Perspectives
Today someone implied that I hate cops and prosecutors; they seemed to accept this as a matter of course. I don't hate anyone, and certainly not cops and prosecutors - I suppose every so often I need to take a moment to say so. We need police and we need prosecutors to enforce the law; although I may confuse some from time to time, I am not a complete anarchist and I know that we need laws and that they need to be enforced.
We don't need a law for everything under the sun that any person disagrees with, and I think that many of the bottlenecks in our system would be resolved if 1) we do not try to legislate morality; 2) we do away with victimless crimes; and 3) we realize that incarceration is not the solution to every criminal justice problem. A "justice" system should be based on compassion, inclusion, and the common good, and not the baser human desires to control or to hurt others in the form of punishment or revenge.
But I'm off topic already - I'm supposed to be talking about why I don't hate cops. Police, prosecutors, judges, politicians, all are human beings like you and I. I have the utmost respect for the jobs that each do respectively, and we are in professions that have a profound impact on other people's lives, sometimes one at a time and sometimes on a large scale. In my job I've seen some wonderful moments of human compassion, I've seen wrongs that have been righted, I've seen guilty parties and victims come together in healing moments, and I've seen police officers commit selfless and noble acts. I've also seen tragedies, I've seen people who were probably innocent sentenced to live in a cage, and I've seen victims of crimes who left courtrooms empty-handed and empty-hearted.
I'd like to hear about and blog about more of the positive things that law enforcement and others in the legal profession do, and I appreciate any suggestions that you have, or stories that need to be told.
But someone also has to point out the abuses of power, the ethical violations, and the disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law that some police and prosecutors engage in. Usually, it is not a personal attack on that persons character. Like most defendants, the reasons for the conduct I complain of - an officer loses his temper, lashes out, and hurts someone; a prosecutor does not disclose evidence that could show a defendant's innocence; a politician proposes a law that does more harm than good - the reasons are that these are people, they are human, and they are motivated by the very human motivations of anger, greed, or need for power. But shouldn't they be held responsible, just like, or even more so because of their position of trust and power, the ordinary citizen who is accused of a crime?
For the cops who read my blog (if there are any), I want to acknowledge that, when I am complaining about cops on the blog, I am not talking about most cops most of the time. I realize that you are human, that you feel, love, have families and lives outside of work, and that by and large you are in your job because you are trying to do the right thing. It is, and should be, more than just a job. Thank you.
