Power corrupts #4

The corrupting influence of power is not limited to police. Apparently prosecutors are also immune from the poor exercise of their might and judges cooperate, hand in glove, to protect them from being charged with misconduct.

Power corrupts#3

Beware of cops...
"...police routinely hid exculpatory evidence from prosecutors and judges..."

Apparently it was (and possibly is) common for Detroit police to use snitches and informants to prosecute accused murderers in exchange for lighter sentences and other rewards. With a built in incentive to tell the police what they want to hear, informants take advantage of any opportunity to elevate their decidedly poor conditions. The combination of witness testimony and hiding of exculpatory evidence results in accused criminals being convicted of crimes they did not commit.

These actions of the part of the police degrade the trust between police and the public. With each breach of practice, public confidence in the integrity of police work takes another hit. Criminal acts by police makes me wonder if the prison barbed wire restrain the real law breakers.

Power corrupts #2

There so many instances of police abusing power imbalance that to post about every instance would practically be a full time job... but two recent reports (here and here) really make you wonder who is the criminal. Cops are human; that some are bad is not surprising or unexpected. What's disappointing is good cops overlooking the bad behavior. Bad cops force good cops into a catch-22: treat the bad cops as the criminals they are (arrest and charge them with crimes) or avert their gaze when a colleague in a blue uniform does something illegal. Unfortunately for many people, preserving police culture is a higher priority for most police.

Update:... just hours later... see here for another case.

Not pot, not kettle

I just came across a transcript of Bill O'Reilly implying that Christiane Amanpour's critique of Benjamin Netanyahu's recent speech to Congress is not worthy of 'trust' (after all she 'was raised in Iran until age 11'). When it comes to the issues of journalistic integrity and trustworthiness, Bill O'Reilly could not have chosen a worst time to raise these questions. Considering his less than truthful recounting of his reporting career highlights (see here, here, and here), he's not the pot calling Amanpour's kettle black... that would equate the quality of his work to hers. He's the bits of blacken cooked on debris flaking off the pot calling the kettle black. It's a wonder that his audience is so blind to his Forest Gump tendency to insert his manufactured personality into the historically relevant moments.  Forest Gump is a positive force that Bill O'Reilly could only aspire too.

Power corrupts #1

I will occasionally post links to articles which exemplify the how various forms of corruption manifests in public life. I make no assertion in any of these posts that the extent of corruption is absolute, only it exists...

Racial bias in many American police departments and judicial systems can lead to corrupt practices...
Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo Weren't the First: A Short History of Brutal Cops Let Off the Hook by the US Justice System.

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"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."