POCAA will find police misconduct truths

 

October 25, 2005 -- Lt. James Mackey has been fired from the Charleston Police Department for police misconduct.  Interim Police Chief Ned Hethington says it was Mackey’s lies about his misconduct that cost him his job.   As reported by Glenn Smith in the Saturday, October 22, 2005 edition of the Post & Courier, Hethington said that Mackey might well still be working if he had explained to investigators why he had gone to bat for an accused drug dealer and directed an officer to mislead a judge about an arrest warrant.  Hethington continues by stating that Mackey threw away a relatively blemish-free, 18-year career in which he had done “wonderful things.” 

 

The truth is that the public does not really know the sum of Mackey’s police misconduct over the course of his 18-year career and neither does Interim Police Chief Ned Hethington.  The only thing the public knows for certain is that Lt. James Mackey got caught betraying the public trust.  But the fact that Mackey has been a police officer for 18 years is in no way evidence that he has had a relatively blemish-free career as Hethington contends.   The truth is the public only knows that Mackey has the propensity to break the rules while enforcing the law.  Such a predisposition for misconduct is the greatest betrayal the government can inflict on free people.  To discount the present circumstances surrounding Mackey as an isolated incident is an insult to every thinking citizen.  Fear of a flood of litigation initiated by people incarcerated as a direct result of Mackey’s policing tactics and courtroom testimony is no reason to ignore the fact that if a police officer is willing to lie to fellow police officers from internal affairs then there is a very high probability that Mackey has lied in the past.

 

The Muckraker Report believes Mackey would have difficultly answering some if not all of the following questions during a lie detector test.  These questions are part of the Police Officer Conduct Accountability Act (POCAA) proposal:

 

1.        HAVE YOU EVER KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY CAUSED OR ALLOWED EXAGERATED STATEMENTS OF FACT TO BE INSERTED INTO A WRITTEN INCIDENT REPORT OR SWORN AFFIDAVIT?

2.        HAVE YOU EVER KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY MADE EXAGERATED, EMBELLISHED OR FALSE STATEMENTS IN A WRITTEN INCIDENT REPORT OR SWORN AFFIDAVIT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROCURING OR ASSISTING IN THE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION OF A FELLOW CITIZEN?

3.        HAVE YOU EVER KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY MADE EXAGERATED STATEMENTS OF FACT WHILE TESTIFYING UNDER OATH IN COURT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROCURING OR ASSISTING IN THE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION OF A FELLOW CITIZEN?

4.        HAVE YOU EVER KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY STOPPED AND DETAINED A FELLOW CITIZEN UNDER FALSE PRETENSES AND WITHOUT REASONABLE SUSPICION?

5.        HAVE YOU EVER KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY ARRESTED A FELLOW CITIZEN WITHOUT JUST AND REASONABLE CAUSE?

6.        HAVE YOU EVER KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY COMMITTED BATTERY UPON A FELLOW CITIZEN WHEN THE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE WAS NOT NECESSARY UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES?

7.        HAVE YOU EVER COMMITTED BATTERY UPON A FELLOW CITIZEN AFTER HE OR SHE CEASED ANY RESISTANCE AND FULLY COMPLIED WITH YOUR ORDERS?

8.        HAVE YOU EVER COMMITTED BATTERY UPON A FELLOW CITIZEN SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU WERE ANGRY?

9.        HAVE YOU EVER KILLED A FELLOW CITIZEN UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES THAT DID NOT REASONABLY JUSTIFY THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE?

10.     HAVE YOU EVER ARRESTED A FELLOW CITIZEN IN ORDER TO HELP SATISFY OR FULFILL A DAILY OR WEEKLY "ARREST QUOTA"?

11.     HAVE YOU EVER STOPPED AND DETAINED A FELLOW CITIZEN SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT THAT HE OR SHE WAS ATTRACTIVE?

12.     HAVE YOU EVER SOLICITED OR ACCEPTED SEXUAL FAVORS FROM A CITIZEN THAT YOU HAVE ARRESTED OR THREATENED TO ARREST?

13.     HAVE YOU EVER DRIVEN YOUR MOTOR VEHICLE AT SPEEDS FAR IN EXCESS OF THE LEGAL SPEED LIMIT EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS NO LEGAL REASON FOR DOING SO?

14.     HAVE YOU EVER KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY PLACED OR "PLANTED" FALSE INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE ON A FELLOW CITIZEN AT A CRIME SCENE?

15.     HAVE YOU EVER KEPT FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL GAIN, PROPERTY OR CONTRABAND THAT WAS CONFISCATED DURING A TRAFFIC STOP OR INCIDENT TO A SEARCH AND/OR ARREST OF A FELLOW CITIZEN?

16.     HAVE YOU EVER CONDONED OR APPROVED OF ANY OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER COMMITTING ANY OF THE ACTIONS ENUMERATED IN THE PROCEEDING QUESTIONS?

 

Police misconduct is not a little problem in Charleston, Charleston County, or South Carolina.  It is a humongous problem that requires decisive action immediately.  There is little doubt that Lt. Mackey would have difficulty answering the aforementioned 16 questions successfully if asked to him during a professional lie detector text administered by a non-biased third party.  He knows it, Hethington knows it, and intuitive people know it too.  Therefore, a mechanism needs enactment that would trigger a statewide reaction to any allegation of police misconduct in South Carolina, and that reaction need not be left to the discretion of internal affairs, SLED, or the Criminal Justice Academy.  The process must be public and transparent.  It should include the usage of lie detector testing on a regular basis.  Officers who register poorly during the lie detector testing must be investigated further.  If lie detector results lead to evidence of misconduct, then the District Attorney’s office must seriously consider the possibility that innocent men and women are incarcerated as a direct result of a particular police officer’s propensity for misconduct.

 

“On August 11, 2005 the Charleston County Libertarian Party presented the Police Officer Conduct Accountability Act to Leon E. Stavinakis, Charleston County Council.  No action has been taken by Stavinakis.  Former Charleston Police Chief Greenberg was also presented with the proposal.  Three days later he resigned.  Sheriff Cannon received the proposal also, and said he would present it to the Governor’s Committee that is meant to address the problem of police misconduct in South Carolina and come up with real solutions.  The Governor’s office has responded favorably to the Police Officer Conduct Accountability Act by saying that they think it has merit. 

 

Absent the public scrutiny and accountability that the Police Officer Conduct Accountability Act offers, the public will continue to be victimized by over zealous police officers that lack respect for their fellow citizen’s liberties and privacy.  Whether we call them bad cops or cowboy cops, the city councils, county councils, and state legislators must intervene on behalf of their constituents by enacting the Police Officer Conduct Accountability Act in their city, county, and state.

 

For more information on the Police Officer Conduct Accountability Act or to download a copy of it please visit http://teamliberty.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/pocaa.pdf