Stories from the Police State

One summer I worked closely with an African American kid about my age during an internship. We were talking with a guy who worked in the office next to ours one day when he made the statement that one of the differences between our races was that white people generally trust the police, while black people do not. To prove his point he asked us if either of us had ever had a family member who had been harassed by the police. I said I hadn't, and I generally trusted the police. My coworker said he had, and he generally did not.

Before and since I've always felt that in general, most cops are good-natured folks who accept a great deal of risk in service to their fellow man. But in the last few years I've come across several stories which have changed this feeling a bit. I'm less likely now than I was before to jump to the conclusion that the cops are not to blame when I hear a story about suspected abuse by the police. I remember the conversation with my coworker and wonder if I haven't been too quick to give law enforcement the benefit of the doubt.

Here are some of them, for your consideration.

This American Life – "Bait and Switch": A couple in Texas begin to get nervous about an unclaimed car which has been sitting on their street for weeks. They call the police, who do nothing. Eventually the couple attempts to open the trunk of the car to see if it's hiding anything, and when they do, police swarm the car and take them to jail. The car is revealed to be bait in a police sting operation. The experience seriously damages the couple's lives.

Amy Bach – Ordinary Injustice: Lawyer Amy Bach discusses corruption in the American court system in the linked radio interview, including judges who set extraordinarily high bails for minor crimes to elicit guilty pleas as well as prosecutors who stall cases and practice racist gamesmanship to win convictions.

This American Life – "Right to Remain Silent": The story of an average Joe who is arrested for posting a questionable Facebook status, as well as a cop who recorded his fellow officers seventeen months, exposing corruption which included supervisors who downgraded real crimes into lesser ones and enforced arrest quotas to make the precinct's statistics look good.

The Atlantic – "The Wrong Man": From 2001 to 2008 the media and the FBI destroyed the life of a man falsely accused of sending letters laced with anthrax to politicians.

This American Life – "Inside Job": The story of Barry Cooper, a former crooked narcotics cop who decided to create a reality show about busting crooked cops called "Kop Busters." His plans were quickly shut down by the police.

The New Yorker – "Trial By Fire": The story of Todd Willingham, a Texas man who was executed in 2004 for starting a fire which killed his three daughters, based on evidence which has been widely disputed.

Image: KDfromRichmond