As the media continues to expose an appalling series of police shootings of mostly unarmed African Americans, most of us view the stories through the lens of our own experience.
White Americans generally respect law enforcement, and assume that they tell the truth when they say they were threatened and had to shoot. Seventy-seven percent of whites approve of the job being done by their local police department. Black Americans, having often personally experienced police harassment, are far more likely to mistrust law enforcement and skeptically view claims that lethal force was necessary. Forty-five percent of African Americans believe police “lie routinely to serve their own interests.”
Who’s right?
Incentives for police perjury
Of course, like anyone else, police distort the truth. High ranking law enforcement officials and judges have noted the incentive systems in place — keeping the numbers up in drug arrests, for instance — that promote police perjury. Cops are allowed to lie when interrogating subjects, and they do so frequently.
In court, police appear polished, well groomed and in uniform, and they are nearly always believed over scruffy criminal defendants inexperienced with the machinations of the criminal justice system. When police are not believed, the remedy is a dismissal of the case, not action against the officer for lying. The advantage police officers have is that they are not only trained in how to be good witnesses in court — stay calm, review your notes beforehand, just answer the questions posed, remain factual, look jurors in the eye — but also how to protect themselves in the event they injure or kill a citizen — lawyer up pronto, do not give a statement, and review all the evidence with attorneys before giving a narrative.
It is impossible to overstate the tactical advantage police have in excessive force cases, given this training. Victims and witnesses invariably become emotional, even hysterical, and give unrehearsed, often inconsistent statements about what happened — as we saw in Ferguson. That doesn’t mean the witnesses are liars, but it can destroy their credibility in a courtroom.
Police are almost never prosecuted for perjury. The rare high-profile exception is Mark Fuhrman, who famously pleaded no contest to felony perjury for claiming in the 1994 O.J. Simpson criminal trial that he hadn’t used the “N word.” In fact he’d been caught on tape doing just that many times, bragging about his abuse of African American suspects. Among many chilling examples,
“You can take one of these n*****s, drag ’em into the alley and beat the shit out of them and kick them.”
Fuhrman went on to a lucrative career as a crime writer, radio host and frequent Fox News guest.
Everyone lies
Since few witnesses will admit to lying, a wide scale assessment of confabulation by police or anyone else is impossible. But sure, police lie, somewhere between sometimes and often. Civilians lie too, somewhere between sometimes and often. Practice law as long as I have, since 1986, and you’ll come to believe that almost everyone twists the truth to avoid punishment, especially when they think they can get away with it. When human beings do stupid or evil things, they tend to fabricate to cover their tracks. In my experience, it’s exceedingly rare for someone accused of wrongdoing to fully own up to it and apologize. And our legal system strongly discourages such admissions.
In South Carolina, police lies and evidence planting
South Carolina police officer Michael Slager recently shot and killed Walter Scott, an unarmed African American man he’d stopped for a broken taillight. Scott ran from officer Slager, likely because he was far behind on child support payments and had been jailed for it in the past. (Debtor prisons are back in America.)
After the incident, Slager lawyered up and refused to give a statement to police investigators who arrived on the scene. A few days later, via his lawyer, Slager said he’d scuffled with Scott over his taser, felt threatened and thus had to shoot.
Then a citizen video surfaced, showing Slager shooting a fleeing Scott, shooting him repeatedly in the back. After the fatal shots, Slager appears to drop an object next to Scott’s body. It appears to be the taser.
This one case does not prove that all or even most police officers lie, of course. But it does vividly demonstrate the very real possibility that law enforcement can quickly come up with a false story to justify a shooting, complete with planting evidence at a crime scene. Each case must be based on its own proof, and no one – not a police officer, not a civilian – should be prejudged. But neither should we assume that police are model humans who never get angry or vindictive, who never overreact, and never fabricate. As long as police are human beings, they will do all these things and more, just as we all do.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Avvo.
Photo: Shutterstock.com
8 comments
Marc Pelta
Yes, police lie, but so to defendants. Often times it becomes very difficult to defend a client when the client is not honest with the attorney who is the one person who can help them more than anyone else in the criminal justice system. There is no one reason why people do this and not all do it, but many do and it only makes it harder to defend a client when this happens.
Kellie
I was recently arrested at my home because someone called me in for hitting a curb and swerving. I was given a prescription of larazapam for the first time for anxiety. I knew nothing about the pill but put my trust in the doctor and took the prescribed amount that day.... I took my last dose at about 6pm and blacked out. I came to the next day In jail! There are a lot of missing peices as to where the arresting cop had me! After arresting me he brought me back to my house. On the report it stated that it took 40 minutes to get to my house in which its only a 5 minute drive. I was not handcuffed the whole time and was just riding around in the front seat with the cop! We asked for video footage from the cop car and the police station but the cop stated he didn't have it on. I had bruises all over my body as well as behind both elbows. Does any of this seem odd or suspicious?
Danielle Post
Hi Kellie, It sounds like you have several legal questions that would be best answered by a lawyer in our free Q&A forum. Lawyers do not provide advice through our blog, but they do in the forum -- usually within 12 hours. All questions are open to answers for seven days. You can post your questions here when you're ready: http://www.avvo.com/ask-a-lawyer. You can also browse previously asked questions and lawyer answers, or read legal guides that may answer your questions, here: http://www.avvo.com/free-legal-advice. I hope this is helpful! Kindly, Danielle
Robert H. German
The question is WHY DO police lie. I was a police officer for 10 years. I watched it happen with all officers at all levels. Some of those officers would tell you they never lie and absolutely hate liars but when asked a question under oath and they know their answer may hurt their case, their answer becomes I can't recall. We as police officers become socialized to lie, fib stretch the truth. Not much you see but just enough so that the good guys prevail. For proof just look at all of the cases where police have to submit reports before they find out that they were videotaped. Rodney King - the 'shot-in-back' guy from Georgia. Police like reporters can be mistaken but when they outright lie punishment should be swift and severe. Especially when the lie takes away someone's freedom.
Truth Be Told
We lets put it this way. I went thru a state police academy and a few classes concerned this matter. We were taught how to tell straight untruths well enough to pass a polygraph test. The ones that scored the highest in this class was either assigned the depts professional witness and or interagator as you have to be able to tell untruths for a judge, jury or to a perp to be convincing them that what you are stating is true even though you your self know not to be true. I resigned from the academy after that class. But they do teach policemen to be professional liars.
roger
Police lie, politicians lie, judges lie, attorneys and assistant district attorneys lie, bums lie, cheaters and murderers lie, theives lie. ... anyone who says they have never told a lie since natural birth is a liar. So who has given authority to men to punish other men for doing the exact same things that all men say and think are wrong to do? Is taking money from someone because they've done the same wrong the taker has the right thing?
C M
Police arrived at my home one night last week saying my mother had phoned them (from 150 miles away) and told them I needed help. My mother denies said call. They put me in hospital, under Baker Act, citing her concern was all they needed. Well, I felt as if I were being bullied, peer pressured into submission. They said if I didn't submit they would cuff me. Then they took away my 2nd amendment rights the same way at the hospital. Do I have a CR case?
Danielle Post
Hi Christine, It sounds like you have several legal questions that would be best answered by a lawyer in our free Q&A forum. Lawyers do not provide advice through our blog, but they do in the forum -- usually within 12 hours. All questions are open to answers for seven days. You can post your questions here when you're ready: http://www.avvo.com/ask-a-lawyer. You can also browse previously asked questions and lawyer answers, or read legal guides that may answer your questions, here: http://www.avvo.com/free-legal-advice. You may want to go straight to hiring a local attorney using Avvo's Legal Directory. You can search by practice area as well as location to find one close to you. Avvo profiles contain an attorney’s experience as well as client and peer reviews. Many offer free consultations, so be sure to ask if you decide to contact them on your own or through Avvo. Here’s the link to get started on your search: http://www.avvo.com/find-a-lawyer I hope this is helpful. Kindly, Danielle