POLICE ABUSE OF AUTHORITY HURTS

THE MADDENING police corruption scandal in Los Angeles is seemingly widening
by the minute, eroding the trust of all and giving credence to classes of
people who have long decried police procedure as arbitrary, vindictive and
vicious.

So far, 40 criminal convictions have been thrown out since it was first
disclosed last fall that Los Angeles police officers -- most of them
belonging to an elite gang suppression unit -- had abused their authority by
fabricating a variety of evidence. And at least a dozen more cases are
likely to be overturned because they too may be tainted or fake.

Investigators have found that the police often planted drugs or weapons on
suspects, lied in court and in some cases shot or beat suspects who were
unarmed and offering no resistance. About 20 officers have been fired or
suspended or have resigned because of the allegations, and the Los Angeles
district at torney's office believes even more dismissals are likely.

Meanwhile, similar incidents have come to light in New York where, in the
latest episode, four police officers are currently on trial for killing an
unarmed man with a volley of 19 bullets.

These scary tales of street-corner justice are undermining confidence in our
criminal justice system, producing the kind of nightmares that our rule of
law is suppose to guard against. Police are the first and arguably the key
component to our complex system of justice, and their most powerful weapon
is not a gun but an elevated sense of public trust that, sadly, is
diminished with each horrible case of abuse.

As cries of police misconduct echo nationwide, law enforcement agencies
should look inward -- to truly examine themselves and abandon codes of
silence to reassure us all.