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Blue Lies Matter: Reckoning with police lies not only as individual issues but also political speech
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216384321Last October a horrifying story saturated local news in Philadelphia. A woman had been sexually assaulted on a train while surrounded by other passengers, and according to police, the onlookers saw the attack but did nothing to stop it. Speaking to the press, both police and officials from SEPTA, the regional rail authority, denounced the passengers for refusing to help the woman and instead recording the attack. “It speaks to where we are in society,” the local police superintendent lamented. “I mean, who would allow something like that to take place?”
But less than a week later, the story changed.
The local district attorney, Jack Stollsteimer, found that the police version of events was “simply not true” and pointed to a more complicated story: passengers moving on and off the train without clear awareness of the assault happening in their midst. Investigators confirmed that at least one person took a video of the attack, but they did so in order to document the incident as evidence for law enforcement.
Facing growing public outcry, the prosecutor and local police closed ranks, blaming SEPTA for spreading misinformation. Weeks later, SEPTA supplied a new story to the press: the transit police officer who arrested the alleged perpetrator relied on passenger witnesses who pointed him out “as soon as the train cars opened.” By the end of the news cycle, the conflicting statements had faded into irrelevance; instead the case was presented as another example of wanton violence, and grounds for still more policing.
For all the twists and turns of this case, two things stand out: a woman was sexually assaulted in a public place, and police initially lied about the circumstances. It is not just that the police made a mistake; they had access to the same surveillance footage as the local prosecutor but publicly asserted a baseless claim. Where exactly we draw the line between false claims and lies may not always be clear, but the difference between the two is often negligible, especially when measured in the harm they cause. The truth is that police do lie, all the time, about issues big and small. Police lie about their interactions, actions, and responses to people. They lie to their supervisors and on police reports to protect themselves and each other. They lie to prosecutors, juries, judges, and the public about perceived threats—the dangers posed by motorists, for example, and the use of force necessary to deter them. Indeed, police lie and fabricate evidence under oath so often that they have their own term for it: “testilying.”
But less than a week later, the story changed.
The local district attorney, Jack Stollsteimer, found that the police version of events was “simply not true” and pointed to a more complicated story: passengers moving on and off the train without clear awareness of the assault happening in their midst. Investigators confirmed that at least one person took a video of the attack, but they did so in order to document the incident as evidence for law enforcement.
Facing growing public outcry, the prosecutor and local police closed ranks, blaming SEPTA for spreading misinformation. Weeks later, SEPTA supplied a new story to the press: the transit police officer who arrested the alleged perpetrator relied on passenger witnesses who pointed him out “as soon as the train cars opened.” By the end of the news cycle, the conflicting statements had faded into irrelevance; instead the case was presented as another example of wanton violence, and grounds for still more policing.
For all the twists and turns of this case, two things stand out: a woman was sexually assaulted in a public place, and police initially lied about the circumstances. It is not just that the police made a mistake; they had access to the same surveillance footage as the local prosecutor but publicly asserted a baseless claim. Where exactly we draw the line between false claims and lies may not always be clear, but the difference between the two is often negligible, especially when measured in the harm they cause. The truth is that police do lie, all the time, about issues big and small. Police lie about their interactions, actions, and responses to people. They lie to their supervisors and on police reports to protect themselves and each other. They lie to prosecutors, juries, judges, and the public about perceived threats—the dangers posed by motorists, for example, and the use of force necessary to deter them. Indeed, police lie and fabricate evidence under oath so often that they have their own term for it: “testilying.”
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