American Cops Lack Skills & Ability

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The controversy over the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts has excited pundits and politicians alike.

Gates was arrested at his home on suspicion of breaking and entering but formally charged only with “loud and tumultuous conduct in a public space” when Gates insisted that he owned the house, was not engaged in breaking and entering and had provided identification to prove his statement.

The cop involved in the arrest, Sgt. James Crowley, refuses to apologize to Gates for his actions and claims that the manner of investigation and arrest were exactly as he was taught. Further, the Cambridge police chief backed-up Crowley’s claim and went on to state that their methods meet the national standard for police departments.

In essence, the police chief is stating that if there is a problem with their police methods then there is a problem with the national standard, as he interprets it.

Gates rightly questions whether his 4th Amendment right to be free from search and seizure was violated and whether the statements he made openly on the front porch of his house were protected by the 1st Amendment right to free speech.

Crowley used the statements made by Gates as the basis for the criminal charge in that the statements were “loud, tumultuous and made in a public space”.

Clearly, Gates had a right to be in his home, had a right to enter his home in any manner, had a right to refuse to leave his home, had a right to protest his arrest, and had a right to make any statement he wished. But all of those rights are meaningless to American cops who are not taught fundamental or constitutional rights of the citizen as part of their police academy curriculum.

In America, there are no fundamental or constitutional rights on the street. It appears those rights exist only in a courtroom and then only if a judge is willing to acknowledge the existence of those rights. Too frequently, the judge is actually the instrumentality of the wrongful police conduct, upholding arrests which are clearly in violation of the defendant’s constitutional rights.

Though the individual states have ratified the United States Constitution, and adopted it as their own state constitution, the states through their law enforcement agencies continually ignore the rights of their citizens.

Cops act with impunity to quash the ordinary conduct of citizens, all under the color of authority. Where is the support from the judiciary for the rights that apply to all Americans?

The cops claim that they cannot follow the rules and have to circumvent them in a slithering snake-like manner to accomplish their goals. The fact is that there is not one American cop who has any comprehension of the fundamental or constitutional rights that apply to citizens, simply because they have never been taught these rules.

They have never been taught these rules because they are viewed as incapable of understanding and applying them. In America, cops are not highly educated, often taking the job because they cannot qualify for anything else. They receive no training in the rights of citizens because that is deemed to be a lawyer’s job.

Additionally, cops are viewed as having limited skills and abilities and are not capable of applying constitutional rights correctly in confrontational situations. Or more specifically, not capable of good judgment under stress so why cloud their decision-making process with legal theory.

President Barack Obama correctly labeled the police action as stupid under the circumstances, however, that has raised the hackles of the racist majority who fail to understand that their rights were also violated that day in Cambridge. Every time a cop is allowed to exceed his constitutionally limited authority there is a domino effect that undermines the rights of all Americans.

While the Constitution forms the rules which apply to the government’s contract with Americans, there can be no easing of those rules for cops simply because they do not understand them. Raise the standard for cop’s education or accept that there will be instances of regrettable, even deadly, conduct by cops on a frequent basis.

If there was ever a time for reform in America, it is now. Now is the time to modify the conduct of America’s institutions including its criminal justice system.

While Professor Gates claims that he will not drop the matter, the fact is that he experienced the tip of the iceberg with regard to police conduct. Outraged as he is over the events occurring at his house, the fact is that thousands of Americans will be subjected to far worse police action today, and every day, in every city in America.
　
　
　
　

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