Uncle post up a story that demonstrates once again the conflict of interest that exists when law enforcement and those who determine the justification of law enforcement action are controlled by the same entity.
In this case Pittsburgh police officers beat a man, Jordan Miles, because they’re authoritarian assholes who get off on power trips they claimed to believe Mr. Miles was holding a gun:
The officers say Miles resisted in January 2010 when they claim he was acting suspiciously and thought he had a gun, which the officers claim turned out to be a soda bottle.
So what happened? Simple, the Department of Justice has determined that no charges will be filed against the police:
Under the applicable federal criminal civil rights laws, prosecutors must establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a law enforcement officer willfully deprived an individual of a constitutional right. Proving “willfulness” is a heavy burden, and means that it must be proven that the officer acted with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids. To act “willfully,” for purposes of the federal statute, means to act with a bad purpose to disobey or disregard the law. Neither negligence, accident, mistake, fear nor bad judgment is sufficient to establish such a criminal violation.
Did you get that? In order for our “justice system” to move against a police officer it has to be determined that the officer “willfully” disobeyed the law. Of course making a mistake or having bad judgement isn’t grounds for such charges. Had you or I been in a similar situation (let’s say you ended up shooting somebody thinking they had a firearm and were going to shoot you) we’d be up on charges so far our heads would spin. I guess the police are just like you and me only better.