The Police: Friend or Foe

I recently wrote an article about the conviction of Joshua Rosa and whether his conviction was justified or was he convicted of a crime much worse than he should have been. Joshua Rosa was convicted Monday of 1^st degree murder and attempted sexual battery of a child. I had some comments made on the article but one comment stood out and I thought it was profound. It was written by a fellow AC producer by the name of Taz. I have know Taz the better part of a year now and while we don't often agree on certain elements of a case, we always have a constructive and thought provoking discussion on the issues. I have come to respect him not only as an AC producer but as a law enforcement officer. I would like to share this comment and why it got me thinking so much. I will quote him.

"This case is a sad case and I certainly agree there are a lot of questions to be answered but this shows exactly what I have been saying for years that people are told that police are your friends and that depends on what hat they are wearing at the time, if their rendering aid and assisting people yes they are your friends but when they have the detective hat on you need to be very careful of what you help them with because they are not your friend and can hurt your badly." - Taz

I thought this comment was brilliant for the fact it is so true. We have all been told to assist officers any time they ask you but at what price does that come? We have been told since we were little kids that the police are our friends and to trust they will do the right thing. If you are in trouble, go to the police. But as we grow older we find this is not the case. The police can be downright criminal if that's what it takes to get us to do what they want. Don't take me wrong, I'm throwing all law enforcement under the bus but it does happen.

Let's look at the positives that police bring us and there are a lot of them. We would live in a lawless land if it were not for the police. With the population of this country today it would make the "Old West" look like a neighborhood spat. These men patrol our streets to keep the average citizen safe from the sick and twisted criminals out there. When they get dressed every morning, they have to look in the mirror and wonder if they will be doing the same thing tomorrow morning or whether they will be in a hospital or whether they will be dead. Not a job I would want to have but they do it to protect us. The patrolman and the detective both have our best interests at heart.

The patrolman will help you change a flat tire; he will calm a domestic squabble between neighbors and family alike and he will go into a house to catch a burglar without batting an eye or thinking about his own safety, only yours. His duties are endless and he is there to "protect and serve". I could give you a million examples of how the police assist and aid us when we need it. His job for the most part is thankless and he puts up with more shit from the general public than any of us ever could. He risks his life everyday for us.

The detective at first glance has the very same goals. He wants to catch the perpetrator of a crime and get him off the streets so we as the general public can feel safe. He wants to solve the murder or rape case so the families can have justice. He wants badly to make a difference in our community and to make where we live a better place. He or she has to get up and look into that very same mirror and think the same thing as I mentioned earlier. His job is no easier for when he does figure the case out, he has to put himself in the line of fire to arrest this person and bring him in for questioning. For the most part, they are our friends. He also risks his life for us.This is where the positives stop.

These detectives don't just magically appear; they start off as the street cop and have to learn their trade on the streets. The patrolman has to do his investigation to see whether a crime has been committed before he hands over the case to a detective. They hone their skills of interrogation by confronting someone they think might be guilty of a crime. They talk to witnesses and the alleged perpetrator themselves to gather evidence and statements. The problem; they don't believe a fucking thing that comes out of your mouth until they can prove it's true or makes sense. The police, by nature, are skeptics and they have to be. If the police believed everything we said, no one would ever be convicted. Have you ever tried talking your way out of a traffic ticket and given the cop some bullshit excuse? Do you think he believed you? Why of course not. They have a sense of humor just like anyone else and if you give them a really wild and farfetched story, sometimes they'll let you slide just for originality. I have seen patrolman beat confessions out of witnesses so they could wrap their cases up quickly. It's called "cutting corners". They need to be back out on the streets to make more arrests and keep the public safe. All of us have seen the police videos where the officers have used excessive force to get an individual to "comply". Two words; Rodney King.

Now the detectives are a whole different breed. I do not envy the detective one bit. They have to put together a puzzle without all of the pieces. It is a frustrating job trying to put all those pieces together and not knowing what the puzzle is going to look like when it's done. In an interrogation, they use tactics that, while they may be effective, can also cause an innocent person to say the wrong thing and implicate themselves before they know it. Just like prosecutors, the detectives want the confession and to hell with the truth. They want to close their case. We have heard of detectives using physical force to get confessions. This is known as coercion and is still used today. Just ask my friend and little brother Michael Perry. He confessed to a murder I KNOW he did not commit and is now on Texas's death row. I'm not saying that all detectives get bogus confessions and most are able to distinguish the truth from a lie but too many times this is not the case.

The most disgusting abuse of power by detectives in recent history came in January of 1998. On January 21, 1998 police were called to the home of the Crowe family and discovered the bloody body of 12 year old Stephanie Crowe. She had been stabbed 9 times. Police quickly turned their attention to Stephanie's brother, 14 year old Michael Crowe. Michael was taken to the police station and questioned for 27 hours over three days without his parents or an attorney. The detectives in this case used lies, false promises, isolation from parents and attorneys and the threat of adult prisons and predatory inmates as "persuasive techniques" to obtain a confession. Michael Crowe eventually confessed to killing his sister even though he had nothing to do with it. Police later arrested a mentally ill drifter by the name of Richard Raymond Tuite. Tuite was eventually convicted, largely due to DNA evidence, of manslaughter for the crime and sentenced to 13 years in prison. An expert who viewed the confession said it was a text book case on "how not to question a suspect". The expert also stated that the interrogation was so coercive that Michael Crowe would have said anything to make it stop.

As Taz said, the police can be your best friend and hope but once they get you into an interrogation room, all bets are off and you will find that they are not your friend at all. I have seen a show called "The First 48" where these detectives promise to "help the suspect if they confess. This is total bullshit. They are not there to help you and don't give a rat's ass about you. They want a confession. They still charge these suspects with 1^st degree murder so what's the help:

Here are some tips to keep you safe from the criminals as well as the police:

Never insinuate yourself into a police investigation. The police will be all over you and consider you a suspect.

If you call to report a crime, make sure a crime has been committed.

If you have a tip on an ongoing investigation, never go to the police station by yourself or for that matter at all, call it in anonymously.

If you are arrested, never say a word to anyone until you are represented by counsel. These are your constitutional rights.

If your child is arrested, teach your children to not speak to the police until you are present.

By all means, if you see something suspicious, report it. After all the police are there to help stop crime.

I have been rather harsh as far as the police go but then again they have shown that they can't be trusted. I'm sure I'll take a lot of heat from Taz and others but I speak from personal experience as well as what I've seen on TV. I don't trust the police yet I rely on them. I keep my distance from them yet I feel safe when they are around. I guess the bottom line is "Don't mess with them and they won't mess with you!"