Planting evidence - it IS a laughing matter!

[Dave]

Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Video

4 cops talk to a homeless woman who is "mentally unstable". One cop thinks it would be "funny" to plant a crack pipe on her. So he and his partner do some sleight of hand and VOILA! Crack pipe!

No, they do not arrest her for it but they do arrest her for a parole violation which I think is bullshit and just something to arrest her for.

The trouble? They caught the whole thing on video, including the cop handing the pipe to his partner to put down the woman's shirt and then miraculously "find" it.

Of course, once this all came out he admitted it and said it was a "joke" and "unprofessional". His punishment? A 1 day suspension (with or without pay is not specified).

He planted evidence on a suspect...and got the day off.

Now, you all know I'm a big supporter of the police but this is the reason why there are so many people who are not. Even saying that this guy did a bad thing, the brass should have at the least busted him down to a desk position and the lowest rank. Best thing would have been to fire his ass.

And there's no mention about the partner who actually did the planting/finding! Jon's gonna have a field day with this and for once I'll agree with him.

 

[Chibibar]

It is things like this that cause people not to like police

 

[Frank]

Blech, I wish this shit wouldn't happen but it does. I also wish that those involved actually be punished but they often aren't.

I don't know how to fix things.

 

[strawman]

Nuke it from orbit.

It's the only way to be sure.

 

[Nile]

Ugh.

Have them deal with the ramifications of breaking parole. Let them see how funny it is then.

 

[Necronic]

Seriously, how did they not react stronger to this? Its one thing to catch something internally and do some light housecleaning (without bringing it to the public) but once its in the public eye....that's a disgrace. My guess is that the higher ups in the police force were protecting him for some reason or another. God only knows why.

Of course, they got their payday on that good idea. You know this story is from 2005? The reason it is coming to light is because this moron just shot an unarmed man, reportedly (by his partner) completely unjustified. That death isn't just on his head, its on the heads of the people who let that first infraction slide. By creating an environment where there are no serious consequences for your actions you will end up with people doing stuff like this. I mean, that's what the police DO! They provide a means to distribute consequences for actions against society. Yet they can't maintain that same level of responsibility within themselves?

Cops like this do so much harm in so many ways, beyond the simple fact that he murdered someone.

I wonder what the real root of crap like this is. There's a part of me that thinks that its the unions. I am a pretty anti-union guy in a lot of ways, because quite often you end up with a culture where the problem workers are protected by the union from recrimination. With jobs like policing that can be very dangerous. Take for instance this quote from another article about the Phoenix PD

link:Rude behavior by Phoenix police targeted in programs

Current police contracts provide officers the right to change some investigative findings in draft reports without public input. Police Department leaders and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the union representing rank-and-file officers, defended the process as essential to protecting the rights of officers who are accused of wrongdoing
........

Like other members of the task force, he worries that Phoenix is crafting a response to public concerns about police misconduct based too much on the police union's input.

"(Phoenix officers) feel like they're sheltered there under the umbrella of the union," Sodhi said. "It's nice to have that protection, but the other side is the service they're providing to the public."