Bureau for the Bureau

I know that most people will get on the defensive side when it comes to police men being corrupted, and you'll probably explain to me about how we don't appreciate them as much as we should and that, generally, we as human beings tend to only focus on the bad and not the good, but bare with me as I try to give you my side. At an unprecedented rate, the number of men on the police force have been caught doing drugs, selling drugs, falsifying reports, and planting evidence. I know it's hard to really grasp that police men, of all people, would do this because we trust these men in uniform to take care of us, and to keep order and peace in our neighborhoods, but the growing rate of crooked cops is immensely disturbing and we can not ignore this problem anymore.

Many people feel that police officers aren't appreciated and shown with enough respect, but if you exclude the occasional rap artists who blast away at cops, then you're left with the dozens of TV shows that are dedicated to showing us just exactly how hard working they are. You've got shows like the CSI Series, Bones, NYPD Blues, The Closer, and many more, that show cops always hard at work, not being able to eat or sleep until they've figured out who the criminal is, having serious figures, and being the best at what they do. If you ask me, that's giving cops a lot more credit than they deserve. We all know that that's not actually how it is in the real world; if it was, every criminal (murderer, rapist, theft, etc.) would be in jail.

The fact is, there are cases that are made to the bureau about the bureau by citizens, just like you and me, saying that they've been harassed and unfairly convicted by a police officer, but no investigations have been made on the bureaus part to silence the claims being made. The bureau put in no effort to make sure that their officers are conducting themselves in an orderly way or make sure that their officers are abiding by their own rules and regulations on how an officer should behave. By now, you're probably asking, "How could the precinct possibly investigate their own?" and that makes perfect sense, since it's that reason of their own investigating their own being the reason why all the power-drunk, crooked cops run free and interrogate more innocent people.

I have a solution to this problem. What we should do is create a bureau for the bureau so that the crooked cops understand that their authority is not something to play around with. Like our democratic system that keeps one side from over powering another, we should enforce our officers to have monthly tests and investigations. This new bureau will be specifically made to answer the complaints of those falsely accused by a crooked officer so that proper investigations could be made and crooked officers will be dismembered. It may seem like a ridiculous idea and a long shot at best, but every investigation team that was created for drug smuggling, check frauds, grand theft auto, etc. was exactly that, and until now, we haven't really seen the progress of what the bureaus have done. If we give it a chance and see where it could take us, we could make huge improvements on the streets with cops who actually care and want to make a difference; we could make our neighborhoods safer and keep our prisons from overcrowding because of the falsely accused by the crooked cops.

If we had law enforcers who actually cared about making a difference instead of ones who wanted to get money and cheat their way through promotions so that they can continue doing what they're doing, then civilization would improve for the better. Too often do police officers try to abuse their authority and get power-drunk. Do you ever wonder why our jails are so overcrowded and yet the crime rates haven't changed? It's because the system isn't working. We have too many officers causing and contributing to the problem than fixing it which creates the downfall of the system. Also, as a society we should treat everyone as human beings who deserve another chance. For example, someone with a criminal history is automatically shot down at chances for jobs and ultimately a chance at starting a new life, so what else could a criminal do than to continue what they were previously doing if they need money to live? That's beside the point -I know- but it's also part of the problem. Millions and billions of our taxes are going to prisons that are filling up fast and I think creating a bureau that will shut down the progress of the crooked cops will help tremendously.

We share a common goal in creating a safer environment for our future generation and to live in a world where there is honesty and integrity in what we do as a community. I hope to explain resplendently that I understand your concerns in having a leap of faith to something that may not work, but wouldn't we be able to lift our heads up high and say that we tried to put a solution to a problem instead of just sitting idly by? It may look bad on those in the force who always conducted their jobs with respect and honesty, but if they were Innocent and continuously conducted themselves in a dutiful way, they will have nothing to worry about, and those that get publicly stripped of their badge will learn that they should've known better. Just like you, I have the utmost respect for our men who risk their lives for us and I'm sure they won't go unnoticed. I hope you agree with me when I propose this solution.

With a precinct specially made for those crooked cops, I think we'll dramatically see huge improvements in the depletion of drugs and crime. Drugs are the number one issue in cleaning up our streets because it's the number one reason why anyone commits a crime in the first place. People will kill over drugs and kill because they're on drugs. In most instances, when a crime is committed, drugs are involved, and with all the crooked cops running around causing havoc by abusing their authority to gain money from drugs, it's making the issue at hand worst with each passing day. I'm hoping that with this new bureau, it'll send a message out there to all the crooked cops who think they can get away with anything because they believe there's no one higher than them, that isn't already on their side.

Annotated Bibliography

Barnwell, B. (2005) Lew rockwell. Retrieved April 10, 2008, From http://www.lewrockwell.com/barnwell/barnwell47.html

This website describes the kinds of violations that the crooked cops commit. "The problem is the law enforcement culture itself which does basically whatever it wants without any accountability from above. " Law enforcements are abusing their power of authority too often for the wrong reasons and confiscating evidence only to use it for themselves or sell it back on the streets. They give you speeding tickets just for going a little over the limit and when you try to defend yourself you get written up for disorderly conduct. A lot of times they'll falsify reports and even PLANT evidence at the scene of the crime to fake a reason to arrest someone. This site summarizes the entire story about crooked cops, but gives no solution to the problem.

Gray, M. (1998) Common sense for drug policy. Retrieved April 10, 2008, From http://www.csdp.org/publicservice/crooked.htm

This site is an ad (sort of) about police departments and the cops that lie and falsify reports for their own advantage and describes why a crooked cop would feel obligated to want to steal and sell for themselves. "Put yourself in the cop’s shoes. It’s tough to legally find evidence of a drug deal between a willing buyer and seller. To make it stick you’re going to have to lie about it on the witness stand." As much as this site is helpful, It would be better if it was a little more specific but I like it because it's short and sweet -to the point.

Muhlahausen, D. (2002) The heritage foundation. Retrieved April 14, 2008, From http://www.heritage.org/press/commentary/ed100302.cfm

This site talks about a "money crunch" that the police department in Albuquerque went through because they failed to use the cities money wisely and instead of using the money to hire more police men on the force, they used it to give the already employed officers more benefits. It goes on to say that the police department actually decreased in size and the towns are not safe with so little men on force. The police officers completely went against what their orders were and because of it there are not enough men on force. As interesting as it is to hear about the variations of police corruption, it isn't the main point of the drug abuse going on in the precincts that I want to point out.

Krajicek, D. (2008) NY daily news. Retrieved April 14, 2008, From http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/03/30/2008-03-30_chicagos_crooked_cop.html

This site shows one of the examples that go on all over this country, a notorious mob man was shot and killed, execution style, but the most shocking piece of evidence that showed up was the mob man's little black book. The book was filled with dozens of names and numbers from many of the mob man's "associates" and also the name and number of the chief of the Chicago Police Department. A huge controversy surrounding this incident blew up because of the shock that everyone was in. Chicago citizens were outraged. It's extremely interesting and fills you in on a lot of details of one of the many cases that go on with crooked cops and gives you a little insight as to how deep the problem has become in order for the chief of the police department to be involved with a mob man.

No author (2008) Kestenbaum, eisner & gorin. Retrieved April 14, 2008, From http://keglawyers.com/blog/?p=77

This site is about reports that come in, day in and day out, from citizens that have become victims to some of the crooked cops in their area, and how the reports are not being investigated like they should from the police departments. A law group has taken notice and they are dumbfounded by the low percentage of investigations that should've been made. When a report is filed, the investigators in the precinct excuse what had happened and not interview all the witnesses thoroughly so that the complaint could be passed off as just nothing and the crooked officers can continue harassing more people. You learn that it's not just the cops who are corrupted but their higher authorities are too; it gives a bit of a solution as to how to resolve the issue as well.

Reasons why....

So, a lot of opinions come up when a topic like crooked cops is raised because you trust these men with your life; they are sworn to serve and protect, and the thought of them bending and breaking the rules for their own selfish gain is an uneasy feeling. Not a lot of people will know this, but there are cops out there who associate and work with the criminals and drug lords so that they can get a cut of the money. It's an understandable feeling. These crooked cops know that no matter how many drug dealers they take off the streets and no matter how many tickets or whatever else they do, it'll never be enough and the law will always be broken by someone else. So, eventually they get to thinking, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I chose this topic because as a citizen I'm concerned about the state of condition the crime rates have gotten into. How can the streets be cleared of crime and chaos if the police force that we trust are manipulating there powers to use it to promote more crime? Most cops are now contributing to the crimes that surround us and I think that's got to stop. It seems like when a situation arises with a cop that he/she treats me unfairly and doesn't give me my rights to be able to atleast give me a chance to defend myself, not saying that situations like that happen often, but I hear similar stories from numerous other people and I want to find a solution to stop the bad habits that's being instilled into our police officers.