Post by KC on Dec 29, 2006 23:32:13 GMT -5
North Carolina has a cop problem. This is how bad it is. Up until this year, when flashing blue lights showed up in my rear-view mirror or rolled down my street, I went through a mental checklist of what I might have done wrong. No more. In light of recent history, if a siren is meant for me, I fear for my safety.
I take no joy in writing these words. I admire cops. A nephew is a Phoenix, Ariz., beat cop. When people claim a law enforcement officer has roughed them up, my gut reaction is to think the perps probably deserved it. The guff that patrol officers endure from citizens of every economic class is way beyond what you and I would put up with.
But even a police supporter like me would be a fool to ignore growing evidence that something is wrong inside North Carolina's law enforcement community. A disturbing pattern of violence and corruption has emerged.
The latest episode involves the Dec. 1 shooting death in Wilmington of college student and robbery suspect Peyton Strickland by a New Hanover Emergency Response Team member. It was a botched attempt to arrest Strickland and others for an alleged assault and theft of a PlayStation3.
But there have been other tragic outcomes. In January, Davidson County jailers Brandon Gray Huie and Lt. Ronald Parker beat inmate Carlos Claros Castro to death. An autopsy determined Claros Castro died from multiple injuries, including blunt trauma to the head and asphyxiation. Huie pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in July. Later that month a Davidson County jury convicted Parker of the same charge.
In August 2005, Nyles Arrington was shot and killed by off-duty Raleigh police officer Michelle Peele as he tried to steal her car. A Wake County grand jury refused to indict her, but Raleigh Police Chief Jane Perlov canned Peele for violating regulations on the use of deadly force. Peele still wants her job back. Although remorseful, she maintains she did nothing wrong and testified she would do the same thing if faced with the same circumstances.
Last week, three former Wake County deputies were indicted on charges of simple assault after allegedly roughing up Robert Wise in front of his wife and daughter. What did Wise do to provoke the August incident? His SUV took up two parking spaces outside a Garner restaurant.
Wake County cops aren't the only ones suspected of administering beatings to civilians. In September, Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers fired officers Gary Lee and Scott Tanner after they were charged with misdemeanor assault for a sports bar fight with a cook. Judge Debra Sasser dismissed the charges over a venue dispute.
Outside the Triangle, old-school crime and corruption seem to hold sway among some law enforcers. Over the past four years, for example, 12 former Robeson County deputies have been charged with drug-related crimes that include kidnapping, arson and theft.
In Polk County, newly elected Sheriff Chris Abril faces charges of statutory rape and first-degree sexual offense. The incidents allegedly occurred in the 1980s when Abril was in his late 20s and the girls were 10 and 11 years old. Abril strongly denies the charges, which he claims are political attacks.
In the Rowan County town of Landis, police chief Charles Childers was arrested in August on child pornography charges that included allegations of trying to seduce a female juvenile.
That is just a sample. This year, other North Carolina law officers have been investigated on charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder-for-hire to larceny to taking indecent liberties with a minor.
For sure, officers rightly fear for their safety from armed and deadly lawbreakers, but their job description requires them to use force only when necessary. And it never calls for corruption. Law enforcement leaders would be foolish to dismiss all these alleged acts and the resulting investigations as the work of a few rogue cops. There are just too many incidents at nearly every level to ignore. Yet I know of no North Carolina law enforcement leader who has publicly acknowledged growing lawlessness among those who carry a badge.
www.newsobserver.com/567/story/523244.html
I take no joy in writing these words. I admire cops. A nephew is a Phoenix, Ariz., beat cop. When people claim a law enforcement officer has roughed them up, my gut reaction is to think the perps probably deserved it. The guff that patrol officers endure from citizens of every economic class is way beyond what you and I would put up with.
But even a police supporter like me would be a fool to ignore growing evidence that something is wrong inside North Carolina's law enforcement community. A disturbing pattern of violence and corruption has emerged.
The latest episode involves the Dec. 1 shooting death in Wilmington of college student and robbery suspect Peyton Strickland by a New Hanover Emergency Response Team member. It was a botched attempt to arrest Strickland and others for an alleged assault and theft of a PlayStation3.
But there have been other tragic outcomes. In January, Davidson County jailers Brandon Gray Huie and Lt. Ronald Parker beat inmate Carlos Claros Castro to death. An autopsy determined Claros Castro died from multiple injuries, including blunt trauma to the head and asphyxiation. Huie pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in July. Later that month a Davidson County jury convicted Parker of the same charge.
In August 2005, Nyles Arrington was shot and killed by off-duty Raleigh police officer Michelle Peele as he tried to steal her car. A Wake County grand jury refused to indict her, but Raleigh Police Chief Jane Perlov canned Peele for violating regulations on the use of deadly force. Peele still wants her job back. Although remorseful, she maintains she did nothing wrong and testified she would do the same thing if faced with the same circumstances.
Last week, three former Wake County deputies were indicted on charges of simple assault after allegedly roughing up Robert Wise in front of his wife and daughter. What did Wise do to provoke the August incident? His SUV took up two parking spaces outside a Garner restaurant.
Wake County cops aren't the only ones suspected of administering beatings to civilians. In September, Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers fired officers Gary Lee and Scott Tanner after they were charged with misdemeanor assault for a sports bar fight with a cook. Judge Debra Sasser dismissed the charges over a venue dispute.
Outside the Triangle, old-school crime and corruption seem to hold sway among some law enforcers. Over the past four years, for example, 12 former Robeson County deputies have been charged with drug-related crimes that include kidnapping, arson and theft.
In Polk County, newly elected Sheriff Chris Abril faces charges of statutory rape and first-degree sexual offense. The incidents allegedly occurred in the 1980s when Abril was in his late 20s and the girls were 10 and 11 years old. Abril strongly denies the charges, which he claims are political attacks.
In the Rowan County town of Landis, police chief Charles Childers was arrested in August on child pornography charges that included allegations of trying to seduce a female juvenile.
That is just a sample. This year, other North Carolina law officers have been investigated on charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder-for-hire to larceny to taking indecent liberties with a minor.
For sure, officers rightly fear for their safety from armed and deadly lawbreakers, but their job description requires them to use force only when necessary. And it never calls for corruption. Law enforcement leaders would be foolish to dismiss all these alleged acts and the resulting investigations as the work of a few rogue cops. There are just too many incidents at nearly every level to ignore. Yet I know of no North Carolina law enforcement leader who has publicly acknowledged growing lawlessness among those who carry a badge.
www.newsobserver.com/567/story/523244.html
