[fabsroman]

TBO, let me start by saying that there are plenty of good police officers out there, probably the majority, but I still think we can do better by attracting better qualified people with higher paying salaries, and/or retaining the better candidates by paying higher salaries. The problem with bad police officers and bad judges is that they have so much power. That is what makes it scary. Sames goes for bad politicians.

Now, on to the standing issue. I was reading some of the pleadings the other day, and there was a motion directly related to this issue where the government was trying to have the case dismissed for a lack of standing. The Plaintiffs' reply was that there had been threats made in open Court that the government would prosecute these 6 people if they broke the law, and there were also statements made elsewhere in I believe newspaper interviews and between attorneys wherein the government said it would pursue these charges if the Plaintiffs broke the law. That gave the Plaintiffs standing for this case. Now, I will admit that I didn't read all of the pleadings in the case, and I didn't even read the Judge's ruling (i.e., Order) on the Motion to Dismiss, so I could be a little off base on exactly how the Plaintiffs made it through. However, since all the Plaintiffs' names stayed on the case throughout, I will assume that they all had standing. Otherwise, some of them would have been dismissed.

I applaud all of them for stepping up to the plate and fighting this fight, and I applaud the attorneys that fought the fight too. From the pleadings that I read from the attorneys for the Plaintiffs/Appelants, they seem to be really good. I wish I had been working on that case. Then again, I should probably watch what I wish for because I would be tossing and turning on that case because there is so much riding on it for me personally. It would have been a tough one for me.

I will leave with all good LEO's deserve a pat on the back, and a raise. However, I dealt with a LEO two weeks ago in a protectice order because he had threatened his ex-wife over the telephone. He was being investigated by IA and on a separate criminal charge at the time, and partially blamed his wife for it. His children had been receiving counseling for the abuse that he put them through, there was a consent order that he would have no contact with his children, the counselor recommended that the ex-wife obtain a protective order, the police department recommended that the ex-wife obtain a protectice order, the abuse had been going on for several years prior to all this but the police didn't do anything when my client reported it, the guy held a gun to my client's head and one of his children on two separate occassions, and it finally took his threatening a fellow police officer before anything came of it. Oh yeah, during this time he received an Officer of the Year award. This seems like a problem with the police force if I ever heard of one. Then, a couple of months ago, a Maryland State Trooper was arrested on statutory rape charges, and he admitted to being guilty, which is somewhat admirable, but still disturbing. Again, it is the few bad apples that screw it up for all of us, but the good guys don't get any praise just for doing their jobs well.