Louisville Ky Police Officer Power Trip

A police officer for the Louisville Ky Metro Police Department was suspended without pay for 15 days because of an incident involving a 7 year old child. In his personal vehicle, Officer Chapelle was driving down a street and was accosted by the child and his run away ball. He charged the child with Criminal Mischief 3. This all happened in October 2009, which begs the question, "Why are we just hearing about this now?" Reported by The Post Chronicle and according to police, Officer Cody Chapelle wrote the citation after that child threw a ball that struck the officer's truck in October of 2009. Chapelle also reportedly yelled at the child's mom and told her she was not a good parent.

OK, coming from an entire family of police officers, this is just scary. Being raised in NC and having so many family members, including brothers, that were cops, I know how power and control can be more of a hindrance than a help in the jobs the police perform each day. It is very easy to go from doing their jobs, to being on a "power trip". Police Officers have tough jobs to begin with. You take a regular man or woman and give them the power to arrest people and control situations, it can transfer into abuse quickly. If they were not screened properly or they just have been doing it for a long time, they can take a situation like this one and turn it into a personal issue.

Just turn on the TV show Cops and you can see that these guardians of our safety and freedom have one of the hardest jobs out there. They go out every single day and take a chance with not coming home. They get conditioned and tainted by the enormous amount of crime they see on a regular basis. After a while, they would have to get the mistaken impression that they rank up there with God. They are given unlimited power to interpret the law as they see fit. They gain more and more authority as they go. Many are truly meant to be in those jobs. Many use it to control people and show how much power they really have. If they aren't well balanced or have the extreme misconception that they are the ultimate authority, it can really get out of hand.

Officer Chapelle obviously, was in that category. He has been on the job for many years. He has become accustomed to using his position to enact whatever laws he deems necessary. How many police officers do this? Does every cop, in every town, know every law for their town and state? Hard to tell. People are so scared of police, they take a lot of stuff that may or may not be a law. When you are driving down the road and see those blue lights behind you, it invokes fear. It makes your stomach hurt and it gives you an extreme sense of being powerless. No matter your status or position in life, no matter whether you are a criminal or not, it still creates an uncomfortable feeling, encountering a policeman for any reason.

It would behoove our esteemed law enforcement officers to remember, you are just an instrument of the law. You cannot make up your own version of the rules, no matter how long you have been doing it. Using the law for personal satisfaction is not allowed. Officer Chapelle was driving his own vehicle. A kid accidentally threw the ball at the wrong moment. To give him a criminal charge was totally above and beyond his authority and good sense.

As we have seen over and over, the police can be as corrupt as anybody else. They screw up, they break laws and they use the law to their advantage. The majority of our police population love what they do and they do it to the best of their ability. The ones who don't, are an embarrassment to our criminal justice system. They take the job and use it to fulfill their own agenda. They spend their life harassing people and showing that they can be in control of everything.

I applaud our honest and hard working law enforcement. However, I encourage all law enforcement to remember that everything comes back around. If you abuse your position, sooner or later it will return to kick you in the butt. Bad police officers are not a benefit to the already tainted title. They make it harder for those who are really trying to do the right thing. This would probably not be the only time Officer Chapelle has enacted his position as a policeman, to get his way. He has, though we don't know for a fact, used his power before. He just didn't get caught. His apparent power trip included telling the mom, she was not a good parent...Excuse me, letting your child play with a ball is being a bad parent? What is his problem?

People are scared to disagree or report a police officer. He has many victims in his wake. Hopefully, his commanding officers will recognize this behavior as unacceptable and show Officer Chapelle the door permanently.