For Creep Cops Excuses Abound

Early draft written and posted via Smartphone
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By A.F. James MacArthur

"There's nothing I hate more than a dirty cop." I remember those words well. As I sat in my chair at the police academy, the instructor from internal affairs said this with such a serious tone we knew he meant business. The class was about integrity and professional behavior.

That was a couple decades ago. Looking back through the years as I've gone to battle against bad and crooked cops, and even fought for and assisted honest hard working ones, a few things jump out at me.

No matter how egregious the offense, no matter how brutal the act, despite having ample evidence, there will always be some who instinctively play devil's advocate for cops behaving badly. Some make blatant excuses, while others attempt to downplay and minimize brutal behavior. I've heard many variations of excuses offered, but after a while the theme of a repeating pattern starts to emerge.

One of my favorites is: like any organization, you're gonna have good people and bad people working there. This is typically said to downplay allegations of systematic misconduct on a police force.

Really? So this is a reason not to demand a higher stand of professional conduct from those sworn to protect and serve?

Let's analyse this a moment. If I go to McDonald's and the guy in the kitchen is having a bad day, I might get soggy fries, or maybe my burger may be missing a pickle. When a cop is having a bad day, its a different story.

Police behaving badly leads to folks being hurt. People become victims of unnecessary force. Inncocent citizens are sent to jail with flimsy or fabricated probable cause. Evidence is manufactured. In extreme cases, people lose their lives.

This is no small or trivial matter. Few occupational positions in our society gives one single individual so much power and authority to royally ruin someone's day, merely on a whim if they please.

From the brutal Nazi oppression towards the Jews in the second World War, to the disproportionate minority victims of rampant abuse in the war on the streets of modern American cities, its easy to pretend its not happening when its not happening to you. When its never happened to anyone you know, and when you simply don't want to believe such a thing could take place.

Choosing not to believe abuse runs rampant and continually making excuses does not change the realitiy of incidents actually taking place. To those falling victim, the ever present cell phone camera and other modern recording devices coupled with the speed of the internet has proven to be a much needed game changer.

All the low down dirty cops out there should just know this; like the theme of the once popular TV show "Cops," the bad boys they're coming for just could be you. What you gonna do?

In a future article, we'll look more into how modern technology in the hands of citizens has dramatically changed the way police brutality and misconduct investigations take place. Feel free to comment and give feedback on this piece.

MacArthurMedia@gmail.com

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Baltimore Police Dept. Needs Complete Overhaul

By A.F. James MacArthur Ph.A.L., Managing Editor/Publisher

"Why is it that officers in Baltimore can't seem to find enough criminals to arrest, and instead resort to creating them? Do the cops not know where to look?" -- Regina Holmes, Editor In Chief, InvestigativeVoice.com

Allow me to attempt to answer this: YES, the cops know where to look, but most don't care to. It would be risky and require lots of hard work. When you actually go after "bad guys with guns," there's a chance of getting shot. When you go after a good guy with a gun, like me, you know that I will be compliant and cooperative. This allows you to rack up an easy statistic to allow you and your superiors the feeling that you are actually going out and protecting and serving. Never mind that my gun is legal and that as a citizen I have a right to keep and bear arms, and to defend and protect my life. Why would you care?

Meanwhile the only thing being served is a self important, self inflated ego, while the majority of serious crimes in the city go totally unsolved. The Baltimore Police Department has a less than .500 batting average in solving serious crimes. Anyone, from Commissioner Bealefeld, to anonymous apologists who think I'm wrong, I challenge you to pull out the statistics on case closure rate, and we'll review together, and you will lose!

It is much too easy to criminalize someone who is an easy target, but is actually innocent. To the typical lazy, unscrupulous, morally corrupt cop in Baltimore (not all are this way), and there are many. While I do not intend to pile on, there is a serious problem that is still not being addressed by the city.

Merely throwing money at something does not fix it. Particularly when we have yet to see one single city official come out and harshly denounce what was allowed to happen in the police department for so long. Too long!

Here's the deal; at this point, the stories have been published, obviously the creditability and veracity of the victimized officers have been sustained. Hence the multi-million dollar settlement.

Shame on the city for spending years fighting the truth rather than taking serious steps to remedy the situation. Instead it was left to fester and stink like a gangrenous wound on an appendage no longer useful. At that point, the only option left is amputation. Let's cut off the head, and the roots (other racist commanders) that prop it up, and start all over again.

City leaders ought to be embarrassed that they've allowed this condition to persist for so long. Though not the source of the problem, I hold Mayor Sheila Dixon 100% responsible for initiating the change that MUST TAKE PLACE.

No stranger to city government, having served nearly 20 years as a council member, City Council President, and now Mayor. Dixon was in office throughout the time period in question. Therefore, as far as I'm concerned, part of the problem.

Madame Mayor; it's now time to be part of the solution. Massive reform and a complete overhaul of the Baltimore Police Department MUST HAPPEN NOW! Anything less would show a lack of commitment to our community, insincerity in improving race relations, and only lip service when you say you want a safer city.

Like Commissioner Bealefeld has told me many times, it's time to stop talking and start taking action. The action needs to start at Baltimore Police Headquarters.

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To my regular readers who've been following my story, let's see what they do to me next? Is another false arrest imminent? More harasmment, perhaps being shot and having it deemed justifiable? Or perhaps a kangaroo court guilty verdict, it will be interesting to see. Trust me, the enemies of freedom are ever hard at work.