Well here we go again.  Another policeman caught lying, just to justify his alleged illegal actions.  In one of the New England States a policeman arrested a catholic priest that was taping the policeman’s alleged illegal actions. 

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The policeman swore on the original police report that the priest had in his hand something shiny that could have been a weapon and that he (the policeman) feared for his safety.  So the policeman decided to arrest the priest, even though the priest was filming from far away and did not interfere with what the policeman was doing to another man.

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What the policeman did not know was that the priest put down the camera as instructed by the policeman but he did not turn it off, instead he left it on record.  So now from a source that cannot lie (the recording from the camera) we hear what really happened.

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According to the conversation recorded by the camera the policeman approached the priest and told him to shut off the camera (he used the word “camera”), so the policeman knew what the priest had in his hand.  Furthermore, the conversation indicates that the policeman became agitated at being filmed while he was harassing a member of the minority class.

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A large number of policemen do lie.  They lie to justify their actions and to advance in their jobs.  Beyond the obvious, which is that they are breaking the law and are therefore criminals in policemen uniforms, there are other consequences.

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These policemen that lie and get caught make it very difficult for honest policeman (if there is such a thing).  More and more people are saying that if called to serve on a jury they will first discount the testimony of the policeman and then test the case to see if the defendant can be convicted without the testimony of the policeman.  In plain English more and more juries are ignoring the testimony of policemen because they know that policemen lie.

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It is the belief of many I have talked to that O. J. Simpson would have been convicted of murder if only the police would not have lied and/or planted evidence.  A lot of those I have talked to believe that when the police attempt to… shall we say… embellish the facts, they come off the witness stand as liars.  Something the public does not tolerate very well.   

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Police abuse can take many forms.  In a Dallas suburb a policeman wanted to arrest a young lady.  This policeman conspired with his co-workers and they followed this lady around for days and sometimes for hours at a time.  From the recordings taken from the police radios it is clear that they targeted this lady.  Finally, one day after following her for about four hours they did arrest her. 

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From the police radio recordings you hear one officer ask if she stopped at the stop sign.  Another officer answered yes. Yet another officer asked if she stopped before the white line marking the pedestrian crossing or after the line.  The first officer responded she stopped before the pedestrian crossing.  Soon after that the lady entered the parking lot of a store.  Upon leaving the lot she stopped before entering traffic. One officer asked if she stopped before entering the street. Another officer answered yes she did.  Another asked if she stopped before crossing the sidewalk.  Another answered no; she made her stop on the sidewalk.  And then you hear a cheer from one officer.

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This lady was stopped and arrested for a traffic violation that is almost never ticketed much less cause for being taken to jail.  The police chief was interviewed on several tv stations and his take on it, even after hearing the conversations between the officers, was that our state law gave policemen discretion in arresting someone for a traffic violation.  In other words the police chief found nothing wrong with what his officers did.

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There are countless examples of policemen abusing their power, from lying on traffic tickets to planting fake evidence.  All one has to do is look at the newspapers or the evening news.  These policemen are doing a great disservice to this great nation.  These policemen contribute to the lawlessness that abounds in our country today.

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When even the policemen refuse to obey the law; when even the policemen conspire among themselves to break the law; what can be expected from the citizens?

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Police are given a lot of power by virtue of their job.  We all know that this is a necessary evil in a large society.  But this evil has to be controlled or else it will destroy our great society.  When policemen become the criminals’, societies self destruct.  There is no other option.