Watch this. Think of officers like Chicago PD's Joe D. Parker next time a cop testifies that he had probable cause since he observed a motorist swerving, or smelled marijuana inside a vehicle.
And add the footage of officer Parker arresting Raymond Bell for allegedly driving under the influence to the now-incontrovertible argument that, whenever possible, everything the police does that leads to a possible arrest — from traffic stops to SWAT raids — ought to be meticulously recorded.
Chicago defense lawyers say there are two reasons police officers might cut corners or even lie to boost their DUI arrest numbers: First, they stand to profit from the resulting overtime for going to court on the cases; also, there are accolades to be had.
One such accolade: Parker was named a "top cop" by the Schaumburg-based Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, for his fabulously high number of DUI arrests. Parker's colleague John Haleas received the same honor, only to be charged with lying about his encounters with allegedly intoxicated drivers. So brazen were Haleas's fabrications that so far, 156 of his DUI cases that came under investigators' scrutiny have been dismissed.
I'd love to see a racial breakdown of these arrests.
Posted by: Marty | Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 07:53 PM
Parker is black, I think, as was the guy he arrested. FWIW.
Posted by: Rogier | Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 08:26 PM
View the video. Parker is white, the guy he arrested is black.
Posted by: gunnar | Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Corrupt cops, yet another infringement on our rights by the gov't. Add it to the ever-growing list of violations:
They violate the 1st Amendment by opening mail, caging demonstrators and banning books like "America Deceived" from Amazon, Wikipedia and Facebook.
They violate the 2nd Amendment by confiscating guns during Katrina.
They violate the 4th Amendment by conducting warrant-less wiretaps.
They violate the 5th and 6th Amendment by suspending habeas corpus.
They violate the 8th Amendment by torturing at Gitmo.
They violate the entire Constitution by starting illegal wars without declaration.
Impeach them all (both parties, except Ron Paul) and save this great country.
Last link (unless Google Books caves to the gov't and drops the title):
http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000083883
Posted by: Jack D | Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Watched it again, it's a small and grainy video, but you're right. I stand corrected.
Posted by: Rogier | Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 01:36 PM
Ridiculous. Who is watching the watchers?
Posted by: Luke | Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 06:52 PM
The cops think this stuff is funny --at least as long as they don't get caught (and getting caught is extremely rare). They even have their own cute names for it, like "testilying."
Any cop with awards like this one should be immediately suspect. It's just that the 95% of cops who are bad give the 5% or so that are good, a bad name.
Posted by: Twelvebit | Friday, March 27, 2009 at 04:14 PM