Yet another case of police misconduct, disheartening

 

October 31, 2005 --  According to the Saturday, October 29, 2005 edition of Charleston’s, The Post & Courier, SLED has arrested a former Moncks Corner police officer for allegedly conspiring to plant drugs and guns in his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle.  According to the report, Officer Jerry Ervin Reynolds, 58, on several occasions between February and May, discussed with his fellow officers how he might be able to obtain drugs or possibly a stolen gun and plant these items in the vehicle belonging to Nicole Kelly, with whom Reynolds has a son.  Reynolds resigned from the Moncks Corner Police Department a week ago, according to Police Chief Chad Caldwell.  Chief Caldwell says that he knew nothing of the SLED investigation until he was notified shortly before Reynolds was arrested at 6:00p.m. on Friday, October 28, 2005.  When asked if this revelation of police misconduct would trigger a review of Reynolds’ work, Cladwell said, “It’s too early to make any kind of decision.  We certainly don’t have any information that would lead us to believe that there are any problems with any cases he has handled.” 

 

It is inconceivable that Chief Caldwell could say that he ‘don’t have any information’ that would lead him to believe that there are any problems with any cases Reynolds has handled.  Let’s look at the facts.  We have a 58-year-old police officer that once worked for the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, a career police officer, not some rookie with a broken heart and out of control emotions driving him to consider inappropriate behavior in the wake of his despair, a career police officer that has contributed to the incarceration of hundreds of people, conspiring to plant evidence, and Chief Caldwell does not have any information that would lead him to believe that there could be problems with cases Reynolds has handled?  How is this possible?”

 

It is a sad commentary indeed that in the last two weeks, the Post & Courier has reported on police misconduct activities, and in both instances, the Chief’s of Police have quickly dismissed the possibility of prior misconduct.  Last week it was Charleston’s Interim Police Chief Ned Hethington dismissing Lt. Mackey’s alleged misconduct as an isolated incident, now it’s Moncks Corner’s Chief Caldwell.  Meanwhile, the Charleston County Libertarian Party has issued a proposal that would easily be implemented and greatly curtail the propensity for police misconduct in South Carolina.  Governor Mark Sanford’s committee on police misconduct has received the Police Officer Conduct Accountability Act, but has yet to respond to it.  Charleston County Council Member, Leon E. Stavinakis has received a copy of the POCAA.  Every member of the Senate Judiciary Committee has received a copy, along with every member of Mt. Pleasant Town Council.  No elected official seems willing to do what absolutely must be done to reduce police misconduct in South Carolina.  Meanwhile, innocent men and women are incarcerated in South Carolina Prisons, and nobody seems to cares. 

 

South Carolina needs to be as eager to get potentially innocent people out of jail as it is to put guilty people in jail.  If even a remote possibility exists that due process was tampered with as a result of police misconduct, South Carolina must demand a thorough review of every case that an officer found engaged in police misconduct has handled.  It’s the only honorable, and dare I say, Christian thing to do.

 

The Police Officer Conduct Accountability Act (POCAA) relies on random and scheduled lie detector tests for all police officers in South Carolina.  There are sixteen proposed questions in which law enforcement would know in advance that they might be required to answer during a lie detector test administered by a non-law enforcement agency.  One of the questions in the POCAA is HAVE YOU EVER KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY PLACED OR "PLANTED" FALSE INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE ON A FELLOW CITIZEN AT A CRIME SCENE?  Had Officer Reynolds been subjected to this question during a random lie detector test in the past, there is a strong possibility that it would have deterred him even considering planting evidence in the future.  Arguably, he’d still have his job, and South Carolinians would have confidence that their law enforcement officers are flying right.  It’s time for Governor Mark Sanford and the Senate Judiciary Committee to publicly voice their support of the POCAA, and make it the law in South Carolina.

 

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