NYPD WTF

Chuck Freund has blogged a bit below about how some 400 arrests made by the New York Police Department at last year's GOP convention have fallen apart in light of "distributed surveillance." Check that out here.

Over at Nobody's Business, Rogier van Bakel provides a close reading of some of faked testimony that's worth checking out:

No doubt, most men and women in uniform serve with honor. And then there are little Mengeles like Charles Graner and Lynndie England, of Abu Ghraib fame, and disgusting perjurers like Matthew Wohl, a New York cop who fabricated charges against political protesters for the satisfaction of hauling them off to jail….

Thanks to such "mistakes," lots of people who were exercising their First Amendment rights would have ended up with a felony record if it hadn't been for the videotapes shot and collected by volunteers.

I wonder how the higher-ups will deal with police officers who took a dump on their oath by committing malicious perjury, and with the people in the DA's office who were only to happy to accept and expand on those lies.

Mayor Bloomberg should show evidence of a spine, and begin handing out the pink slips.

Whole thing here.

Comments

[Mo]

I'll be patiently waiting for all of those Clinton-haters ("It's not the sex, it's the perjury") to push the DA for convinctions as well.

I may be waiting awhile, anyone got a light?

[Anvilwyrm]

Clinton's perjury pissed me off. I don't care where he stuck what, and if he had said "none of you business" or said nothing at all I would have been fine. Instead he lied to everyone, and tried to destroy her credibilty.

All of these cops should be fired and charged. Possbily flogged.

Done waiting?

[joe]

Politicians never stand up to the cops. Republicans/conservatives tend to believe they can do no wrong, and Democrats/liberals are too chickenshit to upset a powerful constituency and be branded "soft on crime."

Then there's a fake Republican like Bloomberg, to whom both statements apply.

[Ironchef]

The Police Chief can claim full responsibility (like Reno), and not get fired. Or he can deny any responsibility (like the CIA heads recently), and not get fired. No difference.

[Henry]

Wow, lying cops--whoda thunk it?

Aside from a criminal defendant testifying, the surest place to find perjury in any courthouse is when a cop is on the stand.

[Brian Marks]

Oh c'mon, there cops, they know what there doing...lol.

Cops should be held to hire standard on testimony that comes with enforcing laws and burden of proof.

[Number 6]

I deal with a number of cops on a day-to-day basis, and have found the vast majority of them to be decent, honest people with a very difficult job.

The NY cops are, I think, an aberration, and should be booted for betraying the very priniples they swore to uphold.

[Native NYer]

Bloomberg will never do anything to opiss off the cops this year, it's an election eyar and he needs the outer burroughs.

It's not like the protesters actually LIVE in new york, but some of the cops and their families still do.

[Rhywun]

Mayor Bloomberg should show evidence of a spine

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
This is the same man who is bending over for the Jets and handing them some 600 million tax dollars.

[KipEsquire]

Bloomberg was the one who said they should all "just plead guilty."

[Ken]

My lawyer told me the main reason to get a copy of the police report is so he will know what lies will be told by the police on the stand.

[rob]

It is high time public officials are held accountable at a standard that at least matches the standard applied to normal citizens. As a victim of what police call "creative report writing" myself, I have personally sat in a court room and watched a judge believe everything a police officer said, while earlier (during other cases) I watched the same judge laugh at police: giving a DOG a ticket, and claiming an unconscious accident victim "refused" to give a blood sample for alcohol/drug checks. Given 2 incidents in an hour and a half in court I would have expected a little more loss of credit to officers claims. Alas, it is not so.

[The Real Bill]

All govt. officials s/b held to higher standards than regular citizens. The cops s/b fired and charged.

BTW, I love honest cops. Bad cops make the good ones look bad. Sadly, "codes of silence" show how many cops, good or bad, are stupid. Good cops are hurt by these "codes". Only rotten cops are protected. So, why would any thinking, decent cop keep the code? Answer: No thinking cop would, so most must be stupid (or corrupt).

[Col DuBois]

The Real Bill:

I suspect it's because all cops want to be sure they get backup when they need it, be it a good or a bad cop. You may have heard some of the horror stories about openly gay cops who don't get backup when they call for it.

[Warren]

And then there are little Mengeles like Charles Graner and Lynndie England, of Abu Ghraib fame

[soap box] It irritates the shit out of me every time someone compares lowly foot soldiers to ranking officers. It seems we will never kill the myth that the Nuremberg trials rejected "I was following orders" as a viable defense. Many of the Nuremberg defendants were in fact acquitted and found blameless because they were following orders. What the court rejected, was the transparent false denial of responsibility from those that issued orders.[/soap box]

[The Real Bill]

Col DuBois,

Good point. Those openly gay cop stories lend more evidence to my supposition that most cops aren't really that bright.

[Fabius]

All public employees who seriously violate the law and/or abuse their power should forfeit all their property and be exiled.

The pillaging and enslaving were bad, but the Romans had many other customs that were good.

QFMC cos. V

[Swami]

Native NYer,
you said "It's not like the protesters actually LIVE in new york, but some of the cops and their families still do."
Actually a lot of the people arrested do live in NY. I know a lot of people who were arrested, all live in Brooklyn. Most of the cops do not.

[The Real Bill]

Fabius:
All public employees who seriously violate the law and/or abuse their power should forfeit all their property and be exiled.

I second that motion!

[Ken Shultz]

"I wonder how the higher-ups will deal with police officers who took a dump on their oath by committing malicious perjury, and with the people in the DA's office who were only to happy to accept and expand on those lies."

I haven't been in New York for a long time, but I spent some time there back in the mid-80's.

...The cops in New York seem to get in trouble whenever they try to enforce the law and overstep their true mandate--their true mandate being to make sure that street vendors pay city sales tax.

[Seamus]

"Mayor Bloomberg should show evidence of a spine, and begin handing out the pink slips."

Yeah, that'll happen.

[Native NYer]

Swami:

You got me, the area were I live in the Bronx is filled with cops and firemen, and I don't know anybdy who went downtown to protest last summer. Actually, most of my friends scheduled their vacations just to be away from the madness.

Are they students?

[Native NYer]

Because students are just 4 year tourists in NYC.