There are those in society that support extremism and corruption and unfortunately not enough backstops to protect the public or targets when it does occur. While we know there are dark souls who engage in these behaviors we struggle in holding this corruption to account for one reason or another. Exclusionary beliefs in race, religion, and social networks can lead people down dark paths in thought and behavior. In the hypothetical example I have been using there are four broad category crimes that are committed
1.) using threats of violence and hate narrative to enrich, exploit or harm,
2.) targeting and violations of freedom of religion and speech,
3.) failure to hold to account or correct when misbehaviors is found and
4.) manipulating the sick and dying for money (Ultimately dozens of crimes)
The Hypothetical Hate Example: A group of bigots and bullies went after minorities in their town. Because of close affiliation with a corrupted network of officers they were encourage and emboldened to mock the family publicly and openly. They spread rumors, they put locals on hit lists, yelled disrespectful comments in front of children, use the term nigger (meaning slave) near black children, they even targeted these children with multiple stops, tried to arrest minorities on religious holidays, retaliated against legitimate complaints by the community, disrespected veterans and were given a free pass by the local justice system to freely engage in these behaviors despite concerns. Awareness of crimes didn't change the course of thought and behavior.
To continue with the example. The incident started when a rogue officer pulled over one of the targets within a short time of the family moving back to their ancestral homeland. Without just cause the officer asked the person to sit in his car next to his drug dog, asked whether he had bombs (a Muslim sounding name), and ask why someone like him would live around here. The target ensured the conversation was polite but the directive nature of the questions appeared to be fishing. As though the officer didn't expect the conversation to be polite and hopes of the success of his goal directive behavior had diminished. No ticket was issued because there was no justification for the stop. When asked the reason for the stop, the answer was, "your air freshener" with a dismissive tone and smirk (No issues there either and there was a witness in the car for part of it. Maybe they thought something suspicious and found out it was incorrect but the line of questioning seems misplaced at the time but makes more sense when you see a series of behaviors over a long period of time after. Its helpful to give benefit of doubt so one would notice the oddness but not necessarily have any context. 9 out of 10 times interactions are positive so one doesn't necessarily jump to conclusions quickly.)
(Keep in mind that being pulled over doesn't mean anyone did anything wrong. i.e. over 5 years trying to arrest for volunteering, cashing one's own paycheck, pulling over kids, creating "investigations" to defame, so on and so forth in a way that would be crimes by all national and international metrics. They truly hated the person, family, and friends with a venom that cannot be rationally explained except through corruption and violent leaning extremism.)
That person was a veteran and had history of standing for the law and for a better society. Even putting themselves at risk to report crimes in other places that panned out to be appropriate and substantive. When push comes to shove that person has a history of doing the right things. In this case, the officers and perpetrators behavior was a direct reflection of their values and not a reflection of the targets (..other then race, religion and awareness this person had knowledge of corruption and the goal was to silence.) Corruption was discovered and the officers and group were seeking to protect against discovery through hate oriented intimidation and threats of violence.
(If your asking me I love police 100% and civil rights 110%. Couldn't care less how everyone else thinks about these things. All institutions serve the people and not the other way around. I respect the institutional purpose of justice but take consideration to lack of accountability. Our current political situation has pitted police and human rights supporters against each other. Any system with this many complaints certainly can find ways to improve and human rights supporters can encourage effective police-community positive relations to ensure safe communities and streets. The big goals are the same but toxic souls break that focus.)
In this example, the laws did not matter as extreme bigotries were reward financially and socially making an up front statement that any minority or person that is different than the homogeneous ethnocentric group will be treated as less than human and with few rights. There was a direct attempt to circumvent those rights in full view of many other officers and the local system defaulted. Community complaints were high, had no safe place to be reported, and most understand the unwritten rules of the area. (Remember, within some places there is fear even of officers of turning in corruption because they don't want to be rejected. Thus, I support good officers and those who serve the public. That is what we should do! We must strengthen the culture as it will help in public perception, in functionality and in recruitment.)
I do not believe in this example that free pass hate systems should be allowed to exist and function within our current justice system. It breaks trust with the population and this example highlight that. To fix problems like this, one would need to have a commitment to our higher ideals and take efforts to ensure such behaviors do not continue forward. Its a walk the talk type issue. Extremism and hyper politics seek to restrict freedoms in an effort to exploit the pain of double standards now deeply embedded in the collective conscious.
The next generation has a different value system and are much more inclusive. Where our generation failed, I believe the next generation will do better to help fulfill our national purpose in human freedom and opportunity. They will understand that encouraging strong policing that keeps streets safe but does so in a universal manner with respect for human rights.
Corruption is like a virus and spreads when unchecked. Its not about jail or losing jobs, its about accountability, correction, and improving to better protect the public and future victims; even when they are considered less than human. My suggestion for those exposed to hate and corruption is be positive, be polite, but be honest because that is what changes the broken aspects of systems society needs. If you keep telling the truth corruption must skirt around it or silence moral conscious through misuse of entrusted authority and further threats of violence and intimidation.
What we should learn is to work together as a society to create the strongest most trusted institutions we can that are effective and accurate. An evidence based results oriented approach to issues without worrying about the politics of it all. The goal should always to improve our community and our nation in a way that leads to future opportunities for the next generation. It is an oath we stand for nearly everyday but sometimes fail to understand its deeper meaning.
Hypothetical question: How do you envision a high functioning police department with community support from all demographics of society? If you can envision it....you can create it! That should be the goal. Unfortunately, some of these hate behaviors might be so embedded that there is no will to correct or serve a greater purpose. I'm optimistic. The youth have perspectives that might push us into a universal democracy where the legacies of segregation don't carry into the unwritten rules of our lived experiences. A pro growth human capital oriented strategy for an environment that requires the highest performance to ensure national competitiveness.
*This is a hypothetical example for illustrative purposes only. Feel free to discount. Theoretical dribble dribble.
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