Bad cops

The one getting the most attention right now is this clown, St. George Missouri Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein. And he deserves every damn bit of it. Xavier later links to The Northern Muckraker who has some things to say in response to a post at Officer.com(scroll around at Muckraker, he's got a lot of interesting stuff on this).

I hate this crap. I hate that a law enforcement agency not only keeps a jerk like this on the force, he makes Sergeant. Which means God knows how long he's been doing crap like this to people.

I hate it when someone has been messed over by an agency so badly that they feel the need to put cameras in their own car. And in this case, glad he did. As has been pointed out, does anyone think this would have ended any way other than the guy going to jail- probably after having the crap beat out of him- if Kuehnlein hadn't realized he was being recorded? And in a way he couldn't destroy?

I hate it when brass, instead of saying "Wrong was done and we're gonna take care of it", tries to excuse and cover up. This crap from the chief:
Chief Uhrig states that Sgt. Kuehnlein told him that the recorder had a "glitch" on the night in question, but the chief told KMOX radio in an interview:
"During the meeting Darrow asked to see the videotape from Kuehnlein's police car. But according to Uhrig, that footage, inexplicably, is nowhere to be found."
...
"Apparently the recording device was not working properly. Well, I in turn have checked the recording device, the in-car camera system, and it is functioning properly."
First, there is NO excuse for supervisors hiding or destroying a recording like this. Second, there is NO excuse for a Chief of Police having anything to do with such. If the Chief did indeed have anything to do with it, he should be fired. That includes not doing anything about a tape 'going missing' or 'becoming unusable' in an investigation. I'm sick to death of excuses.

There is a comment on the Officer.com post that sums up a real problem. After ranting about the usual stuff("We're not treated right, we're not respected, " and so on, we get this:
Most departments are desparate to hire officers that little consideration is given to these peoples ability to defend themselves much less the public at large. Now we have to deal with idiots setting us up when they have nothing better to do?? I hope all of you Douglas Hesters and Joel Rosenbergs out there are the ones that reap what you sow. I hope it’s the most vulnerable members of family tjhat are violated by the little punks that the police are to scared to stomp a 6 foot mud hole in their heads when they obviously desrve it. I hope the next time you call for help the police don’t show… maybe some little hethern with a video camera will come plug the holes some gang bangers shot in your torso…but I hope not.

That apparently comes from a police officer. Got a question: you want to work with this guy? Maybe he's mostly blowing off steam here, but still... It's like nothing this officer did counts, "He was set up", and so on. Which is exactly how departments get this bad. The people abusing authority, abusing the public, in many cases flatly committing crimes, are protected by other officers because "He's one of US." So other officers who come on the force do the same crap. If this guy wants to know a big reason so many do not respect the police anymore, it's because of bad cops doing crap like this, and other cops protecting them.

Dammit, this leaves a real bad taste in my mouth.