Yet another frightening tale of police abuse

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

A very interesting article. The combination of low intelligence and aggressive/abusive personalities that permeates today's law enforcement community is a dangerous and lethal mix. Many police forces are filled with people like Officer Mercado and then close ranks around them and pass the problem off from one force to the other. Sprinkle in a generous dose of institutional racism and voila....in case there was any doubt about how we got to where we are today. A free society cannot operate under the thumb of authoritarian law enforcement. Then again, our days as a free society may very well be at an end.

An Arkansas man complained about police abuse. Then town officials ruined his life.

When body-camera footage of an aggressive or abusive police officer goes viral, the response from law enforcement groups is often to caution that we shouldn’t judge the entire system based on actions of a few bad apples. That’s fair enough. But what does it say about the system when the cops gets away with their bad behavior? What if, despite video footage clearly showing that the cops are in the wrong, sheriffs and police chiefs cover for them, anyway? What if local prosecutors do, too? What if even mayors and city attorneys get into the act?

Adam Finley had such an interaction with a bad cop. He was roughed up, sworn at and handcuffed. When he tried to file a complaint, he was hit with criminal charges. The local police chief turned Finley’s wife against him, which (according to both Finley and her) eventually ended their marriage. The fact that video of the incident should have vindicated him didn’t seem to matter.

Finley wasn’t shot, or choked to death, or found hanging in a jail cell. He didn’t suffer any permanent or lasting physical injury. Mercado didn’t even use racist or bigoted language. But Finley did everything he was supposed to. From the footage we can see and hear, he was polite, provided ID when it was asked of him and stepped out of the truck when ordered. Despite cooperating, he was treated poorly, detained and roughed up. When he then tried to file a complaint, he was harassed, and the chief of police attempted to turn his own wife against him — by citing video she hadn’t seen and that ultimately vindicated her husband. Yet even after viewing that video, city officials proceeded to prosecute. And even after the video was released, city officials maligned Finley in the press and insisted that the residents of Walnut Ridge believe the assertions of authority figures over the video evidence that contradicted them.

and then there's this:

Most aggressive cops have honed this to an art. They are savvy, know exactly how to weaponize numerous petty laws, ordinances, use-of-force policy and procedure against citizens. This cop was off his game and clumsily went through the motions like a desperate door-to-door perfume salesman. Except when cops manufacture a “sale” like this, the “customer” ends up arrested, criminalized, emotionally and financially devastated, not to mention possibly physically beaten or worse. And the justice system will deem it legal, even when it isn’t.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2018/07/10/an-arkansas-man-complained-about-police-abuse-then-town-officials-ruined-his-life/

[SamKnause]

1. This is one sick country.

This country is filled with evil mother fuckers.

That piece of shit has no business being a police officer.

He is the threat.

Protect and serve my ass.

[Laxman]

2. I've Done Reviews Of Several Municipal Police Departments.....

and my main criticisms have always centered on hiring practices. Hiring family members of local politicians, hiring family members of officers and especially supervisory personnel, no degree requirements, cast-offs from other departments, lax psychological screening. I evaluated one department after they were taken over by the county prosecutor's office and found the same group of officers (relatives and friends of the chief) involved in 90% of the questionable incidents. Abusive behavior, questionable searches accompanied by falsified reports to justify those searches, clear profiling-the behaviors all went together. There was an obvious and predictable pattern that included covering these behaviors. In many ways the small departments were more frightening than the abuses I saw in the larger urban police forces. Many of the officers, including the chiefs, lieutenants & sergeants were just plain stupid and inept in addition to being corrupt. We give these officers the power over people's lives, including the power to administer the summary death penalty. I wish I didn't know how bad it actually is. The result is incident after incident just like the one described in this article.