This week that there were bumper stickers,
available at my favorite Key West service station,
urging us to “Back the Blue.” The intent
of the stickers is apparently to show support for
our local police. The message, from whoever authored
the bumper sticker, is presumably that the Key West
Police Department is doing fine, and we Citizens should
back its officers up.
At about the same time, at least
one Citizen apparently saw it differently. In “Citizen
Voice” found in a Florida Keys daily newspaper’
online section you could find that slightly different
opinion of how well law enforcement was doing.
"Cops break the law, and they
get off. Sheriffs raid homes over trading cards, and
they get off. The State Attorney's Office: They stay
out of it all. Key West is not only a hiding place
for criminals, but a safe haven for law enforcement
that believes it is above the law for very good reason:
In the Keys, they all are." Citizen’s Voice
Online October 21,2002.
Many would agree with the bumper
stickers encouragement to back our police. Even without
a survey or opinion poll, it seems likely that many
would agree with me that we should support the officers
on our force who are on the streets, day and night,
as they say, “Serving and Protecting.”
My opinion may be a bit different than some of those
in the Key West Police Department and City Government
about how to best help them. Let’s think about
it together.
Given the Citizen Initiative Petition, which will
be on the ballot on November 5, 2002, it’s probably
not a coincidence that the police bumper stickers
appeared at the same time that the city and police
leadership is being reminded that it really is “Government
of the people, by the people and for the people. .
.”
By the way, when you practice saying
that out loud, which seems to be a healthy exercise
in itself, see how much better it sounds if you emphasize
the word “people” instead of the “government.”
I will freely admit, that I like it better when the
people themselves make law than when it is made for
us by someone else.
Be sure and exercise your citizenship
by voting. Which ever way you vote, Key West voters
can find the Charter Amendment for the police Citizen
Review Board (“CRB”) question on the back
of the second page of your ballot, toward the end.
Let’s take a minute to review how this Citizen
initiative came together and whether it is good or
bad.
There seems to be a great amount of
evidence that the professional reputation of the Key
West Police Department has suffered over the past
few years. We have had a fair number of officers arrested.
It is unusual to have police officers arrested. Normally
we find them doing the arresting. Given further that
many have entered into a plea or change of job status,
many Citizens are left to wonder why, if they were
innocent, they didn’t stand up and say so.
My perspective is that this loss of
reputation is most damaging, at the level of the officer
on the street. In my profession, as a lawyer, we know
that a loss of respect for the law, leads quickly
to a host of undesirable but preventable problems.
For example, when people lose confidence
in the law and law enforcement, they are more likely
to turn to “self-help.” My trusty “Black’s
Law Dictionary” defines “self-help”
as “Taking an action, in person and outside
of the normal legal process, whether the action is
legal or not.”
A more insidious (sorry, lawyer word, meaning, as
many of you know, “harmful but enticing; having
a gradual and cumulative effect) effect is that we
feel helpless, we don’t try to assert our rights,
or and we feel like the average person can’t
get a fair shake. You might skip back in this article
and re-read the Citizen Voice comment for a prime
example of this.
At the “street cop” level,
this can pose an unnecessary but avoidable problem
for the police officer. If we don’t respect
someone or some profession, we’re less likely
to listen, cooperate, or readily follow that person’s
directions.
When this happens “where the
rubber meets the road,” things can turn bad
quickly. We lose the ability to gain compliance by
persuasion and have to compel it through force. When
a police officer has to act, by force, the discussion
or exchange of information is largely over.
It seems like the actions of the police, after the
talking, are what has been at the root of the problem.
It appears fair to ask whether the
police can really solve their own problem here. An
early question would be if they can, why haven’t
they? It also seems that there were a number of levels
of both police and government that failed to act to
address this situation to the point where the citizenry
got involved.
Next week: Part II - Where can we
find solutions?
Michael R. Barnes
practices law in Key West, Florida. His comments are
provided as a pro bono community service and are not
offered as legal advice for a particular set of circumstances.
If you are concerned that you may need a lawyer, you
are encouraged to contact one and follow his or her
advice for your individual situation.
