Monday, February 4, 2008
The Canton Ohio Case
There is story going around the internet of a girl named Hope who was subjected to a forced strip search by seven police officers, mostly male, in Canton Ohio. There is a video of this on youtube, but the footage is so graphic and disturbing that I decided not to post the link here. The video (while blurred for obvious reasons) shows her face down, handcuffed, and screaming for help while she is stripped completely naked. She was then left alone in the cell for six hours with no clothes. She is suing the Canton police, but so far the sheriff's response to the media has been that they did everything "by the book." What makes this story even more disturbing is that she had originally dialed 911 to call the police for help. She had committed no crime, but was eventually convicted for "resisting arrest." It seems that she had more reason to resist arrest than she knew at the time. This scares me to death. As I researched this a little, I see that strip searches are a regular procedure for the police. How is this justified? How can a Christian participate in a forcible strip search of either a man or a woman? I would like to hear what Jacob has to say on this.
5 comments:
Here is the link to the news story - using the information there you can find the video if you want to see it. It will make you think twice before calling 911 when you need help.
http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=57967
I just watched the video...its VERY disturbing. That girls was helpless! Even if she was rebellious,whatever..they had no right! I will be interested how the case resolves. Hopefully extreme punishment to the officers involved.
I am unable to view the video because we still do not have highspeed, but from reading what you wrote there is no doubt in my mind that this was a terrible injustice. There is,I believe, a need to diffuse civil unrest sometimes but there is a big difference between diffusing and provoking. We know that one day "The knowledge of the LOrd shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea" but until that day there will be a need to punish those who offend. The problem with our system though is we have totally lost sight of what is an offense and what is not. If the entire penal code were to be re-written properly it could probobly fit on one piece of paper. Being in this line of work will put someone into one of two catagories: Those whos belief in crime and punishment is confirmed and those who realize just how unjust our government is. I am certainly of the latter. Our system is so over loaded with "offenders" who should be working and caring for their families. Children end up fatherless (or motherless), people who need a good job are unable to because they have a "criminal" record and so they possiblibly commit a real crime just to survive. Drug laws seem to be the biggest culprit in a myriad of poor decisions by lawmakers. Certainly they can be a destructive force in society,but that is a choice people make. The laws only exasperate the problen by creating a false economy. Whenever you limit the supply of something or make it difficult to obtain the price will go up and because of the false value of them it creates violence which would not exist if the laws did not exist. The high prices that these drugs bring in makes more people want to sell drugs and creates more abusers. You would think by now they would realize the this "war on drugs" is not the answer but the problem. People are going to make dumb decisions but there is no reason to punish them or all of society for it. Another great waste of resources is the over abundance of traffic laws. Sometimes I joke "what did police do before they invented the automobile". It is kind of a funny phrase but it should get you seriously thinking. I dont have exact numbers but from my experience I would say that eighty percent of people I see come to jail are there for non-violent drug and traffic violations. In my opinion that is a travesty.
With that being said I do believe there is a need for justice to be brought to those who commit crimes in which there is a victim, but it would require just a fraction of the resources that our tax dollars have been invested in and a fraction of the lives which have been shattered because of ignorance or bliss. Murdurers, rapists, thieves, and those who commit other acts of violence cannot be just allowed to think that this is OK and go around doing it. The problem here is that the punishment does not fit the crime. Jails should be used for one purpose,to hold those who would be a flight risk until they can be tried in a court. I do not know how far back incarceration goes in history or what cultures have used it but it should never have become a form of punishment. Take this senerio which I see every day. Someone steals money, say a thousand dollars, from another. The offended reports the crime and the thief is arrested. He is booked on a 2,500 dollar bond ( it actually could be anywhere from a thousand on up depending on the circumstances surrounding the crime and the suspected offenders criminal history). The person pays the surety bond and is released with a date to appear in court. Now, if this person does not show in court the state gladly keeps his money but the offended is still short his money and the offender is rearrested and put in jail where he cannot earn money to repay his debt. Even if he does show up for court he will usually hire a bodsman who will charge him 10-15 percent of the bail amount to post the bail for him. Meanwhile the offended is still penniless. Restitution and only in the most extreme cases, when there is no doubt of innocence, corpral punishment, should be the only punishments used. Another fault I have observed and this veries from state to state but it is enforced quite broadly in Virginia is that the state will pick up the charges against the individual even when the offended would rather forgive. Sometimes when the offender is a threat to others this is called for, but if someone is assaulted and reports the crime (or a third party reports it) even if that person is willing to forgive and the offender was mad only at him, and is a threat to no one else, the state will still charge him with a crime is it so chooses.
After reading that you must think that I am miserable at my job. Well, though it can be disturbing at times I am fortunate to be on the "after the fact" end of it. I am not out chasing people and beating them up but am rather charged with the duty of the secure and safe housing of them. It is a paradox at times to be a witness for Christ and to be viewed as the enemy. I often get told by inmates "your not like the other officers" this I take as a complement. Though I do have to perform my duties which may get in the way of seeming like a nice guy sometimes. Not being in this line of work would not change how things are done a bit. I feel that I have been given a great responsiblity to reflect Christ in such a trying enviroment. Sometimes I am torn inside because I want to speak but fear the economical consequences of doing so. It is possible I could be reprimanded for doing so. Please pray for my boldness.
Hey Jacob thanks, that's a really well thought out response. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to practice the Christian faith in your situation. Reminds me a bit of when I was in the military. Most everyone there said they were a Christian, but I can't name one person who was Christ-like in any respects. The problem, as I came to see it, and still see it, was that being in the military itself was a contradiction of my faith because while Jesus would have me to love my enemies, we were constantly engaged in figuring out how to kill them. Of course my walking away from the army, didn't change the army, and I had no illusions that it would, but I don't have to answer to God for the army, or for the US Government. I only have to answer for myself. Honestly, I couldn't be a police officer because I see a contradiction between Jesus' command to forgive as a necessary prerequisite for his forgiveness (...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...for if you do not forgive men their trespasses...neither will your father in heaven forgive you...) and the state's demand for justice. But that's just my opinion, and its definitely a minority opinion in Church history, and we all have our road to hoe as it were.
If you have the time there is a great article in this Mennonite publication about the history of the police: It's in the spring 2007 issue and is called "The Gospel or a Glock?" You have to download the whole journal as a PDF to read the article. Here is the link:
http://grebel.uwaterloo.ca/academic/
cgreview/pastissues.shtml
By the way your comment about cops and automobiles is hilarious and dead on the money. And of course are absolutely right about the drug war too.
Check this out:
The US population is 301,139,947
The Chinese population is 1,321,851,888
The US prison population is 2,200,000
(according to the washington post)
The Chinese prison population is 1,510,000 (thestraightdope.com)
The US has 1/4th the population of China, but nearly twice as many prisoners.
I appreciated your response a lot. It made my day.
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