
An ex-cop's remorse - iamjeff
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/an-ex-cops-remorse
======
clouddrover
> _colored by the cop dramas he watched growing up_

Well, I'd hope not. In general TV and movie cop dramas present exceptionally
poor models of policing which emphasize aggression, violence, and a contempt
for the public. The last thing I'd want is for any police officer to model
themselves after those distorted depictions of what a cop should be.

~~~
coldtea
> _The last thing I 'd want is for any police officer to model themselves
> after those distorted depictions of what a cop should be._

Most real life cops are much worse (sexist, racist, aggressive, easy to
lie/tamper if they don't like a suspect, easy to pull the trigger, etc). So
even the average tv cop as a role model would be an improvement.

~~~
Cthulhu_
Luckily that's not true; there's about 810.000 police officers in the US
(source:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_number_of_police_officers))
(or 266 per 100K people); if they were all like that, you'd see a police
murder incident several times a day.

Instead, the US has toddlers shooting people every day.

~~~
ones_and_zeros
Umm... [https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-
shoo...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-
shootings-2016/)

> 963 people have been shot and killed by police in 2016

And that is just shootings, never mind other methods of murder.

~~~
agumonkey
How else could a cop kill someone ? suffocating ?

Don't downvote blindly, I was really wondering how "lawful" death could occur
without gun in self defense.

~~~
coldtea
> _How else could a cop kill someone ? suffocating ?_

That's also a not entirely uncommon occurence.

USA
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner)
[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/08/cops-
gagged...](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/08/cops-gagged-and-
smothered-a-man-to-death-then-fist-bumped.html)

Belgium
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semira_Adamu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semira_Adamu)

South Africa [http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/south-african-police-
suff...](http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/south-african-police-suffocates-
nigerian-death/)

Sweden [http://filmingcops.com/witnesses-horrified-as-cop-beats-
and-...](http://filmingcops.com/witnesses-horrified-as-cop-beats-and-
suffocates-9-yr-old-child/)

------
rtb
I've never seen "coöperator" spelled with a diaeresis before. Apparently it's
a New Yorker house style: [http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-
curse-of-t...](http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-
diaeresis)

~~~
arximboldi
Interesting! We have similar diaeresis in Spanish. But on the other hand,
given English's spelling ambiguity and lack of overall consistency, I wonder
what is the point of using this nowadays... But I guess, that article also
wonders :D

~~~
wott
> We have similar diaeresis in Spanish.

Besides _ü_?

~~~
arximboldi
You are right, only _ü_ to break the _gue_ and _gui_ forms. The "diptongos"
containing a weak-strong vowel combination may be broken into a "hiato" with
an accent, such as: _vía_ vs _via_.

------
willyt
I hate to be the sanctimonious European on HN, but I was really surprised to
read that 3 days and 2 detectives is all that is (or was) used to investigate
a murder. From American films and tv we get the impression of maverick cops
with this gung-ho attitude who investigate alone or with one partner. This
article makes me wonder how close to reality is this?

~~~
wavefunction
You really shouldn't base your understanding of a society on media
presentations, other than perhaps very lightly. I just watched a Belgian crime
show "La Treve" / The Break on Netflix, but it doesn't mean I assume every
Belgium small town is rife with murder and intrigue.

~~~
wott
Good, so you've seen _one_ 10-episode Belgian series. We've seen hundred,
thousands of of American series and movies (and books). After a while we begin
to be able to pull out some constants that are represented, and more
importantly and more interestingly, we become able to see _the constants which
are not purposely represented_.

You don't realise the massive power of the American cultural imperialism. It
is a steamroller: most European people have a better knowledge of the police
and justice systems of the USA than of their own country!

(And that's not only about fiction but about the news: we also know better the
political system and political life of the USA than the ones of our
neighbouring countries. We still know our own better, luckily :-) )

~~~
frgtpsswrdlame
Is this really true? (I'm American.)

~~~
angry-hacker
It is true. A lot euros use "free speech, free speech" but majority of
countries dont have one! It's an American concept.. You'd be surprised how
much the cultural influence America has over here!

------
Pica_soO
This job should be made a institution, a office of last appeals, allowing to
reopen every case, should new evidence surface or the involved persons,
methods and legal proceedings give cause for reasonable doubt.

~~~
pmyteh
Yes. England and Wales have for a while had the Criminal Cases Review
Commission. If they see a case that suggests a miscarriage of justice, even
after twenty years or the exhaustion of appeals, they can send the case back
to the Court of Appeal. It's done some good work.

~~~
dopamean
It sounds like if the Innocence Project were an official government entity.

------
lbatx
What's worse is that this is highly unlikely to be the only case in which
Forcelli sent the wrong person to jail. I don't know if he's come to that
realization yet.

------
ara24

      > this was a case of mistaken identity. “I always
      > wondered—and it sounds weird—how did it feel to
      > these guys who arrest the wrong guy?” Forcelli
      > told me. “It feels terrible.”
    

Sad Story, free Garry.

~~~
taneq
Arresting the wrong guy would happen pretty often and shouldn't be a serious
issue.

 _Convicting_ the wrong guy, especially if you know they're the wrong guy even
as 'due process' finds them guilty - now that's another issue entirely.

~~~
DugFin
Thing is, it arrest actually IS a problem. It's often said that any decent
prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. Throw in a dash of racism or classism,
and you've got a recipe for sending lots of people to jail who didn't commit
the crime. Every step of the way needs to responsible and honest in order to
mitigate this problem as much as possible. Can't just let cops do whatever
they please under the premise that the prosecutor's office will figure out the
truth.

~~~
a3n
The mere arrest can totally disrupt your life. Lost job if you miss work. Loss
of trust with friends and family. Lost money if you can afford bail. Confusion
in your kids if you suddenly have to get someone to pick them up from school
that day, and arrange for care. Record of arrest.

~~~
slededit
Bail is the opposite. If you can afford it you get the money back if you show
up to your court date. If you can't you go to a Bail bondsman and pay 10% up
front - but you don't get it back at all.

~~~
a3n
Thanks for the correction. I did mean being able to afford a bail bondsman,
which many people can't and so sit in jail needlessly.

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nsxwolf
What an incredible anti-cop dumpster fire this turned into.

~~~
DannyB2
All police are represented by the worst of the police. Therefore it would be
in their interest to weed out the bad cops. Instead, they line up and protect
them. Thus they make the public perception of police even worse. It then
becomes manifestly clear that the police are not about protecting the public.
Especially from bad police.

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nrjdhsbsid
Holy shit

