Going Beyond the Ramparts Scandal

 

In a recent LA Times op-ed piece, Joseph Wambaugh calls upon the critics of the LAPD to recognize that there are only a few Arotten apples@ in an otherwise clean barrel.  A very familiar argument that misses an important point - and a point that has yet to be raised in the continuous coverage of this scandal.

Having studied and written about the history of the American criminal justice system for many years now, I have discovered that scandals of this type have occurred so often that they seem commonplace.  In just about every major city there has been some kind of scandal somewhere within the criminal justice system - and not just the police.  In some of the largest cities (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, etc.) such scandals have occurred so often that it seems unusual when everything is quiet!  And we are talking about scandals dating back to the early beginnings of the America police in the mid-1800s.

There has been at least one common ingredient in just about every one of these scandals: in some way or another they have had something to do with the constant problem of using various forms of Aproactive@ policing in trying to prevent crime before it happens by attempting to identify Apotential@ criminals (often using Aundercover@ officers who do not wear uniforms and thus ordinary citizens have no idea who is confronting them - as in the Diallo case in New York).  Quite often the police use Aaggressive@ crime prevention techniques, as when former Chief Gates used Aoperation Hammer@ to crack down on gangs a few years ago (and we all know what a failure that was).  More often than not, scandals arise from trying to enforce laws against morality - prostitution, alcohol (as in the Prohibition era) and drugs, to name a few.  In these cases the police have been called upon to use very questionable methods to Aset up@ potential offenders, since we are dealing with what have been called Avictimless crimes@ - crimes where there is no traditional complaining victim.  As research dating back more than 100 years has shown, when you try to enforce such morals offenses that are in so much demand and where so much money changes hand, you are inviting corruption.

Everyone knows this, so let=s go a little deeper and look closely at what has occurred more recently.  There is a much larger social context within which these scandals occur.  The context is our incessant Awar on crime,@ which, given the stereotypes that abound, really means a war on racial minorities and the poor.  America really loves its wars, as we always seem to want to solve a problem by declaring a Awar@ on it: poverty, crime, drugs, gangs, etc. (how many of these have we won by the way?)   Of course the politicians (including many police officials, who are also politicians) help perpetuate the war metaphor by always wanting to sound Atough on crime.@ After all, the important thing is to get elected.

Once we have declared a Awar@ this immediately sets up the Awe@ versus Athem@ and a sort of Asiege@ mentality - as in the erroneous, but ever-popular belief that criminals/gangs/drug dealers are Ataking over.@  Then the politicians order the chiefs or sheriffs to Asend in the troops@ - which usually means Aspecial units@ like CRASH.  So those who have been entrusted with the not so  honorary duty to Aserve and protect@ are thus sent out to engage in this war.