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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: 2) by VLM on Tuesday March 28 2017, @06:00PM (3 children)
The first part is simple, we pay cops to break the law as their job all the time. Civilians aren't allowed to break the speed limit to catch people, or handcuff people and lock them up, or shoot people who need shooting. Compared to those examples, adjusting evidence held by scummy career criminals is, I admit, probably worse than speeding to catch a criminal, but not nearly as severe as shooting a suspect. It seems reasonable the punishment reflect the severity, so there not being bullet riddled bodies shot in the back laying in pools of blood, and the cops usually get away with that, its hard to get really pissed off at the Cleveland cops.
The second part is just sarcasm. People sure care a lot about the rights of career criminals, and in isolation, if it were free and had no large scale impact, sure that would be nice, but most people in Cleveland do not deserve victimization, so releasing the career criminals is inevitably going to result in many more good people in pain, which seems like the stupidest possible way to run a "justice" system. If good people live longer happier lives without a "justice" system then maybe a little injustice is just what they need.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @06:29PM
Wow, where do you live? Some human zoo such as New York City?
People break "laws" all the time in emergencies, and we only find out about it in the rare case of prosecution, unjust on its face. Speeding: medical emergencies; handcuffing people: citizen's arrest; shoot people: common self-defense.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:17AM (1 child)
No we don't.
"Civilians aren't allowed to break the speed limit to catch people, or handcuff people and lock them up, or shoot people who need shooting."
Yes we are. The speed limit, for instance, is a traffic rule and all of those can be violated in emergencies or when safety requires it. We can absolutely shoot, handcuff, and arrest criminals when necessary.
The difference is the cop has the department and the union behind them if something goes wrong, and we don't, so it's more dangerous for us. So we let them do their job when possible. But when not possible, we can certainly do it. They have no powers that are not delegated to them by the people, and the people cannot delegate a power they do not have.
"Compared to those examples, adjusting evidence held by scummy career criminals is, I admit, probably worse than speeding to catch a criminal, but not nearly as severe as shooting a suspect."
Tampering with evidence is a crime that strikes the justice system to the core, particularly when done under the color of law. You're talking perjury as well. To minimize that as a minor matter really makes it clear you don't have any respect for the law at all.
"but most people in Cleveland do not deserve victimization"
Exactly why they need a functioning legal system, not a bunch of criminals wearing badges.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:38PM
Just remember that there are professional all shills. Either there are more crazy people here than expected or there are employees of organizations doing their best to increase the chaos. Or a troll, there are those weirdos getting off on misleading / lying to people