3 ms·

Trying to get a prosecution against a cop is almost impossible. For starters, the primary body you must report a crime by a cop to is the police station where h

Trying to get a prosecution against a cop is almost impossible. For starters, the primary body you must report a crime by a cop to is the police station where he works, as generally they will have jurisdiction over the issue. And they are going to laugh you out of the station. What's your next move? Go to the prosecutor and complain? ROFL. Believe me, I've tried all of these avenues. I should scan the letters I've received from these agencies, they're hilarious. Basically they'll come back and say that they have a policy of not investigating crimes by their officers and officers from other jurisdictions. I've even taken this through the courts. If the crime was committed as part of an investigation into a suspected crime, then the courts ruled that it is acceptable and not actionable. The news articles you see where the cops actually got indicted are the million-to-ones. Even Kim Foxx (State's Attorney for Cook County - i.e. Chicago) has stated in interviews that even if she gets an indictment against a cop, getting a conviction is almost impossible.

jcrawfordor 5y ago
While this is only a partial solution, a number of cities throughout the US have adopted or are adopting a model usually called "civilian oversight" in which complaints of misconduct by police officers can be directed to a separate, independent police oversight body. The police oversight body is separated from law enforcement by an administrative firewall and usually restricts any of its staff being former law enforcement officers to further improve separation (common sources of staff are insurance, personnel security, and litigation investigators). While criminal enforcement is a judicial matter and not one of administrative oversight, there's usually a perception that civilian oversight helps to bring information to light that might motivate a DA or other prosecutor to pursue the case. This is only a half-measure at best but it's something that is gaining traction, and you might be able to push for it in your area.
- kingcharles 5y ago
  I live in Chicago. We're onto our THIRD police oversight agency here. "COPA replaced the Independent Police Review Authority, or IPRA, which had been discredited in the aftermath of the McDonald revelations, and which, in its own turn, had in 2007 replaced the Office of Professional Standards, or OPS, in the midst of an earlier police scandal." They replace the agency every few years. There'll be another new one in a couple of years. They'll fire all the staff who, as you say, are not supposed to be related to the police, but who are all actually related to the police, and then rehire them all to the new agency. An officer in my case, who has previously been found to have lied in an investigation where he beat an unarmed Mexican man, lied to the grand jury to obtain an indictment against me which resulted in my imprisonment for many years. I tried to report him to COPA and they just disappear the complaint each time. It's like you hand the complaint to them and ask them for a receipt and they are like "What complaint? Who are you? Why are you in our office? Please leave before we call security." I've tried and tried and never got a response. If I wasn't on house arrest I would just chain myself to a fixture in their building until police had to remove me.

jcrawfordor 5y ago

While this is only a partial solution, a number of cities throughout the US have adopted or are adopting a model usually called "civilian oversight" in which complaints of misconduct by police officers can be directed to a separate, independent police oversight body. The police oversight body is separated from law enforcement by an administrative firewall and usually restricts any of its staff being former law enforcement officers to further improve separation (common sources of staff are insurance, personnel security, and litigation investigators). While criminal enforcement is a judicial matter and not one of administrative oversight, there's usually a perception that civilian oversight helps to bring information to light that might motivate a DA or other prosecutor to pursue the case. This is only a half-measure at best but it's something that is gaining traction, and you might be able to push for it in your area.

kingcharles 5y ago
I live in Chicago. We're onto our THIRD police oversight agency here. "COPA replaced the Independent Police Review Authority, or IPRA, which had been discredited in the aftermath of the McDonald revelations, and which, in its own turn, had in 2007 replaced the Office of Professional Standards, or OPS, in the midst of an earlier police scandal." They replace the agency every few years. There'll be another new one in a couple of years. They'll fire all the staff who, as you say, are not supposed to be related to the police, but who are all actually related to the police, and then rehire them all to the new agency. An officer in my case, who has previously been found to have lied in an investigation where he beat an unarmed Mexican man, lied to the grand jury to obtain an indictment against me which resulted in my imprisonment for many years. I tried to report him to COPA and they just disappear the complaint each time. It's like you hand the complaint to them and ask them for a receipt and they are like "What complaint? Who are you? Why are you in our office? Please leave before we call security." I've tried and tried and never got a response. If I wasn't on house arrest I would just chain myself to a fixture in their building until police had to remove me.