Pubdate: Mon, 04 Aug 2014
Source: Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/about/feedback/
Website: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/339
Author: Will Bunch
Page: 6

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Attytood

HARD TRUTHS OF SHRINKING RESPECT FOR THE LAW

Unfortunately, the people who have the power to change things still 
don't get it. Last week, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey lashed 
out in anger . . . not at corrupt cops as much as at the Daily News.

To Ramsey, it was a "slap in the face" that this newspaper on 
Thursday ran a front-page illustration of police headquarters wrapped 
in yellow crime-scene tape. I don't know: With 146 police officers 
fired for misconduct during the time of Ramsey and his boss Mayor 
Nutter, including 88 who were arrested and 48 convicted of crimes 
including murder, rape and extortion, it seems like the crime-scene 
picture reeked . . . of understatement.

But then, the fish stinks from the head. Just Friday, you had this 
remarkable moment in which the president of the United States stood 
up and acknowledged that "we tortured some folks" - a clear, major 
violation of law - and yet President Obama also made it plain that 
the American "folks" who ordered and committed that torture will not 
be punished. That's outrageous. But then, there's been no punishment 
for the intelligence chief who committed blatant perjury before 
Congress, for the current CIA chief whose minions spied on Congress, 
the securities scammers and inside traders who helped trigger the 
2008 fiscal collapse . . . or the Philadelphia lawmakers who 
allegedly accepted cash and gifts from a lobbyist.

I could go on, but the bottom line is this: Don't be shocked by 
people's lack of respect for authority, when people in authority are 
doing so little to earn our respect.

But we are not powerless. There are many things we can start doing, 
large and small. Here at home, with the police-corruption scandal, 
the Daily News took a break from our "face-slapping" to publish a 
strong and sober list of recommendations, including stepped-up 
monitoring of police activity (by both humans and cameras) and a 
more-powerful civilian-oversight agency.

More broadly, America - once a world leader in promoting equal 
justice for all - needs a serious do-over in that department. It 
starts with admitting the utter failure of the so-called war on 
drugs, which has had exactly the same disastrous impacts as the 
alcohol prohibition of the 20th century, including the encouragement 
of police corruption among rogue narcotics cops who'd rather steal 
the massive profits of drug dealers than execute smarter community 
policing to help curb addiction to harder narcotics on the street.

But then we also need to end our separate-but-unequal system of 
justice - in which you can go to jail for walking down the street for 
a joint but get rewarded with a bonus for a million-dollar mortgage 
rip-off, or get re-elected after stuffing cash gifts in your back 
pocket. We don't need to send more people to prison. We should be 
sending fewer, but with a much clearer perspective on what is right 
and what is wrong, and what is fair.

Anything less is, dare I say it, a real slap in the face.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom