In 2014 Officer Darren Wilson was involved in a police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri resulting in the death of Michael Brown. The feckless Department of Justice, headed by Eric Holder, sent an invading army into the small City with the intent of prosecuting Wilson for a federal crime under the Civil Rights Law. Wilson exhibited class when he voluntarily resigned from the Police Department because of threats of violence against the department. He had to take a job as a bagger for a grocery store, but could not hold that simple job due to threats and intimidation he faced. Wilson was unable to find a job for the next two years and his current status is not known.
Wilson fell off the national stage until, almost three years later, a documentary was made by Jason Pollack. Pollack purports that the investigation of the incident and the St. Louis County Prosecutor conspired to protect Officer Wilson from prosecution. The film, called “Stranger Fruit” is a piece of trash and offers nothing to change the outcome of the event, however it continues to demonize Wilson, who was exonerated from any wrongdoing.
Pollack was afforded national exposure to expound his moronic nonsense on the FOX News show ”The First100 days”. His rant was illogical, lacked a factual base, and was designed to inflame a fringe of society. Why the producers of that show failed to vette him prior to airing is unforgivable.
He will never be a police officer again, even though his record of service shows no act which would exclude him from his chosen career.
Officer Raymond Tensing was a police officer at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2015, Tensing shot and killed Samuel Dubose during an off-campus traffic stop. The twenty-six year old was fired from his job and charged with Murder in Hamilton County, Ohio. His first trial ended with a hung jury and the Prosecutor chose to re-try Tensing. That trial will begin in late May, 2017.
Both of these young men may well have forfeited any normalcy in their lives simply because of their career choice. For simply doing the job that they were sworn to do, they will pay a price for the remainder of their lives.
The decision to choose law enforcement as a career is one made for a variety of reasons. For some it is a desire to serve their community. For others, it is a logical progression from military service. But does the risk of potentially losing their freedom for protecting themselves outweigh the desire to be a police officer? Does the value of service outweigh the potential of being vilified by a national media for simply attempting to perform the function they took an oath for?
Law enforcement officers need to be held to a much higher standard because of the position of trust that they hold, but does that mean that they should be subjected to humiliation and financial devastation?