I suppose I have been very naive about the relationship between prosecutors and police. I didn't understand what has been happening each time a police officer is charged with an on-duty crime, such as unnecessary violence against a suspect, or shooting a suspect. Somehow, I always thought that a suspect, whether a police officer or a civilian would get the same treatment by prosecutors and grand jury made up of citizens. I have recently, finally, understood what has been happening. This editorial in USA Today has an excellent explanation of the problem, and what needs to be done to solve the problem.
Reform prosecuting police misconduct: Our view
I didn't understand how the police in the Rodney King situation could be excused for their action. It appeared to me that the chokehold killing in New York, on video certainly had enough evidence to go to trial. In the Ferguson case, there is now way that the police officer needed to fire so many shots into the suspect. The officer had clearly lost control of himself. He may have not been guilty of a crime, but he should have stood for a trial.
I can now see that we probably have the exact same conflict of interest between the FBI, Homeland Security, Border Patrol, DEA, and other Federal police agencies and their Federal prosecutors. I'm sure there is misconduct at times within those organizations, and I wonder how the independence between prosecutors and the federal agencies is maintained.
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