JUSTICE: WHO’S TO BLAME WHEN OUR SYSTEM BREAKS DOWN?

By: Joel E. Gordon

Cicero was a Roman orator, lawyer, statesman and philosopher. During a time of political corruption and violence, he wrote on what he believed to be the ideal form of government. His views on justice:

“For there is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is necessarily unjust and wicked.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero, On the Laws

Back to the modern era…

In addition to answering calls for service, much of my time as a police officer entailed letting the community get to know me and working toward preventing criminal activity in my area of responsibility through my presence and community engagement. It’s the way policing should be done.

When crime does occur, it’s easy for the public to blame the police. In reality, when crime occurs it is the responsibility of the police to bring criminal investigations to a conclusion which may or may not result in criminal charges. We are required to work through an ever-increasing mandated maze of rules about engagement, arrest and seizure of evidence to make cases that are valid to the court. Then it’s up to our prosecutors through our legal system to bring or validate charges and up to our judges to adjudicate same. When will we start to hold our prosecutors, judges and any elected officials accountable for their actions?

How often have we all been aware of a violent criminal offender being let loose on society prematurely resulting in further violence and criminal acts? Now more than ever with bail reform and early release initiatives it seems to be all too commonplace.  It is why the police seem to arrest a small percentage of the population most of the time for serious crimes over and over again, placing all in unnecessary danger.

As a former Baltimore City Police Officer, I have experienced this first-hand and early in my career, too. Take the time I forcibly arrested a man for breaking his girlfriend’s ribcage and then, once I was on-scene awaiting EMS response and taking investigative information, the same suspect returned to the scene and attempted to stab me. Once in jail his violent rage continued and he broke the cellblock toilet. He was charged with all three crimes. At trial, the judge found him guilty. Sentencing was for 90 days for assaulting his girlfriend, 30 consecutive days for breaking the toilet and a concurrent 30 days for trying to stab me with his knife. The prosecuting attorney turned to me in open court and said “Officer, isn’t it nice to know you’re worth as much as a toilet”? The man had a lengthy criminal arrest record including numerous crimes of violence and assaults on police in both Maryland and the District of Columbia. He was somehow released after 15 days in jail on these three charges and promptly threw another police officer down a flight of stairs at the same location where I had arrested him… and so it goes on and on.

I had a district court judge in Maryland say in my presence that all defendants were guilty in his eyes if arrested by the police. Conversely, I have heard a Maryland district court judge say in court that all police officers are liars meaning no case can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The cases before these judges were not judged on merit. They were all pre-judged!

Another problem we all face is the reliance on government from revenue generated from court proceedings. Both here locally and elsewhere I have seen instances in municipal and smaller town mayors court where decisions on innocence or guilt appeared to be rooted in revenue collection goals. Case facts seemed to be deemed irrelevant and legitimate mitigating circumstances were either ignored or denied. Fine collection was all that seemed to matter.

We need to hold our courts accountable for ensuring that all live up to our rights and responsibilities, that our security and safety is not unnecessarily compromised, and that just outcomes are brought in all cases before the court.

Our system of justice is by design the best the world has ever known. In practicality, our system is only as good as the people serving within it. Innocence until proven guilty, common sense and justice should prevail. If only our courts truly reflected the motto of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation… “That guilty shall not escape nor innocents suffer.”

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com