. It was only the other officers — who had spent zero time interacting with the man — who felt “endangered” and “threatened.”

For this decision, Mader was not only fired, but dragged through the mud by his supervisors and fellow officers:

The department said Mader did not attempt to deescalate the situation, first yelling profanity at Williams and then freezing. City officials also said Mader was fired due to “multiple” prior incidents, including performing a search of a car without probable cause. Mader’s lawsuit says those statements are false. Officials also called him a “disgruntled employee” and “a bad cop.”

The officer who shot Williams texted Mader after the press conference, according to the lawsuit, and called him a “coward” who “didn’t have the balls to save [his] own life.”

This is the thanks officers get for attempting to protect and serve their community. Far too many officers act as though the world’s out to get them — a mindset that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they treat everyone else not dressed in blue as a threat.

Being a good cop gets you nowhere. Or, rather, it gets you demoted or fired. Until the internal attitude changes, the external behavior of law enforcement officers will only get worse.

Filed Under: good cops, law enforcement, police, prosecution