#falsearrests

Police officers are known for playing a major role in our society when it comes to maintaining our safety. When people within our community commit crimes such as burglaries, vandalism, and much more serious forms of illegal activity, such as kidnapping, murder, and drugs, police officers are one of the first people to respond to the respective case, face the dangerous scenario (while the rest of us are instructed to be as far away from the scene as possible), and  devote their efforts in putting those who are guilty behind bars…at least we thought so. According to The New York Times article, titled, “Three Florida Police Officers Are Sent to Prison for False Arrests” by Christina Caron, Caron discusses the issue regarding three police officers from Florida who have committed to the acts of false arrests and have been reported to have arrested innocent people with the intention of improving the department’s crime statistics and making their burglary clearance rate 100%. However, what exactly are false arrests? According to legaldictionary.net, the website defines ‘false arrests’ as “A false arrest is an arrest that is made without a warrant, or without probable cause. It is possible to sue law enforcement officials for false arrest. However, those who are typically sued for false arrest include businesses, private citizens, private security, or bounty hunters”, which, given the circumstances, proves to be a solid representation of what horrid acts these officers have committed, but establishes that not all innocent victims may receive the justice that they so rightfully deserve.

When police officers make arrests, regardless of whether the party is guilty or not, it is often seen as a success, because the perpetrator(s) are thought to finally be behind bars, which in turn, makes us citizens believe that our community has become “safer”. Thus, when more perpetrators are sent to prison, it ideally helps the crime statistics decrease and “closes” or “solves” the respective cases, which is what the Florida police officers were “trying” to do. However, while the officers did have good intentions, in the sense that they wanted the burglary clearance rate to be 100%, the manner in which they chose to “improve” the crime statistics, which was led by the police department’s chief officer, Raimundo Atesiano, is the one who lead this plan. The New York Times article continues to report that the officers specifically targeted black victims, with one in particular still being a minor, a 16-year-old male. However, after conducting further research, it was discovered that there is more to this story.

According to another article written for The Miami Herald, by Jay Weaver, his article further proves that once again, The New York Times incorporates bias by omission into their article. This time, by reading Weaver’s version of the story, it was established that Caron failed to mention an additional detail regarding one of the officers’ falsely-made arrests. According to Weaver’s article, in addition to the fact that Officer Ravelo (pictured above) has targeted black victims, Weaver also mentions that there was one incident in which Ravelo targeted a Hispanic man as well. In his article, Weaver states, “Between those false arrests, Ravelo slugged a handcuffed Hispanic man after he was stopped for a broken taillight while driving through the suburban town north of Miami.” Without this vital piece of information from Weaver, it would have seemed that the three officers and their chief only targeted black victims, but through Weaver’s article, it turns out that there were more victims of different ethnic backgrounds involved, which only makes matters worse, given that according to statistics, these specific racial groups, among others, are wrongfully stereotyped and overgeneralized in terms of violence.

As I read both articles and took the time to reflect on both of them, I just couldn’t help but think about how hypocritical this whole situation is, because we are encouraged by law enforcement and it is also just common sense as well to obey the law and do the right thing.  We put so much trust in them and believe that everything they’re doing (for the most part) is for the well-being of the general public. Because of this, i am rather disappointed at the fact that the chief of the police of department would even think to do such a horrible thing, just for their own personal benefit. However, in my opinion, it’s even worse that the three fellow police officers chose to abide by their superior, even though they knew he was wrong. I understand that it may feel wrong to contradict our superior or authoritative figure, but I feel that a line If they really cared about whether or not they were doing the right thing, they would have stood up to their chief. Overall, while I do acknowledge and believe that not all police officers and law enforcement do their job and well and really care about the safety of our society, I feel that this specific case with the three police officers, in particular, is as ironic as it hypocritical because three out of the thousands and thousands of police officers who devote their career in putting the guilty behind bars are now the ones behind bars (when the number should be zero), establishing how the tables can definitely turn.

References:

Original NYT article and picture: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/us/florida-police-officer-false-arrests.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us

Miami Herald: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220219750.html

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article218261470.html

“False Arrest” Definition: https://legaldictionary.net/false-arrest/