Stupid idea
This is pretty stupid:
If Nashville’s police union has its way, anyone who makes a formal complaint against a Metro police officer could face felony criminal charges if the department’s internal investigators clear the officer of wrongdoing.
Update: Turnabout being what it is, how about if an officer files charges later unfounded against a regular Joe, they get charged with a felony?
June 13th, 2005 at 9:32 am
I am pretty sure that would be a 1st Amendment violation of the right to bear grievances against the government and its agents. “Chilling effect” and all that.
June 13th, 2005 at 10:49 am
I agree with your point of view. Just because an officer is cleared doesn’t mean he didn’t do it and you DO NOT want people to be afraid of filing a complaint if they believe that an office did something wrong.
OTOH, what do you do if someone files a complaint for the sole purpose of harrassing an office? They know when they file it, it isn’t true. I’m sure it happens and I’m sure it’s a VERY rare occurance. But when it does happen, I think an office should have some means of truly clearing his/her name. When an officer is cleared by IA, most people are skeptical.
But a felony, NO. So many things are felonies now days that the term has lost much of its sting.
June 13th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
If you are talking about a police officer filing a false claim against regular Joe in the form of a false police report, I think that is a felony.
June 13th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
Cops cover each other’s asses, so we’ll never know how many unproven complaints are due to lying cops and how many are frivolous complaints. One thing we do know: the vast majority of complaints are never substantiated enough to recommend discipline. In New York, only about 8% of complaints are substantiated.
A friend of mine is a cop, and he tries hard to do his job with some integrity. One night here in NY he stopped a drunk driver who turned out to be the son of a cop. The guy was completely wasted and there was no way my friend could let him drive away. So he busted him.
The next morning at roll call, the last announcement was: Last night sargeant so-and-so busted an officer’s son.
He got no end of crap for that. His locker was dumped on the ground. Threats. Various unpleasantness.
So many police are complicit in protecting criminals. It’s no wonder a lot of people have zero trust for police.
June 13th, 2005 at 4:42 pm
Isn’t this covered in the tail end of the first amendment? i.e. the part goes:
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances
or am I just mis-interpreting that part?
June 13th, 2005 at 7:43 pm
1st amendment, redress… yeah, right. I filed the complaint… it was ruled unfounded after being “investigated” by the agency I was complaining against, (that should tell you something right there). I was then written a ticket, (10 days after police contact and the same day I filed my complaint).
On the stand the officer lied his ass off, while the prosecutor covered it. Don’t invest time/money with the complaint.
June 14th, 2005 at 11:26 am
I’m familiar with your story FoM, and I’m sympathetic, but we are talking about two different parts of the situation. You have a right to be heard in your grievance, which you were. You don’t have a right to actual redress (even though in your case it could have been warranted), but you certainly shouldn’t be given additional charges for exercising your right to petition for redress, which is the situation they are talking about here.
Given this law, not only could they screw you over like they did, but they can heap additional charges on just for fighting back.