Post ‘Woke’ Era - Is The Tide Turning For Cops?
/Post ‘Woke’ Era
Is The Tide Turning For Cops?
By: Ken Dye
Writing in my blog, “copsperspective.com,” I had the pleasure to write three consecutive stories about police officers who have been accused of excessive use of force. Fortunately, these officers were subsequently found to have been within the department’s guidelines and the law. The officers were fired, suspended or sued by a resisting/deceased suspect or their families.
Officers fired/suspended for doing their jobs by spineless city leaders had to endure months, even years before the issue was resolved.
Let’s take a look at the three cases I referred to:
1. Wauwatosa, WI: Officer was involved in three fatal shootings. The last one in 2016. After being investigated by local, state and federal authorities no charges were filed. A state judge reinstated the case and it was investigated by former prosecutors. In June of this year, he was finally given a clean bill. He is currently serving honorably, as a deputy sheriff in Waukesha County, Wis.
2. Six Atlanta officers were fired by the mayor and police chief after they took two curfew violators into custody during the George Floyd unrest. Their bargaining unit’s attorneys got them reinstated. Once again, this June all the officers were not charged after a final investigation. The officers’ actions were within department guidelines and laws. The actions by city leaders, however, leave them open to costly and time-consuming civil suits.
3. In Topeka, Kansas, an officer was sued by a resisting suspect. After hearing the evidence in federal court, the wrongly accused officer was found not guilty and the plaintiff was ordered to pay the officer’s cost of counsel.
Earlier this year, Oklahoma officers had their case dismissed by a judge who questioned why the case was filed in the first place. Once again it involved an overzealous prosecutor.
There seems to be a movement afoot in the country to once again look at these, and other cases involving cops a bit more seriously. We have all seen the newsreaders look at the camera and bemoan police brutality. Oh please!
Our nation’s cops deserve the right to be heard and judged appropriately. No one will stand for abuse of power by cops… or by chiefs and mayors.
Ken Dye is the author of five books about crime, cops and bad guys in the St. Louis area. He blogs under “Cops Perspective” and has over 20,000 followers. Ken served with the St. Louis County Police Department for 13 years and finished his LE career with the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority as the administrator for the statewide MEG’s and Narcotics Task Forces.
