The recent pandemic has now been overshadowed by a killing, racial protests and riots.
Police Officers in this country have come under attack.
A recent TV crawl indicated that “FBI fears violent elements are scouting ways to attack police officers at their homes.” A news reporter’s story went into more depth adding that police home addresses were possibly being obtained through public records or other information readily available on the internet.
I can’t help but wonder, how do they like it now?
A title of police officer, a label that makes someone a target. It doesn’t matter if you’re one of the “good guys”. Violent elements wanting to do harm can easily obtain personal information, home addresses, with a simple internet search. Your life and that of your family now feel jeopardized, all because of the broad, all- encompassing label, police officer, cop.
This is what the broad “sex offender” label does to registrants every day. The moment they are accused of an offense, they are labeled. They are no longer an individual with an individual offense, with individual circumstances. Instead, they are all seen as the same. The media labels them, other prison inmates will label them and once free, out in society, there is still no “break” from the label or the dire consequences that come with it. For registrants, the broad, paintbrush, negative connotation label of “sex offender” is daily life and it doesn’t matter if you are non-violent or predatory, juvenile or adult. It is a one-size-fits-all label. The same as police officer.
There’s no doubt that being a police officer is a risky job. But how will police officers fare when they, good and bad, become targets of evil-doers, purely because of their title, their label? How will they feel knowing that not only they, but their families, anyone in their homes, may now be at risk?
It’s not a good feeling.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is currently working on a National Registry of Misconduct for police officers, but is that what this country needs, another registry?
We’ve all seen how ineffective the “sex offender” registry has been at achieving anything. It never served its initial purpose of monitoring violent, predatory offenders. It morphed into an uncontrollable monster, different in every state, often with frequent changes that were devised for no purpose other than “political gain”. It has over-reached the boundaries of anything resembling any kind of sanity. The only thing the registry ever achieved was ruining lives, emotionally and financially devastating families and getting people killed.
Is that what we’re aiming for in this country? More of that?
It’s time for government officials to learn from the horrible failure of the Sex Offender Registry.
Another registry that serves to publicly punish and humiliate yet another group of individuals, can only do more harm than good for us as a society.
Eric Garcetti announced that LA is putting a moratorium on adding more people into the CalGang database!
Next stop, Megan’s law!
This is the only silver lining in George Floyd’s death.
Even if this cop registry never happens, the police will forever be watched heavily, scrutinized and viewed through a similar prizm that we have to put up with.
I always wanted to create a web page where you could find similar information as Megan’s Law but with info for cops and politicians. It would even have the same disclaimer on the front page that this is just FYI info and not to be used to harass the people listed and members of their household. That should be fine, right? First Amendment and all?
Facts, do they use that word in law school, anymore.
You can try to escape the law all you like, but eventually it catches up with you. They weren’t aware when they made the sex offender registry that the umbrella would expand. Now we’re all in the same boat.
I’m hoping they punish LAPD by cutting the budget by $150 million and invest it in the black community. I don’t know what that second part entails, but if the first part deprives LAPD of resources to harass me, I’m all effing for it.
It is one thing to have a database.
It is another to indenture human to it and it’s maintenance.
It is a bridge to nowhere near re:public USA.
It can be used to impose affirmative disability & restraint!
It cannot predict, predictably!
It can be used to organize attack!
It can and will be used for war!
Guess who opened the door.
I think a police “registry” could be useful to help hold them accountable. Maybe not so much a registry as some kind of public information about the law enforcement officers and the municipalities they work in, much like we have that information on elected officials, judges, etc. Then we’d know their names, a little of their background, and what regions they serve.
Any registry should have a provable purpose so we don’t go down the same road as existing offender registries. I support animal abuse registries that would be available to animal adoption agencies, for example, to prevent people from being able to have pets again. There is a recurring theme of officers being removed for misconduct and then getting hired a town over at a different agency. A police abuse registry may be able to prevent that.
While on one hand I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy… it might be good for law enforcement to understand what some people live and have lived with for many years. The unknown, the harassment, the endless maze of rules and confusion. Plus like others have pointed out, some are on the registry BECAUSE of cops playing games online- like sendings pics of adult women with tattoos on adult dating sites, etc. So… I guess it comes full circle now that everyone is expected to have their privacy violated and liberty crushed for a lack of judgement. I also think they should throw out Qualified Immunity too, and allow police to get sued for doing stupid things as well. You know, just like the rest of us?
I think the police misconduct registry should include all police officers. Overwhelming statistics show that a predisposition towards aggressiveness is frightening and high in the law enforcement community. A pig is a pig. They don’t ever change. They thrive on the power. They chose to be cops to violate people.
In fact if any violence should occur because of this proposed registry it could be viewed as a public service.
https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/opinion/crime-and-courts-condoluci-murder-viewed-as-public-service/article_cb1a3bb0-a47a-11ea-be59-6fc5e10413ae.html
The Sex Offender Register has always been the main entry point for shaming registers of all types. George W. Bush nominated Roberts to be Chief Justice on on his successful arguments before the same court to enable the registry, and now we are starting to see the Deep State roots take hold.
And LET’S BE PERFECTLY CLEAR. I do NOT support posting of home addresses of ANYONE, even our foes. This is not the time to say “serves them right.” This is where true anarchy starts, the SAME anarchy that will provide cover for the vigilantes to use the sex offender registry to start their own violence. Very scary times.
It is the politicians who write these laws that need a taste of their own medicine. In the end Cory’s proposal is just for show and he/we know it, but it might help in the fight. Praying everyone stays safe.
Thank you Kat for another well-writen article.
Every time that I think about writing one you beat me to it and do a much better job than I could!
Keep writing and keep fighting!
Colleagues The following is NOT to encourage by any means the breaking away from paying taxes or breaking any laws. It is for the purpose of context and discussion only. The question: is it morally reasonable for those listed on the registry to pay taxes?
If a country views and treats some of it’s citizens as rejects and outcast should taxes be paid due to the lack of true representation? I told my senator friend that a RC’s representatives is like having a one legged guy in a two legged foot race. He might represent you but don’t expect him to getting very far or very fast on your behalf. Well my friend was a bit offended but understood my point. What say you?
Here is the link to the bill:
https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/justice_in_policing_act_of_2020.pdf