We continue our journey into exposing the legal system and its various forms of corruption. So far, we have exposed an incompetent police department and its chief, how law enforcement evades accountability with report writing, and how being innocent of a crime still means guilt. With these things being exposed, it is now time that we expose the mentality of the police. If you believe this mentality is disturbing in public, behind the scenes will be even more shocking. While our platform, and specific members of our team, have been targeted because of these articles, it only furthers our reasons for writing them in the first place. In this article we are not only going to be talking about law enforcement but also revisiting the Department of Corrections.
Bully Pride
This is the most recorded aspect of law enforcement, next to what appears to be the random shooting of civilians. We see it all the time, a power tripping cop going on a warpath. We have also seen how these events generally end. However, while this is what when they interact with the public, we don’t see what happens behind closed doors.
You wouldn’t think that other officers would be a target of such behavior; you would be wrong. Law enforcement, though they deny it, has what is called the “Blue Brotherhood.” Granted, this sounds like something from a mafia movie, but there is a good reason for that. In law enforcement, there are two types of officers: those who are “in” the brotherhood and those who aren’t. When it comes to this, you don’t want to be that guy who isn’t in it. Officers who find themselves in the “out,” find that their jobs become extremely difficult. They find themselves targets of other officers, supervisors, and even those within upper management. Basically, those who are not in the brotherhood, or violate it’s “code,” have no means of help from within the agency.
This mentality doesn’t just apply to the police, it also applies to the Department of Corrections, a harsh reality that was verified by our lead journalist, who once worked for this very system. Officers who are targeted find themselves alone and isolated within the very place they work. Harassment and bullying becomes extreme, until they finally give in and simply resign. Among the things that may happen to a targeted officer include: pay being withheld, false internal investigations from superiors, fabricated write-ups, and the list goes on. The ultimate goal is to push the officer into resigning. Though it would be easier to terminate that officer, termination means they could file unemployment while resigning makes that nearly impossible. Even if the officer resigns, the harassment doesn’t end there.
Once the officer resigns, they are immediately “blacklisted.” Blacklisting, to put it into simple terms, is a malicious method of ensuring that the former officer cannot obtain another law enforcement job. They are often put into a computer system, marked with “do not hire.” Should another agency contact the former place of employment, all they have to say is that he/she is not hirable, the blue brotherhood does the rest.
Bullying isn’t just subjected to the few good officers we have in this country. Inmates, who find themselves living within the prison systems, also become targets. While these individuals are in the prisons for a reason, it does not condone how they are treated by the officers working the facility. Within the Department of Corrections, there is a universal mentality: “we will take the word of an officer over an inmate.” This mentality immediately puts the inmate at a complete disadvantage. If the inmate is being targeted by an officer, files a complaint to which that officer denies the accusation, it becomes a case closed situation. No further investigation, nothing more is done.
Behind the scenes, officers have been known to joke, laugh, and even mock inmates, or those arrested. In one situation, our lead journalist had witnessed a conversation to which an officer laughed about body slamming a woman to the ground. Though the woman had to be taken to a medical ward for her injuries, that apparently only made the situation funnier for this officer. What’s worst about this? To this day, that officer remains employed with D.O.C.
Complete control
If you’ve ever looked at a Facebook profile belonging to an officer, you may notice how bland it is. There generally is a serious lack of information. Furthermore, they are cautious as to what they post. There is a reason for this. It’s not because the officer is in fear, though the department uses a fear tactic against them. The reason for this is because of the amount of control the departments have within the personal lives of its officers. All law enforcement agencies, including D.O.C. have policies that tell the officer what is allowed to be posted, what is forbidden, and what can get them fired. For instance, if the officer slams another department, or their own, that is grounds for punishment. Not only will the department force that officer, generally under duress, to remove the post, they could face further consequences. Demotion, pay withheld, write-ups are just a few examples of what that officer could face.
Law enforcement agencies control the behaviors of their officers with fear, intimidation, and various threats. On the flip side to this, officers within D.O.C do the same to the inmates, who are unlucky enough to find themselves within their facilities. On both ends of this spectrum, retaliation is a very real possibility. Those who dare to speak out, rather it be an officer or an inmate, often find themselves being made examples of. For the officers, the consequences could mean the loss of pay, targeted harassment from other officers, termination (or the threat of it,) and so fourth. For inmates, it’s almost the same aside the termination. For them, the possibility of being thrown into a segregation (SHU, Isolation, “The hole,” etc.,) is more than enough motive to keep them silent and obedient. While we often criticize every officer who works within these departments, most people are completely oblivious to what the “good cops” have to endure. We often wonder why they remain silent, why they rarely take action, and why they do nothing to make change. Unfortunately, this is the reason behind that.
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