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Who would have felt comfortable in these circumstances?
A Massachusetts man was driving in the town of Medford last Saturday night. He admits he took a wrong turn and ended up going the wrong way down a traffic circle. The angry man steps out of a truck and approaches him. Michael, seemingly -- and perhaps understandably -- frightened, reverses. The angry man follows him and Michael stops.
The angry man appears to show his badge and identifies himself as a police officer. Some, though, might be troubled by the officer's greeting: "I'll put a hole in your head." Michael is apologetic and explains to the officer -- now identified as Det. Stephen LeBert -- that he is being recorded. LeBert suggests that he will seize the camera.
"I'm a f***ing Medford detective and you went through that f***ing rotary," says LeBert. As Michael insists he didn't see a sign, LeBert demands his license. "You're lucky I'm a cop, otherwise I'd be beating the f***ing piss out of you right now," LeBert adds, shortly after calling the driver an a**hole. LeBert ultimately calls for on-duty cops who at least do a little to calm the situation. However, the fact that Michael posted his video to YouTube has led to an investigation.
Medford Police Chief Leo Sacco told MyFoxBoston: "It's not the proper behavior, but we only know about it when people tell us. And unfortunately, we had to get up this morning and see it on a YouTube video."
In the days before cameras proliferated, you had to rely on witnesses and hearsay. The police were more likely to be believed by those in authority. Cameras have begun to change that -- on both sides.
Sacco told the Medford Transcript: "The video is troubling enough, and it requires investigation just based on what we see here. The driver does not have to file his own complaint. He may, but he does not have to."
[...] Sacco told the Medford Transcript that LeBert was a good policeman. He added, perhaps unfortunately: "If you work hard you do step on people's toes, which generates complaints."
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2015, @05:16PM
You joke, but this is not far from the actual police procedure occasionally used by Massachusetts law enforcement. They make it a point to overuse command presence and/or coerce people into unconscious self-incrimination. The Massachusetts State Police are very notable abusers of command presence, and demonstrated their zeal when they were able to break out all of their militaristic toys for the April 2013 blockade of Watertown when Dzokhar Tsarnaev was being tracked down.
The Massachusetts State Police are also militaristically protective of their turf, especially the Boston Seaport District, which is MSP jurisdiction thanks to a 1998 law defining jurisdiction for Massport properties (which also includes Logan Airport). MSP Colonel Alben sent a belligerent letter to Boston Police chief Evans regarding the turf war: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2015/06/02/the-boston-police-department-jurisdiction-should-extend-seaport-district/8WWFDSJ97UhSoK33Dq469L/story.html [bostonglobe.com]
Also, there's a very prominent drunk driving problem among law enforcement staff, as highlighted by the Globe last December: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/12/06/police-officers-accused-drunken-driving/SIQjxLuYvsE3661oqWHoLJ/story.html [bostonglobe.com] This includes the former police chief in Sudbury, who in May 2013 tailgated a motorist, threatened him, followed him, and crashed into his car, shouting threats to kill him. http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_23199416/victim-alleges-road-rage-led-sudbury-police-chiefs [lowellsun.com]
They found three empty bottles of Smirnoff vodka in his state-issued Ford Fusion. His driver's license was taken away for a year; at least this is in line with the Massachusetts OUI law, but the Globe article above contains examples of law enforcement officers receiving punishment less than that which would be meted out to civilians.
Yesterday, the Louisville division of the FBI announced a campaign seeking public assistance for public corruption in Kentucky. The Boston FBI should follow suit. Massachusetts politics and government has had corruption deeply rooted for decades (and yes, this includes corruption rooted in the Boston FBI during the criminal activities of James "Whitey" Bulger). However, with the law enforcement military complex recently brought on by the 9/11 obsession, as well as law enforcement departments running training similar to miltary boot camp (the MSP is legendary for this, as well as letting loose hotheaded rookies among the state-owned universities).
The Department of Justice is responsible for regulating anyone operating under "the color of law". The FBI is that enforcement arm, but currently they only seem to be stepping in for egregious incidents involving loss of life directly caused by law enforcement officers. Unfortunately, they are the only agency with the jurisdiction to handle this problem in a (relatively) impartial manner, as there's an inherent bias with any "Internal Affairs" office of any police department (especially when officers in IA are born from the same culture as the average 21st-century Johnny Law who obsesses over the next opportunity to use their black SWAT uniform and M4).