(This post was inspired by someone I know being pulled over by a cop for speeding and using their badge to get out of a potential ticket.)
The purpose of this post is to explain the rationale behind my belief that the practice of “professional courtesy” (i.e., allowing fellow authority figures to break the law without repercussion) is corrupt, not necessarily to provide solutions.
Before I begin, I want to say I have high respect for law enforcement officers. When I was in middle school, I started watching reruns of Walker, Texas Ranger and for more than a decade afterward, I wanted to be an FBI agent. Then, for two years after graduating from high school and before moving to Texas, I volunteered with a California police department.
To my knowledge, the police officers I worked with while volunteering never engaged in the practice of extending these professional courtesies to others in their field. In fact, when one of the K9 officers, who was also one of my advisors, said to me, “I’m held to high standards—I’m going to hold you to higher standards,” his words made a strong impression on me.
That being said, I’ve seen this on the news… police officers giving preferential treatment to fellow law enforcement officers. Their superiors may say, “They will be held accountable,” but the perspective and subsequent behavior of a police officer sometimes changes once they find that their suspect has a badge or some position of authority, and this is the point at which the scales of justice are made unequal.
This kind of treatment is hypocritical at best and corrupt at worst. It is a game of Russian roulette wherein the repercussions of this preferential treatment can cause irreversible harm, and the longer this pattern continues, the greater the chances that something tragic could happen.
For example, what about an inebriated off-duty officer who has repeatedly been “let off the hook” by fellow officers for driving drunk? What would they have to say for themselves should he kill someone while driving under the influence? Once this happens, the blood of the victim will be on the hands of every officer who knew about the behavior and did nothing to stop it.
Therefore, I can’t help but find the practice of officers extending this sort of professional courtesy to be indefensible, unjust, and corrupt. And what does this say about the officers who practice it? Well, according to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution (specifically the “Equal Protection Clause” aka “Equal Justice Under Law”) and founding principles of America, everybody is to be treated equally under the law.
This tenet is also supported by Scripture. Apostle Paul addressed this issue in Romans 2:1, which says, in effect, that although they may see themselves as being less accountable for their unlawful actions because of their position of authority, they are, in fact, more guilty because they should know better!
“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (NIV) And because God is perfectly true and perfectly just, He “does not show favoritism.”—Romans 2:11
The badge and position of law enforcement is a place of high standards, and any person in authority who is caught breaking the law they are sworn to protect should receive at least the same, if not more harsh, justice according to the law.
Mind@Work 