Police Misconduct
By no means should one assume that the news story below is limited to its time frame or geographic location:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/21/chicago.police.torture/index.html
Police misconduct exists in all parts of our country. And while the vast majority of police misconduct does not rise to the egregious level referenced above, police do embellish, bend the truth, lie, and yes–physically abuse others.
More often, police misconduct manifests itself in more subtle ways. Misstatements in police reports is an example. Often what police need to prove and what they can prove are two different things. Knowing that certain facts and statements must exist to establish probable cause or to effectuate an arrest, some officers resort to making up details. Clients are subsequently frustrated and concerned when they discover that what happened, and what the officer claims in his report, do not coincide.
Some people turn the other way when they become aware of such police conduct. They have watched too many movies, or heard of too many cases where someone gets off on a “technicality.” But these “technicalities” are actually our constitutional rights, protecting not only those who are improperly charged, but also protecting the police themselves when they follow the law and do the job right.