GOOD POLICING: Santa Ana (California) police officer Rufus Tanksley has been giving money, gifts and advice to a homeless couple. Tanksley has encountered many homeless people during his 18 years as a police officer, most of them being drug addicts, alcoholics or mentally ill. John F. Martin, 54, and Marlena Gammelgard, 52, were different. Martin lost his electronics repair business and Gammelgard, a college graduate was laid off as a court cashier. They were down on their luck and left homeless.
In 2003, Tanksley "sold" the couple a 1990 Chevrolet Geo for $500, but he never asked them for the money. Occasionally, when he spots them sleeping in the car, he sticks an evelope containing $20 on the windshield. From time to time he takes them to a movie. At Christmas, he takes them to his home and fixes them a hearty breakfast. He got them a motel room when it was too cold to sleep in the car. Tanksley is helping the couple he believes to be "good people" down on their luck because years ago he himself had been down on his luck. Officer Tanksley desrves to be recognized nationally as an "Outstanding Officer of the Year."
This is not the first time than officers of the Santa Ana Police Department have played a significant charitable role. Many years ago, I came across a case where officers from that agency had arrested an office machine repairman for forgery. He was sentenced to prison, leaving his wife and children in difficult financial straits. Every week during this man's imprisonment, Santa Ana police officers took up a collection with which they purchased a week's worth of groceries for his family. Now, that's good policing.
Also years ago, I came across a case where Corona (California) police officers arrested a woman for the burglary of a bakery in which she stole a dozen or so loaves of bread. When the officers found that this single mother was only trying to provide some food for her hungry children, they persuaded the owner of the bakery to drop the charges which had been filed against her. At the suggestion of the officers, the baker also began to provide day-old bread and other bakery items to the woman and her kids. That's another example of good policing.
QUESTIONABLE POLICING: Recently, the Baltimore police arrested a 7-year old boy for riding a dirt bike on the sidewalk. His mother alleges that at the time of the arrest her son was merely sitting on the bike when an officer jerked him off by grabbing his neck. The bike was confiscated and the boy was arrested. He was taken to the staion house where, according to the boy, he was fingerprinted and had his mug shot taken, then handcuffed to a bench and interrogated, before being released to his parents.
Ouch - what a public relations nightmare. While he may have gone "by the book," the arresting officer should have used his discretionary powers and, with the backing of his supervisor, done his duty by impounding the bike, writing the boy a citation, and delivering him and the citation to his parents without taking him to a police station. Questionable policing? No, this is worse - it's piss poor policing.
And then, there is the "cops are armed and dangerous" case in which three New York officers have been indicted in the shooting death of an unarmed groom on his wedding day. Five undercover cops fired nearly 50 rounds which also wounded the groom's two companions. I will not defend bad policing. However, I always try to look at questionable cases from the officer's perspective. As such, I defended the actions of the Los Angeles officers in the Rodney King case, a position for which I was roundly criticized. ("Presumption of Officer Guilt: The Administration of Justice is Race Driven," TEXAS POLICE JOURNAL, July, 1996)
I have also defended the actions of several officers in cases where they shot someone to death with multiple rounds, even when some of those rounds struck that person in the back. Officers in fear of their lives instinctively fire multiple rounds because subconsciously they lack confidence in the accuracy of their shooting ability. No amount of training can immunize an officer from going into a panic mode the moment he thinks he is facing death. An instinctive shooting frenzy will usually be set off once one officer opens fire when several officers are present during a perilous situation.
The five New York undercover cops were conducting an investigation in a strip club when, according to the officers, they overheard the groom and his two buddies talking about going to his car to get a gun. Outside the club, the groom's car ran into one of the undercover police cars. When the five cops approached his car, one of the officers warned the others that someone was reaching for a gun. They all opened fire, killing the groom and wounding his buddies. No gun was found. Of the three indicted officers, one fired four shots, another fired 11, and the third fired 31.
Because the three strip clubbers were black, there was an immediate outcry in the black community about racist cops being quick to kill young blacks. This shooting reminded blacks of the 1999 shooting of an unarmed African immigrant who was shot 41 times. The current outrage was fueled by none other than the Reverend Al Sharpton, that charleton who was one of the three sleazy race-baiting provocateurs in the Tawana Brawley hoax. Never mind that two of the five officers were black. And now, Sharpton is complaining about the other two officers not being indicted.
I do find it impossible to defend the officer who fired 31 rounds. Unless he was firing two guns simultaneously, he would have had to eject one clip and insert another during the fusilage. By the time he reloaded, all the shooting would have been over because none of the other four officers fired more than 11 shots. It will take a psychiatrist to figure out what possessed him to fire all those rounds.
Just as with the Los Angeles officers in the Rodney King case, the indictments of the three New York cops appear designed to placate the black community. Would there have been any indictments had the groom and his two companions been white? I doubt it - absent malicious intent, the shootings probably would have been put to rest as an unfortunate tragedy, which is exactly what this shooting was.
By the way, where is the community outrage whenever cops are shot? Recently, within a short time span, two unarmed New York auxiliary cops were shot to death and two regular officers were wounded. Where was charleton Sharpton when these officers were shot?
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