The Las Vegas Police Have Gone Wrong

The Las Vegas Police Have Gone Wrong
The Las Vegas Populist Examiner by Mark Noonan - March 29, 2011

Mike McDaniel over at Pajamas Media has put together the whole, sad story of what is wrong with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Revolving around the terrible case of the Erik Scott shooting - where a US military veteran was gunned down by Metro officers outside a Costco store - McDaniel's article is an indictment of the whole force, and the way law enforcement is done in Las Vegas. He concludes: ...Every week, more of the kinds of malfeasance and incompetence that would horrify the officers of any professional, competent agency are exposed in Las Vegas. Metro seems to care not at all about public relations — in itself a very dangerous sign for the safety of the public. A police agency that considers itself outside the law and above it is a menace, not just to the rights of citizens, but, as the Scott and other cases reveal, to their very lives. President Obama once suggested that citizens should not waste their money in Las Vegas. The Clark County commissioners may wish to consider the reasonable safety concerns of visitors, and the residents of Egypt and Las Vegas may have more in common than they imagine...

To compare any American law enforcement agency with the thugs who make up the police in places like Egypt is a terrible thing, but Metro has earned itself such censure. In the article, which you really should read, it is noted that in response to some small, cosmetic changes in the way police shootings are investigated, the police union has announced that no officer will cooperate with such investigations. A wall of silence is to be maintained and even officers not involved in the shootings, but witness to them, won't cooperate. The only reasonable interpretation of such an action is that the organization is corrupt, knows that it is corrupt and is determined to protect the corruption. Such an act also betrays the fact that at least a good portion of the officers - and especially their union representatives - do not have a conception of what law enforcement is about. It seems to me that for all too many of our officers, being in the police force is just a job. That is a grossly wrong interpretation of what it is. Being a police officer isn't a job; it isn't a career - it is a vocation. To be a police officer who is worth anything, one has to have a selfless dedication to ensuring that the laws are enforced. It is, indeed, hard to separate one's self from personal considerations and become the neutral enforcer of laws, but that is what being a police office is. You either enforce the laws - all of them, all the time - or you're no good. Among the laws to be enforced are laws which prohibit or restrict the right of police officers to use their fire arms. If a police officer uses his fire arm in the wrong manner - or in any way violates the public trust under the cover of his authority as a police officer - then the duty of all other officers is to call him to account. Considerations of friendship and comradeship must play no roll. Law is law, and law enforcement officers must enforce it.

Please understand that I'm pro-police. The good cops out there do a hard and often very dirty job which I don't believe I could do. I'm not good enough, you see?, to be a good police officer. My admiration for those who can genuinely carry out the task of a police officer is unbounded. I will not wantonly second guess them. I will give them every benefit of the doubt in a difficult situation. But I must insist that they enforce the laws. In the case of the Scott shooting, there is ample evidence to indicate that the police acted improperly, if not criminally. Certainly the officers involved should have suffered some sanctions for shooting a man who posed no visible threat to those around him and whom they failed to give ample warning to before opening fire. In such cases, a thorough investigation is warranted, preferrably by an outside entity which will have no internal loyalties to consider. But that is not how we do it in Las Vegas. The police investigate themselves, and then put on a bit of kabuki theater called a "coroner's inquest" to justify their pre-determined assertion that the police invariably acted properly. And now we find that the police are pledging non-cooperation even with the only slightly improved processes for investigating such things. This is a red rocket - a glaring fact which must lead to the conclusion that the system is rotten.

My assertion is that most of the officers of Metro are worthy; that they are dedicated law enforcement agents who only wish to do their duty. But it is clear to me that a baleful spirit has overcome Metro - and a spirit which cannot be rooted out internally. It is, then, up to the people to ensure that our police force is beyond reproach. Various steps must be taken. First off, we should de-certify the police union. Any union which urges its members to not cooperate with law enforcement is anti-law enforcement, and thus should have no influence at all upon the police. Secondly, immediately dismiss for cause - meaning, no pay and no pension - any officer who refuses to testify in any investigation of the police save in those cases where the officer, himself, is the target of the investigation. Third, completely ditch the coronor's inquest and set up a Citizens Review Board which will hear complaints of officer misconduct and determine whether or not the matter should be referred to an outside agency for investigation and potential prosecution. This Board should be constituted much as a jury is: randomly choosen citizens to serve for a fixed period of time, with pay, to which those who feel wronged can appeal. Upon the unanimous recommendation of the jury an investigation would be launched by an outside agency do determine the facts and order additional actions as necessary. In a free society there are certain things which must be absolute. If there is a general failure in these basic things, people will lose faith in free institutions and will start to listen to the siren song of tyranny as a means of securing their lives and property. Very important among these basic things is the belief that the laws are fairly and strictly enforced. A law enforced only at the whim of the police is no law at all, but the merest excuse for despotism. Only a police force of the most dedicated and trained officers can carry out this crucial task. In order to ensure such a force, the people must be ever vigilant to protect the police from those forces of corruption so prevalent in society at large. The problems of Metro have gone on too long; we, the people, have been too slack. Our love for the police born of respect for their hard task has allowed us to blind ourselves to the terrible reality. It is time for us to take off the blinders, see things as they are and start to fix a broken police force.