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Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
In January 2013, police raided the home of a Cleveland drug dealer, saying in a search warrant that an informant had recently bought crack cocaine there.
But the drug dealer had surveillance cameras that proved the officers were lying. He gave the tapes to his lawyer, who showed the FBI. The feds then worked to uncover a massive scandal of a rogue street-crimes unit that robbed and framed drug suspects who felt they had no choice but plead guilty to fraudulent charges.
Four years later, authorities are still unwinding the damage.
Three cops who worked for the city of East Cleveland are in prison. Cases against 22 alleged drug dealers have been dismissed. Authorities are searching for another 21 people who are eligible to have their convictions tossed. On top of those injustices, there is a slim chance that any of them will be fully reimbursed, because the disgraced officers and their former employer don't have the money.
Source: NBC News
(Score: 3, Informative) by jmorris on Tuesday March 28 2017, @05:36PM (1 child)
You seem to have forgotten the plot details of the film. If they were only killing scum it would probably have been ok with Harry, but the whole problem with a vigilante movement is it never stays that way. They bomb gangster pool parties and kill the gangster AND all the guests. Then they have to take out innocent witnesses, including even other cops who learn of the group and refuse to join. By the time Harry ends the problem in his trademark bloodbath style it is clear that he is doing the right thing. Harry pushes the law to the edge but never goes over the line, thus he never has to murder witnesses to cover up what he does. The political types in the SFPD hate him but when he has to face a review board to answer for his actions he always wins because what he did was in fact legal.
And that is what is wrong in today's story. The cops clearly went over the line. Public support for the police entirely depends on this sort of thing being very rare and swiftly punished. Doesn't really matter what form of government you have, the power of that government comes from the consent of the governed. If the masses do not at least give grudging assent you quickly get a revolution. This sort of thing erodes that assent really quick.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday March 28 2017, @05:53PM
AND all the guests
OK in detail maybe using that movie as an example was not so good. It being over 40 years ago is a lame excuse but its the best I have. Action movies are famous for piling up one heck of an innocent bystander death count which is traditionally completely ignored while you watch the good guy and the bad guy fight. Whereas in "Magnum Force" innocent bystanders may have been an unusually significant plot device. OK point taken. I'm going to watch that movie again, if for no other reason than nostalgia about half century old automobiles and clothing styles.
the power of that government comes from the consent of the governed. If the masses do not at least give grudging assent you quickly get a revolution. This sort of thing erodes that assent really quick.
In theory I agree with you. No sarcasm. It is an appealing internally self consistent story. In practice, however, I'll wait till they legalize weed in Cleveland, which frankly affects 1000 times as many smokers as the number of career criminals affected by a couple bent cops. Decades of weed being illegal combined with a couple slightly bent cops implies "consent of the governed" is not being limited by the factor of the bent cops. They can absorb a lot more bent cops before it becomes a bigger problem than weed being illegal for decades. In some sort of south of the border level of corruption madness sure it could be the main problem. But in a prioritized list its likely very low even with unpunished bent cops.
I have slowly been convinced via conversation to move from a position of "give them a medal" to "give them the same level of misdemeanor ticket a weed smoker would get" but I don't see much argument for moving further.