When I was working in Americus, Ga., some days, part of my duties was to go to the Americus Police Department, American Fire and Emergency Services, Georgia State Patrol Barracks and the Sumter Couty Sheriff’s Office and look through the daily logs for any arrests or major incidents of concerns. Most of this stuff I had to scribble in my notes because all departments really didn’t like to provide much print-outs. The State Patrol flat out refused to even let us look at incident reports and most of the information told was second hand from a supervisor.
Every now and again, I would notice that the Sheriff’s Office was listing an arrest made by the Americus Police or State Patrol as an arrest they made just because the person was booked into the county jail. Americus had a population of 17,000 and the county had about 37,000 altogether. Despite this, there wasn’t really much criminal activities going on. Most of it was the usual minor drug activity and domestic disturbances along with petty thefts and other crimes. There was only one murder case and another homicide was ruled as self-defense. But the police department and sheriff’s office had many law officers on duty on a daily basis.
A new sheriff had been elected in 2000 and he got the police chief of Americus who had retired to come with him as the chief deputy or second in demand. Other officers who had secured their pensions went to the sheriff’s office to collect another paycheck. They had brought in a new police chief from the metro Atlanta suburbs who has had and continues to have a history of racial controversy. Americus and Sumter County, like a lot of Georgia communities, has a higher percentage of African-American citizens. That’s just the way that part of the state is. It’s a very rural area,
That being said, the last few years have put law enforcement under the spotlight for controversial videos from body cam and cell phones. The racial issues have always been there. Modern-day law enforcement was rooted in a system that hunted down (and probably killed) runaway enslaved people. Some traditions are hard to shake. While Republicans love to say that the Democratic Part was the party of the Ku Klux Klan, that was 160 years ago. And while you’ll find racism in all political ideology, the Democrats are at least trying to atone for their ancestors’ past sins.
A recent study by the University of Conneticut discovered that the Conneticut State Police in a period from 2014 to 2021 issued about 25,996 citations that had a “high likelihood” of being totally false. Abouter 32,500 other reports are believed to have “significant inaccuracies.” The tickets and citations were believed to have been written to fictional white/caucasian people to off-set the fact that the department was writing more tickets to people of color. It’s believed that a fourth of the 1,300 troopers allegedly engaged in falsifying or fabricating traffic violation citations.
Conneticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has issued an investigation itself but encouraged people not to rush to judgment. Yet there’s no way you can dispute there wasn’t a clerical error with a few cases going missing misplaced in the wrong file drawer. Lamont is a Democrat but it sounds like he’s trying to make it sound like the discrepencies will come down to a backlog. From what I gathered, they attempted to cover up the fact they were targeting people of color to a review board. And for seven years, this happened? So, it’s obvious someone higher up encouraged it especially if over 200 troopers are accused of doing it.
The problem with our modern-day law enforcement is we’ve turned it into a sales position more or less. If crime is down, we don’t need as much law enforcement. I’m sure every officer has heard a complaint that they’re focusing on the wrong thing. But law enforcement officials want to argue that more law enforcement will keep crime down. However, this has been proven wrong. More arrests do not lead to a drop in crime. They just lead to a more distrust of law enforcement. Some departments are having to reach quotas, which just doesn’t make sense.
If people are obeying speed limit laws, not shoplifting or doing other petty crimes, then how can a law enforcement agency operate? That’s the Catch-22. The only way they can function is to poke the hornet’s nest. And this means they target people. They stop people of color driving vehicles. Young people who are hanging out at a park or playground just having a good time are the subject of harassment. This is a solution in search of a problem.
Even worse, most people are finding themselves loaded down with multiple traffic citations for minor offenses. If you have a tail light out, you’re not just getting a ticket for that, but also unsafe/reckless driving and maintaining an improper vehicle. And while a judge or supervisor might throw out the citations, it still creates problems. Someone has to go through all the citations and violations that are written. When I was working in Wagoner, Okla., a woman at the City Hall who was over the Municipal Court Records said very seriously, she was going to tell the police officers not to write so many tickets right before Christmas so they wouldn’t have a huge docket during Christmas week.
Some departments are partnering with third party private companies to handle the fines and fees. Ergo, they’re passing along their costs to the offender. So, people are having to pay fees and fines on top of a service fee that a private company can set. It may be cost-efficient to the taxpayers but it’s putting a strain on them in another way. Most people are unaware that they have a tail light out. Why should they be punish for something they didn’t know just so a police department can pat itself on the shoulder it’s making the roads safer.
The City of Tulsa passed an ordinance in 2019 that officers could write tickets for motorists who go through yellow lights. It’s just another way to squeeze money out of a public that is growing tired of funding a bureaucracy that doesn’t work for them. Tourism is the one good thing that can help any entity’s economy. If you turn the area into a speed trap where people are going to be ticketed for running a yellow light and driving a mile or two over the speed limit, then you’re going to run away tourist dollars.
It also costs a lot to hire additional officers. The town of Wagoner maybe has about half the population of Americus and only has mostly 3-4 officers on duty at any shift. But it still costs a lot of money to keep these officers, especially since there’s bulletproof vests, tazers, pepper spray and other equipment for the officers to have. Let’s not forget a patrol vehicle that has all the needed accessories (flashing lights, siren, faster engine with up to date tires). Add insurance coverage and it can add up very quick especially for a department that may have only about two dozens officers on. I’m guessing and being very liberal, that it costs about $100,000 a year to keep one officer on the department when you factor in pay, cost of a vehicle and upkeep and other items.
While it is better to be proactive, they can’t see through walls and it’s likely there’s a lot of things going on behind their backs. It’s community programs that prevent crime. Drug court has helped drug users more than throwing them in a jail cell to repeat the same crimes when they get out. If people don’t use drugs, they don’t rob and steal items. Building trust is more important than stoking fear.
I was at the QuikTrip in Wagoner and noticed a law enforcement officer with another agency who had so much equipment on him, I’m sure it too him a while to get dressed. I used to have someone take photos and do some stringer work for me who worked in law enforcement. He said it took him up to an hour to get ready. Why do officers need so much weaponry when they’re not even working in areas with high crime rates? All Andy Griffith had to do as Andy Taylor was put on his uniform. Andy didn’t even carry a gun. And those were supposed to be the good old days.
But what it’s turning into is a form of government that is working against the people instead of for it. Since most departments are defending their bad seed officers who are costing the taxpyers (not the officers nor the department) any money, the public is growing tired. How much will the people of Conneticut have to pay for these “investigations?” Will they keep the troopers on the job or force them to retire once they secured their pensions?
Imagine what would happen at your job if you were falsifying information for seven years. Also, what happenes if some of these fake names correspond with real people? Surely, I hope someone doesn’t have the same name, date of birth, and place of residence as one of these fake people. But God help them if they do. People who lie to keep their jobs shouldn’t keep their jobs.
While we can’t totally defund the police, I do believe it needs a total overall. If we ended qualified immunity, a lot of officers would quit overnight. Holding people more accountable for their actions is a sure-fire way to get rid of the less desirables. Then, we can really start to reform the system.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 