Dear Law Enforcement Apologists:
Thank you for believing that those employed as Law Enforcement Officers (aka "LEOs") do not benefit from their positions, as in they are treated like every other citizen, when those LEOs are caught outright breaking the very Laws they are sworn to uphold and enforce.
Thank you for believing their fellow LEOs will not do everything they can to keep criminal acts from the very people pay their salaries (aka "Tax Payers").
Imagine this being situation:
Two everyday John Q. Publics, decide while driving down a relatively not so desolate street - Okeechobee Road and Haverhill Road, in West Palm Beach Florida - after a night of good libations and enjoying the sights at the local adult entertainment establishment (aka "Strip Joint").
At a little after 3 o’clock in the morning, do you believe that it would be a grand idea to recklessly discharge firearms (a pistol provided by your employer) in the direction of the neighborhood Walgreen’s Discount Pharmacy? No, well, just play along...
A member of local law enforcement is sitting in their car at Walgreen's writing a report hears the gunfire and have bullets go luckily whizzing by.
When the PBSO Deputy performs a felony traffic stop, as far as the Deputy knows this was an attempt to kill the Deputy.
Upon the arrival of back-up the two John Q. Publics are identified. Their employer is called and the agency sends a representative to the scene, then pair are allowed to go on their merry way, unscathed, uncharged and unexposed.
Don't you think that you'd be carted off to jail for reckless discharge of a firearm?
Probably, you'd be charged.
What about a cop doing the same?
Imagine no longer, because this story is 100% true. Two off-duty Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies decided to fire pistols from a moving car in the direction of a Walgreen’s Discount Pharmacy after a night of partying at a Palm Beach County Strip Club on 5 January 2015 at 3:37 AM.
Sitting in the parking lot of the store sat a Palm Beach County Deputy, who conducted a felony traffic stop of the car driven by that duo Off Duty Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies discover that the car was occupied by fellow LEOs.
This is where the story went very different for our dynamic duo of debaucherous detectives.
Due to their status as fellow LEOs they were not booked nor charged. As a matter of fact, up until members of the media began to inquire, the incident was going nowhere.
That's still the case today, 10 days later. This police double standard for LEO suspects likely violates the public's right to Equal Protection under our Constitution's 14th Amendment.
The two BSO Deputies are still working and little or nothing has been done, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s office is conducting an investigation, which will probably go nowhere.
Claims of the case being under investigation have kept the Agencies from providing requested materials and that once the investigation is complete, then the Public Information Officers/ Media Relations, will gladly provide the requested materials.
I challenge you, the Law Enforcement Apologist, to defend these two LEOs and the acts of their counter parts as if this is not a 100% attempt to cover up on the part of a pair Law Enforcement Agencies as an effort to keep these criminals employed and to protect each agency’s image.
Tell me how this would have ended if in reality it had not been two LEOs and had been just a pair of everyday John Q. Publics.
No need, I will tell you, they would have been charged and gone to jail, lost their jobs and made to pay the price for their crimes and negligence. If they had not been shot dead in the very car, they shot from by the Deputy they shot at.
So much for equal protection under the law, unless you're a LEO.
Sincerely,
Felipe Hemming