Police should be disciplined like doctors and attorneys under a code

In an article,  “Why police should be disciplined like doctors and attorneys, A uniform system of adjudication of accused cops could protect officers from politically motivated destruction of police careers,” police one contributor Chief Joel F. Schults writes that it’s about time that the police administrations in charge get their act together and codify a uniform system of adjudication for officers.

His call for such a code goes both ways for outcomes of justice and fairness.

At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade, an investigation by USA TODAY Network found. Officers have beaten members of the public, planted evidence and used their badges to harass women. They have lied, stolen, dealt drugs, driven drunk and abused their spouses. Despite their role as public servants, the men and women who swear an oath to keep communities safe can generally avoid public scrutiny for their misdeeds. The records of their misconduct are filed away, rarely seen by anyone outside their departments, Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D.  writes in a police one article calling for police officers be disciplined like doctors and attorneys.

Although the number of Officers having been investigated or disciplined above is one percent of police officers during the decade in question, their illegal behaviors are not acceptable.

Such measures as Chief Shuts suggests would protect both the public as well as the officers, he argues.

Misconduct by police goes all the way from verbal abuse to resulting death due to actions of the officer, as in the case of Texas police Officer Bau Tran, 36, of Grand Prairie who was indicted this year on a charge of criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony.

Then there is the case of Nouman Raja, the first Florida LEO in nearly 30 years to be convicted and sentenced for an on-duty shooting.

In  another example by police one  staff, a former Michigan trooper was found guilty of the death of a man who was riding an ATV. According to local news station WXYZ, former Trooper Mark Bessner was on trial for the death of Damon Grimes, who was riding his ATV around his neighborhood in August 2017.

Another  misconduct is that of attempting to cover up police misconduct  as in the case reported by AP “A total of 14 current and former Springfield police officers now face charges in an attack on a group of civilians that followed a barroom argument almost four years ago…. The police officers were accused of attempt to cover up.

Chief Schults  in another article  busts out officers with illicit behaviors Who were called out by existing policies of departments.

“Most law enforcement agencies have some sort of plan for dealing with an officer-involved shooting, but what about other officer-involved incidents? In my own experience, and those of colleagues who are agency heads, I’ve seen ……He gives a list of unnamed officers behaviors such as those who who engage in illicit sexual behavior with students or engaged and theft and other misbehaviors.

No responsible professional in law enforcement opposes accountability,  chief Schultz writes. but there are too few voices asking for fairness, redemption, support, consistency and insulation from politically motivated destruction of police careers.

No other profession has their activities self-recorded, publicly videotaped and highly documented as policing. No other profession has stalkers “monitoring” their activities, provoking in hopes of capturing very human responses that can be woven into a story about them behaving wrongly. No other profession bears the indignity of bumper stickers, logo shirts and national organizations pulling strings on the media to form a hostile and sometimes deadlier work environment than already exists in the nature of the work. When was the last time you saw a “F**k the lawyers” t-shirt? When was the last time a doctor found a bullet hole in their personal car?

The Chief makes several proposals to match those of policies in other  professions, to include:

A centralized diversion program for accused officers into a dedicated system for review of misconduct allegations requiring police administrators and prosecutors to justify opting out of the program for exceptional cases;

A uniform bill of rights for Police officers.  To read the full article and find other similar articles by chief Schultz go to Police one.