Bad Cop, uh…Bad Cop
In the old days, there used to be an interrogation technique called “Good Cop/Bad Cop.” These days, the technique has fallen somewhat out of favor. In its place, we have “Bad Cop/Not So Bad Cop.”
Or increasingly, just Bad Cop.
When The Pot Calls The Kettle…
Eric Essman, a self-described left-wing radical, has recently posted several comments on my blog taking exception to my characterizations of Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer and claiming I’m being unfair to the police. I want to address the issues raised in his various comments in this blog entry instead of appending individual responses to each comment because, among other things, I hope it will clarify exactly the points I was making in the posts which were attacked — points which I feel may be lost by the distraction the discussion in those comments and my responses to them may create.
Besides, even as I write this, Mr. Essman is posting more comments on other articles I’ve written, making similar points to his prior comments. (I get it, Mr. Essman: you like the police and you don’t care much for what I’m saying. I got that after the second comment. By the sixth, it became overkill. Feel free to take a breather.)
Secondarily, I will be correcting attributions of thoughts, beliefs and attitudes to me which I do not hold and clarifying what I do actually think on those issues.
Lastly, I thought doing this would make a “regular comment” too long and since Mr. Essman’s comments follow two different posts and may come to span more at the rate he’s moving, I’ll hopefully just be able to shift everything here, to one place.
Besides, it saves me trying to write a long response and still being left looking for a topic about which to blog today. 
An Officer of the Court
First things first: I don’t write as much on this blog as I had hoped, or as I probably should. My original intent was that I’d write about “regional” (i.e., within the Fresno, California area) issues or happenings on this site; most of my writing happens at Probable Cause: The Legal Blog with the Really Low Standard of Review. (Judges, at least, should get the joke in that name; even a few attorneys might.) This isn’t an apology: I’m saying this because if you’re here wondering why the blog isn’t updated and you’re just really thirsting for something new, try the other blog.
Regardless of where I post my articles, I’m always an officer of the court. (People v. Superior Court (Rishwain, Hakeem & Ellis) (1989) 215 Cal.App.3d 1411, 1413 [264 Cal.Rptr. 28]; Tejeda v. Blas (1987) 196 Cal.App.3d 1335, 1341 [242 Cal.Rptr. 538]; Leversen v. Superior Court (1983) 34 Cal.3d 530, 537 [194 Cal.Rptr. 448].) I cite cases for that because some prosecutors and law enforcement officials disagree.
Even courts seem to disagree at times. I’m still learning the rules, but near as I can tell it works like this: When they want me to do something I’m resisting, I’m reminded that I’m an officer of the court. The rest of the time, I’m a criminal defense attorney, which means I’m not to be trusted.
W[h]ither Freedom?
Maintaining multiple blogs has turned out to be more difficult than I thought, primarily because of the way I write. Those who read Probable Cause: The Legal Blog with the Really Low Standard of Review may notice that I tend to support my comments with citations. I suppose if I simply write what’s on my mind, my own thoughts, ideas and opinions, without attempting to “support” my points in this way, I can get more blogging done. So far, though, I’ve found myself constitutionally unable to do that.
Bloggers elsewhere have been suffering a different fate.
Born-Again Defense Evangelist, Police Chief Jerry Dyer
Almost two weeks ago, I noted that former-accused-statutory-rapist-turned-police-chief Jerry Dyer had seen the light: after some of the officers on his crack team of — wait, that won’t work… — after one-third of his specialized drug enforcement team came under suspicion and two officers were arrested for running a car theft ring, Dyer reminded everyone:
It’s important for me and for all of us to not rush to judgment on this case. There is no indication that any other detective in that unit was involved.
And he’s right. His other officers were busy elsewhere.
Today, a Fresno Bee headline reads: “Video shows officer hitting man.” The video shows two police officers holding down a homeless man and beating him in the face.
Treating Police Officers As Human Beings
As a criminal defense attorney, I find it irritating that I’m frequently treated as if only the first word in that tripartite title counted. With recent changes in Fresno, I’m now unconstitutionally searched several times a day; the sheriff’s deputies x-ray or lamely rummage through my bag looking for weapons every time I enter a courthouse. Given that most days I’m doing that a half-dozen times, you’d think someone would figure out that the most dangerous weapon I carry (which they routinely ignore) is my heavy, sharp-pointed, three-foot long umbrella on rainy days.
The irony is not simply the weapons that are overlooked by searches that range anywhere from perfunctory privacy invasions whose real goal is to show who’s the boss, but that, compared to law enforcement officers, criminal defense attorneys are, on the whole, saints.
So I’m even more irritated when I go into court and the words of police officers are given such great weight that anything I, my client, or witnesses for the defense might say is automatically suspect. But look at the evidence: police officers on the whole are, in fact, worse than defense attorneys.
Fresno Police Chief on Criminals: No Rush to Judgment
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer has never been a big fan of criminals. But that may all be changing after two of his officers were arrested and one-third of his department’s drug squad came under suspicion for stealing cars.
Californians’ Priorities In Need Of Correction
In today’s Fresno Bee, Dan Walters comments on the need to lock down prison spending. This paragraph contained a rather stunning set of statistics:
“Corrections,” an ironic misnomer, has jumped from less than $5 billion a year to more than $10 billion [a year] in the last decade, more than twice as fast as school spending, the biggest budget item. It now costs about $45,000 a year to feed, clothe and medicate each of the state’s 170,000-plus inmates, or roughly five times what taxpayers spend on a typical public school student. And that doesn’t count what it costs to supervise tens of thousands of parolees.
Frankly, this is ludicrous.
Shooting Holes in the U.S. Constitution
Mary was angry as she waited in line at the grocery store in the rain. Ahead, she could see the cause of the delay: some stupid older dude with long gray hair, struggling to empty his pockets into the bowl before going through the metal detector.
Where did he find jeans with pockets in the first place?!
Who is the King?: Sowing the Seeds of Disrespect for the Law
Break a law that you did not know existed. It doesn’t matter how vaguely worded that law is. If a police officer wants to arrest you for it and if a Deputy District Attorney decides she wants to prosecute you for it, you will be prosecuted. You will, unfortunately, almost certainly lose: you’ll either realize that you’re going to lose and take an offer, or you’ll be convicted. Even if somehow, some way you win, you will lose, because you will have paid an attorney, or posted bail, or — in the event you were too poor to hire an attorney and the offense did not require you to post bail — you will have lost time, effort and sleep over the case.
Unless you’re a police officer.
