By Deon Roberts, Online Editor
Some people have long suspected that police give preferential treatment to certain people, such as elected officials. Some have also suspected that police think they are above the law, that it’s OK for them to speed and break other rules while ordinary citizens must abide by the law.
Recent incidents in the New Orleans area are likely to only fuel those suspicions.
There’s the infamous incident involving Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price, who was not given a sobriety test after he drove his vehicle through a tollbooth in April. Price admitted he had been drinking, and it’s obvious that his title was a factor in the leniency the Causeway police showed him. Officers have been fired over the incident.
After a media frenzy over that story, Mandeville Police Chief Tom Buell came forward with a 2006 incident in which Price apparently was given preferential treatment by police who thought he had been drinking and driving.
Then there’s the case involving New Orleans police officer Donyell Sanchell. He is accused of leading Crescent City Connection police on a pursuit and then grazing an officer with his vehicle and slapping him.
Police issued Sanchell a municipal summons for traffic citations and battery.
2 responses so far ↓
Bryan C // Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 7:38 pm |
Our police and politicians have long lived by the motto “Do as I say, no as I do.” Just for laughs, follow a police car for 5 minutes and count how many traffic laws the driver breaks. I’ll give the 3 easiest to catch — no seatbelts, speeding, and unsignaled turns & lane changes. Oh, but of course the police will say that they are ‘on a call,’ even when they are obviously off duty.
George // Friday, July 25, 2008 at 3:52 pm |
In our zeal to hold police officers to not just a high, but a perfect, standard of behavior, are we overlooking the fact that cops– like all of us — are people too? I suppose that cops handle more stress per shift dealing with us, than most of us handle in a week or month dealing with just each other. I think it’s kind of a wonder more of them don’t crack more often. I certainly agrree these two cops should have been fired. But, I also believe holding the entire department accountable for irregular instances of rogue cop behavior is setting the bar impossibly high, especially given the stressful conditions within which most of these cops work everyday… Meanwhile, think about this. Who else besides cops tries just as hard day after day to earn the public trust, respect and confidence?How about the media? But what happens when one of their own crosses the bad behavioral line — you know, a long time, familiar TV and radio personality is indicted for murder. A prominent news anchor gets a DUI. Sure, the specific individuals get banished quickly from public view. But why aren’t these public figures and their employers held to a higher standard of behavior from themselves? From us? Where’s the media’s self-incrimination about its own rather high percentage of misconduct within its own ranks? I think much of the media is guilty of some hypocrisy on this point. If the media would look at itself as critically as it often examines others, it might come as no surprise to discover that it lives in a glass house, too.