As we celebrate #publicdefenseday, I want to talk about this: "A vast majority of cases end in plea deals before an officer is ever required to take the witness stand in open court, meaning the possibility that an officer lied is seldom aired in public." nytimes.com/2018/03/18/nyr…
We see this horrific insulation every day: When an officer interacts with someone, stops, frisks, searches, arrests, they *know* there is basically zero chance their conduct will ever be challenged. For most arrests-low-level, crimes of poverty-pleas happen w/n a day of arrest.
When someone pleads, it doesn't just mean the case ends w/ their public defender unable to cross-examine the officer. A plea also erects legal barriers to civil rights suits (except for claims of excessive use of force, which are hard to prove). Worst case: city settles for them.
When someone pleads, however, it doesn't mean that they are guilty. Innocent people plead out of fear of going to trial, or to avoid the cost of having to return to court. In the process, we see obviously false accusations, perjurious paperwork & testimony get swept away, hidden.
Even if someone is "guilty," it doesn't mean they are *legally guilty. Even if you do have something illegal on you, the Constitution protects-absolutely-your right to be free from police overreach. Police overreach, they get punished. They're supposed to anyway. But they don't.
Today officers *know they can walk up to anyone they want & rifle their hands through their pants. They can pull over any car, order everyone out, search high & low. Constitution be damned. Don't find anything: send on their way. Find something: make up justification. They lie.
The REALLY scary part though? Even where there's no plea in those near-never percentage cases that *do end up with an officer on the stand, they can still flat out lie and do. A judge can even call them out on it. Call them incredible. Dismiss the case. No consequences.
Even in the rare case they're disciplined by NYPD--they keep their job, they get promoted! They're put right back where they were, gun in holster, given continued authority to deprive people of freedom. What's worse: prosecutors *continue to rely on their word* for more cases.
So, the crux: When there are no *disincentives for police officers lying, cheating, violating people's rights and ONLY *incentives for making arrests and making them stick at all costs, what's going to happen? Police will continue to lie & cheat at our expense. So a proposal:
Police: Officer lies, fire them. Prosecutors: Officer lies, reject their arrests everytime, ensure whole office knows, & if a person wants to challenge police action: let them. Don't threaten more time for mere audacity of exercising rights.
On this #publicdefenseday I want to breathe life into the idea of accountability, truth-seeking, meaningful representation, and the free & unencumbered exercise of rights. I want the police to answer for their actions.
