COP OUT: CRITICISM OF FAKE-DRUG PENALTIES SULLIES CRITICS

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle punishes the top cops responsible for the
narcotics division that produced the fake-drugs debacle, and, because they
are Hispanic, a few Hispanic "leaders" moan about scapegoating and
pronounce it a sad day.

You want to talk sad days, how about:

The days on which dozens of innocent people, most of them Mexican
immigrants, were arrested and jailed after police stooges planted billiards
chalk on them?

The weeks and sometimes months those innocent victims spent in jail?

The days on which some of them pleaded guilty to crimes they did not commit
in order to be released?

The days on which Dallas narcotics detectives paid the stooges thousands of
dollars for setting up the fake-drug busts?

The days on which police brass, including the two officials penalized
Monday, failed to pursue swirling rumors of dirty doings among their
subordinates?

The days on which those officials waffled about when they became aware of
the problem?

The days, which are assuredly coming, when the city of Dallas will pay out
millions of dollars in settlements to the victims?

Those were the days City Council member Elba Garcia had in mind when she
hailed the chief's action and declared: "Justice should have no color."
Some Hispanics who were falsely arrested called for even stronger reforms.

If Hispanics are to occupy positions of authority within our institutions -
as they should and must - they will occasionally make errors. Just like
white people. Just like black people. Just like people, period. To suggest
that race or ethnicity has any bearing on accountability is wrong-headed
and backward.

We grant police officers special powers. We give them authority, acting in
the common good, to deprive us of our liberty or, in extreme cases, even
our lives. For that reason, they must be held scrupulously accountable, as
Chief Kunkle demonstrated.

A free society cannot afford to blink at fundamental violations of anyone's
civil rights - and certainly not in order to shield any public official,
for any reason whatsoever. That's not just sad. It's tragic.