Law and Order

This Breitbart.com article makes obvious what may possibly be the most pernicious defect of modern American society.

The situation seems quite clear from this account:

NEW YORK (AP) - A teenage suspect who secretly recorded his interrogation on an MP3 player has landed a veteran detective in the middle of perjury charges, authorities said Thursday.

Unaware of the recording, Detective Christopher Perino testified in April that the suspect "wasn't questioned" about a shooting in the Bronx, a criminal complaint said. But then the defense confronted the detective with a transcript it said proved he had spent more than an hour unsuccessfully trying to persuade Erik Crespo to confess—at times with vulgar tactics.

Once the transcript was revealed in court, prosecutors asked for a recess, defense attorney Mark DeMarco said. The detective was pulled from the witness stand and advised to get a lawyer.

An unethical cop abuses his authority during the initial interrogation and then commits perjury while under oath. Despicable behavior by an individual cop, you say? I submit that this occasion allows us all a rare glimpse behind the screen of impunity that law enforcement agencies and personnel deliberately maintain between us and them. Consider the district attorneys response:

The allegations "put the safety of all law-abiding citizens at risk because they undermine the integrity and foundation of the entire criminal justice system," District Attorney Robert Johnson said in a statement.

"The allegations" of malfeasance and perjury "put the safety of ... citizens at risk"? Want to take another crack at that DA Johnson? Once you finish, how about explaining how providing evidence of criminality by an officer of the court will "undermine the integrity and foundation of the entire criminal justice system" instead of the actual criminality so clearly "alleged" doing the undermining?

Understand me, I firmly believe it the responsibility of all citizens to abide by the laws of our society. I think it is only to be expected that those empowered to enforce those standards upon us all be held to the most stringent interpretation of those same laws as a condition of their position. Any other standard is at best an invitation to abuse the authority entrusted to them. At worst we are giving employment to those who will ultimately destroy our national union for their personal gain.

When the only certain way to distinguish between the crooks and the cops is to see who signs their paycheck, the problem may have gone beyond any peaceful fix.

Now there's an adventurous* thought to lift our spirits in this happiest of seasons.

*adventure: somebody in deep sh!t, safely far away.

Via Instapundit who credits Orin Kerr at the Volock Conspiracy.