| When Rules Become A Joke |
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The sergeant who wrote me up was actually the person who made the error. He might've really believed I did it, because he'd been killing brain cells for years. He was a raging alcoholic when he was hired,.When he showed up for work (sometimes he didn't), he would frequently be roaring drunk and have to be carried from his car and poured into a holding cell. His multiple arrests, including shooting out streetlights, public urination, and assaulting police officers, had no effect on his employment. When he started pretending to be sober, he was instantly promoted to sergeant. He retired as a lieutenant and several years later committed suicide. How did he get away with this? I was told he was married to the sheriff's cousin. What did I do about it? Not much; I didn't want an extra-large helping of what I'd just gotten a taste of. The department obeyed its own rules only sometimes, and the county's civil service board was a paper tiger. Rules and regulations are meaningless if the systems that establish them are corrupt and people feel free to ignore them with impunity. What are needed are laws to prosecute officials who abuse their positions and protect officers who blow the whistle.Good laws would not undermine officials' authority to run their agencies and appropriately discipline officers, but would curtail their power to run roughshod over their personnel. That is power no one should have or want.In these post-9/11 days, law enforcement is more complex and dangerous than it has ever been. It is therefore more important than ever to attract and retain the best people possible to work in our profession. Federal and state laws to protect law enforcement officers' due process rights are in the works, but progress is glacial. Write, call, and visit the offices of your elected officials. Let them know what is urgently needed. We all need to band together to fight the bad guys – the ones wearing badges. Mark Therrell is now a Birmingham, Alabama metro-area law enforcement officer. He is writing a novel and a book on police administrative abuses. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          |
