Who deals with police who break the law?

Every police officer answers to a civilian review in some form. If it is a small town it is the town council or the county board. In larger communities they have internal affairs and police review boards that are made up of community members and often you have one or two anti police people on the board. Police officers have told me that if they are charged with a crime whild doing their job they would try to work out the best deal thay could because their chances fo getting off are slim or none. If a jury finds them not guilty (which most often happens) they will lose to a review board or civil right hearing. The few law enforcement officers who are bad are punished. Between 1992 and 1997 887 police officers were killed in the line of duty according to the US Dept of labor http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/archive/summer1999art1.pdf That is almost 150 each year killed protecting you and your family.

Bob, it's taken me too long to get back to you. I'm not anti-police, I inspired to work alongside them for most of my life...it's led to my fascination with criminal justice and how the system works. I admire cops, I think people need to become close to them again...like in the old days, where you knew the sheriff, the deputy, and the rest of the station and you'd talk to them often. But the fact remains, most cases where the police abuse their authority..the people do not report it. They'e afraid to, because most people believe it'll never happen to them, that it couldn't possibly happen in this country. There's not alot of awareness about this, nation-wide. Because, in the old days innocent cops would get sued by the bad guys...and now the bad guys who are also cops sometimes get to sue the victims. And it does not always come to justice and this happens more and more these days. We need more good cops, we need to get them more funding so that their survivability rate can go up instead of down...we need the people to watch the watchers. Not just for our own sakes, but theirs too.

Well it's sad that in today's world kids are often taught to fear and hate police. When I was growing up I would always wave to police cars and say hello to police officers because my parents taught me they were there to protect us. Now it's become a thankless job and too many people choose the profession for the wrong reason. I still think that there are a lot of great cops out there, but we need to take action to remove the ones that are abusing there authority and making cops look bad.

Thanks again for your response Ainge. I truly hope the topic wasn't too difficult for you to understand. In this society it's very important that those who enforce the law obey the law. It's what saves us from issues that were present with the Gestapo and the Russian secret police. As American citizens, it's critical that we take an active role in our country by watching what our police officers do. I know some are democrats, which in you book may be a free pass to do what they want, but we don't have time to sort through their political affiliations. We just need to make sure they aren't abusing their power by dumping paraplegics on the floor. I'm sorry that you care so little for disable people.

Tskr, I live in NYC as you know, so I see what the police do here. I see them kill people with out rights to do so, I know what they are doing. I do report on it, I do see, I do get profiled because I am the minority in my neighborhood. I am an American Citizen, I do express my freedoms of speech as you well know, my point was, look at one's self before trying to fix the others that are broken in front of you. As far as me understanding, maybe, if you actually gave me a chance and read some of my writings you would see I understand far more than you would like to give me credit for. Then again, when I get my Pulitzer and you are reading my books, we can talk about my "understanding" level. Aingealicia

Also, just so you know, they have increased the police patrols here in NYC and NJ, they are creating more situations where "innocents" will die. There was a man splayed with 63 bullets with a false report and the cops will walk away Scott free. That does anger me. There was a young man who had a disability came out with a hairbrush and the NYPD shot him 59 times before they stopped. I do read the papers, news, and the like. I watch the news channels more than I care to admit, and with this little brain of mine, what there is, I get the connections that I need to put the story together.