How Cops Think
Scott Greenfield, the New York criminal defense attorney with the Simple Justice blog, provides today two interesting examples of how cops think. Or don’t, as the case may be.
Fresno County Sheriff Mims provides her own example.
Apologies & Lies
First, a shout-out to Ashleigh. (And one of my own apologies, if I didn’t spell your name right; I should have asked how to spell it when we were talking.) Ashleigh recognized me at the courthouse today in the stairwell and stopped me to say “hi.” I’m glad to have met one of my readers — it’s especially nice to meet readers like Ashleigh.
Staying with the theme of apologies, I should apologize for treating this blog like the poor step-child. As my regular readers will know, I have another law blog, Probable Cause: The Legal Blog with the Really Low Standard of Review. Partly because I like the name of the blog better — what more reason do I need? — and partly because it was intended to be more generic while this one has a regional focus, I tend to pay more attention to that blog. It shows, too: the readership there is more than six times greater than here!
Enough of the apologies. Well, mine, anyway….
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.
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.