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posted by martyb on Saturday March 24 2018, @03:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the protect-and-serve dept.

From the New York Times:

The [Bronx] court sealed the case file, hiding from view a problem so old and persistent that the criminal justice system sometimes responds with little more than a shrug: false testimony by the police.

[...] "Behind closed doors, we call it testilying," a New York City police officer, Pedro Serrano, said in a recent interview, echoing a word that officers coined at least 25 years ago. "You take the truth and stretch it out a little bit."

[...] An investigation by The New York Times has found that on more than 25 occasions since January 2015, judges or prosecutors determined that a key aspect of a New York City police officer's testimony was probably untrue. The Times identified these cases — many of which are sealed — through interviews with lawyers, police officers and current and former judges.

In these cases, officers have lied about the whereabouts of guns, putting them in suspects' hands or waistbands when they were actually hidden out of sight. They have barged into apartments and conducted searches, only to testify otherwise later. Under oath, they have given firsthand accounts of crimes or arrests that they did not in fact witness. They have falsely claimed to have watched drug deals happen, only to later recant or be shown to have lied.

[...] Many police officials and experts express optimism that the prevalence of cameras will reduce police lying. As officers begin to accept that digital evidence of an encounter will emerge, lying will be perceived as too risky — or so the thinking goes. [...]

Yet interviews with officers suggest the prevalence of cameras alone won't end police lying. That's because even with cameras present, some officers still figure — with good reason — that a lie is unlikely to be exposed. Because plea deals are a typical outcome [...]

"There's no fear of being caught," said one Brooklyn officer who has been on the force for roughly a decade. "You're not going to go to trial and nobody is going to be cross-examined."

[...] Police lying raises the likelihood that the innocent end up in jail — and that as juries and judges come to regard the police as less credible, or as cases are dismissed when the lies are discovered, the guilty will go free. Police falsehoods also impede judges' efforts to enforce constitutional limits on police searches and seizures.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 24 2018, @06:15PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 24 2018, @06:15PM (#657612)

    What does "Police" mean? All of them? Most of them? A small percentage of them?

    Too many of them.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 24 2018, @06:55PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 24 2018, @06:55PM (#657630)

    What does "Police" mean? All of them? Most of them? A small percentage of them?

    Too many of them.

    No, it's not "a percentage" of them nor "many of them" nor in any way a measurement of individuals.

    It's a group, they act as a group, the group protects its members, the group puts pressure on its members to behave a certain way, and part of that certain way is to act without ethics in the effort to strengthen a case or to protect other group members against accusations of (and therefore in many cases exposure of) wrongdoing.

    "Police" means the cohesive fraternity of law enforcement officers, for good or bad, often bad.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 24 2018, @11:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 24 2018, @11:34PM (#657699)

      the group puts pressure on its members to behave a certain way

      That is learned behavior after training and some time on the job.

      Radio/TV presenter and author Thom Hartmann was a private investigator for a couple of years.
      In order to do that, he had to take training at the police academy (in Georgia, if it makes a difference).
      In the academy, he said that he found that about a third of the guys were really jazzed about the notion of serving society; about a third liked the notion of steady work with a nice pension; about a third were abusive jerks.

      As the saying goes: One rotten apple spoils the whole bunch.

      A 45 year old movie explains how it happens:
      If you're a cop and you turn in a bad cop, subsequently, when you get in a jam and call for backup, no one comes.
      Undercover officer Frank Serpico gets shot in the face [youtube.com] (Video now DMCA'd)
      More clips [google.com]

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 25 2018, @08:29AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 25 2018, @08:29AM (#657834)

      What about the shop keeper who didn't see nothing, or the several witnesses who refuse to testify or involve themselves in anyway. There is plenty of blame to go around

  • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Sunday March 25 2018, @12:50AM (2 children)

    by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Sunday March 25 2018, @12:50AM (#657723) Journal

    Any is too many, but in reality there are more than 700,000 cops in the US and 99% of them mean well and do their jobs to the best of their ability. Hopefully as Dave Chappelle put it the era of just sprinkle some crack on the guy and call it a day will come to a close.

    --
    For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 25 2018, @01:10AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 25 2018, @01:10AM (#657735)

      99%srems a bit generous. I'd follow the 90% rule established by the guy who started an honor system corporate bagel program. 10% of people will cheat the system when there is no oversight.

      • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Sunday March 25 2018, @07:51AM

        by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Sunday March 25 2018, @07:51AM (#657822) Journal

        I subscribe to the standard bell curve. 20 % will go out of their way to actively do good. 20% will go out of their way to screw you, and 60% are cruising around on automatic trying to avoid getting involved, but the sentiment is the same.

        --
        For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge