John McNesby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said that the transfers were based on "unfounded accusations" by the District Attorney's Office and that the allegations should have been investigated first.
"When you've got an aggressive group of officers, you're going to have people who aren't happy," McNesby said. "These guys took a lot of guns off the streets, took a lot of drugs off the streets. They did a lot of good work for the city."
The people who weren't happy turned out to be the district attorney and judges who didn't think nearly as well of these officers as their union president. As Leo (irony duly noted) explains it:
Besides, it’s not like they ever threatened anyone’s life while in the line of duty, right? When the officers caught up to him, Conolly said, he got out of the car with hands raised, but [the officers] threw him to the ground and choked, kicked, and punched him as he yelled for help. [Officer] Liciardello, he said, put a gun to the back of [Connolly's] head and told him, “We are the cops. If you don’t shut up, I will put a . . . bullet in your head.” The article finishes with this gem: McNesby has maintained the innocence of those officers.”It’s a sad day,” he said, “when you have the criminals in the city dictating where cops are going to be working.” No, John. It’s a sad day when police feel and act like they’re above the law they’re sworn to uphold. Ah, kids. So trusting. So believing. Aren't they cute as the dickens? On the one hand, you have police officers who take guns and drugs off the streets. So they sometimes put a little something in their own pocket for a rainy day? So they get a little rough with the bad guys on the street? It's a hard world out there when you're saving society from the criminals, you know.
Sure, back-benchers see it all neat and clean, platitudes and oaths galore, but somebody has to do the dirty work to keep us safe at night. And that's why they have the FOP.
McNesby's comments reflect the basic question that's been posed forever. Either we believe our beloved cops or we believe the criminals. Which side are you on?
While we now have the occasional video which shows cops gone bad, where for decades before it was the perps word against the cops, and the perps rarely won a pissing match because few judges wanted to be in McNesby's crosshairs for being on the wrong side of the question, not every bust offers a Youtube moment. And when there is no video, we go right back to the old ways, playing the odds and awaiting the union president's retort, next time you're in trouble, call a criminal. Hah! That'll show 'em.
But, you say, that's not what happened this time. The district attorney and police commissioner didn't side with the cops, didn't sweep it under the rug, didn't squint their eyes and conclude the accusations were unfounded. Well, yeah. Kinda. Maybe.
You see, these six cops didn't get canned. They didn't get prosecuted. They didn't get booted off the force and lose their pensions. They were transferred.
Bradley S. Bridge, a veteran lawyer in the Philadelphia Public Defender's Office, said the officers were "among the most troubled in the department."
"Transferring them out of a place where they have intense, high-profile interactions with people, and where there is little oversight of their actions, is an important and significant move," Bridge said. "We have had numerous clients who have complained about their interactions with these officers, who have maintained that these officers have testified falsely against them. And this is a recognition that those complaints are valid. This reflects that the problems are so significant that the department had to do something."
Ouch. Harsh. They made the cowboys change horses. That'll learn 'em for lying and beating folks and kicking 'em in the head.
And John McNesby goes full bore, because that's his job as union president, covering his people when they get fired prosecuted transferred for being tough cops in a tough world. Time to break out the champagne in Philly. No, not the citizens who applaud the firm action by the police chief and district attorney, but the guys in the party room at FOP Lodge 5. They got away with it again, and nobody noticed.
© 2012 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.
Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2012/12/06/liberty-equality-no-fraternity.aspx?ref=rss
No comments:
Post a Comment