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By Brian Muth

If you have followed any of the news coverage of the riots in Greece you might ask yourself how it is that the police can not or will not take steps to control the violence that has consumed that Country for weeks now.  As a retired Police Officer I can give you a simple explanation.  The Police don’t know what to do.  The riots, reportedly started because of the shooting death of a teen-ager by police, have left the police little choice of weapons or tactics to quell the disturbances. Deadly force was used against a young offender who reportedly was attacking an officer with a bomb.  

Even after the fact that the officers involved were arrested and prosecuted on what appears to be a political move to convince the rioters to stop their behavior, the riots continue. The move didn’t work and might possibly have even encouraged the crowd to continue their control of the Cities, now knowing that the police will be much more cautious when using any type of force against them.

If you are safely sitting in your home in the United States you might think that this could never happen here and only occurs in other Countries.  You are flat wrong folks.  These things do happen here and our country might even be in the forefront of “political prosecutions of police officers”.  What our criminal justice system has found is that it might be better to sacrifice an officer following a use of force incident rather than to face the possibility of rioting and destruction of our cities.

Following the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, many police officers have found themselves becoming defendants for using force against a suspect that they believed at the time was endangering their live or the live of someone else.

Prosecutors across the country are learning ways, possibility from our own Department of Justice, of prosecuting officers that do not require proof of malice and thus hoping to quite activists or critics of the police.  The United States Border Patrol is a perfect example of an agency that has had more than its share of prosecution of their officers, but many other states have followed their lead and have charged police officers with a crime  for using deadly force.  

Two white officers in Detroit were quickly convicted for the death of a black drug suspect, especially after the City leaders promised that they would be charged and convicted to prevent vocal critics from burning their city down.

In Nebraska, a Chief of Police found himself facing the business end of a gun held by a suspect in several burglaries.  The Chief fired to defend his own life but he too has now joined the ranks of law enforcement officers criminally charged for doing their job.

Georgia appears to be the State most willing to sacrifice an officer rather than to face criticism or reprisal.  Several Georgia officers have either faced charges or have charges pending after they used deadly force.  One officer is facing capital murder charges after he shot a suspect that he believed was trying to run over him with a vehicle.  Another Georgia case finds a former Marine turned police officer, facing charges for using deadly force on a fleeing felon. That suspect reportedly ignored orders to surrender and pointed an unknown object at the officer. 

EFFECTS RECRUITING

The climate of fear amongst the ranks of law enforcement officers has become apparent to me and was actually a factor in my deciding to retire. Unfortunately it is also effecting recruiting and retention of qualified officers.  In years past, recruits would come from “police families” with an officer carrying on a proud tradition of the job. Now, many officers either retired or reaching retirement age are discouraging their sons and daughters from joining the ranks.  If I had a dollar for every cop I heard try to convince their off spring to join the fire department rather than become a police officer, I could have retired much earlier.

Who in their right mind would want to be a Border Patrol agent at this time with all of the physical attacks on them and then later facing the possibility of arrest?

A few years back Congress passed a law allowing active and retired police officers to carry a firearm anywhere in the United States, a move that was not only to protect the officer from retaliation from former customers, but also to give the country another tool against terrorism and crimes.  This will be difficult for me to admit but I have been training myself to “not get involved” should I be faced with the decision to come to someone’s aid if an armed suspect attacks.  I am watching the sworn officers face prosecution for doing their sworn duties.   I do not trust the system to protect me if I likewise take action.  I am too old to go to prison. In other-words, I have earned the right to run with the rest of you.

WHAT’S THE ANSWER?

Until the recent financial crisis we face, Congress occupied its time by holding hearings on what baseball players were using drugs and later lied to them or how long a passenger was stranded on an airplane.  The number one crisis America faces in crime and if the men and women tasked with protecting us are afraid to defend themselves let alone a stranger, then what chance do we have?  Someone has to take a stand in this ridiculous new trend in holding police officers to an unreasonable standard and introduce legislation to protect an officer from “political prosecution”

About the Author

Bryan Muth is a retired Police Officer and author of the book “Judging the Police”.