At the heart of Washington, D.C. lies a tangled web of corruption, collusion and injustice.
For the past three months I have worked as a criminal defense investigator for Georgetown Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic, where I have walked in the trenches through the gritty underbelly of crime and punishment in the district.
What I have seen and experienced convinces me that the Metropolitan Police Department and government attorneys have conspired together to form a legal system in the district that is toxic to anyone charged of a crime.
I have seen first-hand how that thin blue line is crossed frequently and indifferently by the police. Jump-outs, unlawful searches and seizures, and police brutality are just a few corrupt tactics employed on a consistent basis by MPD officers.
In a “”jump-out,”” plainclothed MPD officers drive in unmarked cars to the ghettos of the district. Then these officers jump out of their cars, grab and search random people, arresting anyone in possession of illegal substances or objects.
During these jump-outs, the officers show utter disregard for the fourth amendment provision that no person be subjected to unlawful searches and seizures without probable cause. Of course, the officers try to justify their illegal stop, search and seizure by claiming that they either received a tip from a confidential informant or that the area is a known drug area and therefore the jump-out was warranted.
But those reasons do not justify the officers’ sidestepping of the fourth amendment. Especially in light of the fact that these jump-outs are tactics targeted solely toward those who live in the ghettos and lower income housing — minorities and the poor. If the MPD officers dared to conduct a jump-out in a middle or upper class neighborhood, all legal bloody hell would break loose and a newsworthy civil rights drama would be created.
A set of laws for the fortunate and the less fortunate does not ensure “”equal protection”” under the law as our constitution guarantees; thus the use of police jump-outs must be outlawed.
Moving on to police brutality.
Some of the police officers I’ve spoken to in the sixth and seventh districts of Washington will readily admit that, “”You could police different across the river,”” meaning that in that area of Anacostia, the city’s poorest and most drug-ridden neighborhoods, a cop could get away with “”working it rough.”” And “”working it rough”” is code for the unnecessary use of excessive force, a.k.a. police brutality.
The cops know how to work the system to their favor when faced with a tense situation that spirals out of control, leaving the cop with a bloody and beaten perpetrator. The cop promptly files a disorderly conduct arrest and, like magic, worry over an internal affairs investigation vanishes.
But the magic isn’t really magic at all, because filing the disorderly conduct arrest makes the alleged victim of police brutality a defendant. And who cares about defendants? Certainly not most cops, their supervisors or prosecuting attorneys. Therefore, the cops are off the hook.
This rampant police corruption has distorted and blurred the thin blue line between what is considered acceptable and unacceptable police conduct beyond recognition, leaving people’s civil rights lying like abandoned road kill beside the edge of the road.
I have personally seen government attorneys use questionable and downright unlawfullyobtained evidence to charge and seek a conviction. For instance, when a person is arrested because they were in possession of drugs seized in an unconstitutional jump-out, the government attorneys proceed full steam ahead and charge that person.
The Georgetown Criminal Justice Clinic defends many defendants who have been victims of jump-outs and are being charged because of it. Many times, these search and seizures are thrown out in court as unconstitutional, but for the most part, they are not. It really depends on the judge’s mood. Thus, the practice continues while the civil rights of the city’s minority and poor are trampled down to mere dust.
The fact that government attorneys prosecute cases in which the key evidence has been illegally obtained is a travesty, not only because it is a blow to our justice system but because it sanctions the illegal actions of the police who obtained that evidence. And thus the cycle of police and prosecution corruption continues unchecked.
I think what is forgotten most and what must be reiterated time and time again is the fact that a person is innocent until proven guilty. We are all innocent until proven guilty, no matter if we are rich or poor, Latino or white.
The ironic thing is that while the district is viewed as the perfect model of democracy, justice and liberty for our country and the entire world, deep in its heart lies a quagmire of corruption, collusion and injustice.
It is high time for the district to redeem itself in the eyes of its people and of the world. It must rid itself of the corrupt police and prosecutor practices that run the legal system.
Because once equality and fairness under the law are lost, there is no turning back. It’s down the slippery slope for the entire country, taking our constitutional guarantees sliding down with it.
