For a Police Chief, Punishing Officer Misconduct is a Firing Offense

by Will

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

April 27, 2012

In August 2011, a Columbia, Missouri police officer named Rob Sanders was caught on camera committing an act of undisguised criminal assault. Reacting to complaints from a pepper-sprayed detainee who didn?t have any water to rinse his eyes, Sanders bull-rushed the blinded, helpless ? and much smaller ? man, driving him against a wall with sufficient force to fracture his back.

Abuse of this kind is infuriatingly common. What happened next, however, is not: Columbia Police Chief Ken Burton, accurately describing Sanders?s act as an assault, fired the officer. [In firing Sanders, Burton overruled an internal review board that cleared Sanders of misconduct.] Now the local police union, the Columbia Police Officers Association, is seeking to remove Chief Burton.

The Columbia Police Department has built a well-earned reputation for corruption and abuse, and collected a number of plausible complaints of racial bias. When he was appointed Police Chief several years ago, Burton promised to reform the department, and he has actually made some modest tangible progress.

Local civil liberties activist Eapen Thampy points out that Burton was hired under questionable circumstances and has not been consistently rigorous in dealing with officer misconduct. The fact that his tentative efforts have precipitated a revolt says a great deal about the culture of privileged corruption he confronts.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

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