Dear cops, still think management has your back?

More and more we are going to see police officers who continue to shoot first at the slightest fear or provocation and ask questions later be investigated and in the not distant future, convictions will be handed down.  Of course, up until now it would all get swept under the carpet as part of police SOP.  In today's evidence of this growing trend, a sheriff in FL is actually going out of his way to have not just an investigation but more specifically a criminal investigation done on his man over a recent shooting. 

I'm not trying to pass value judgement in this case (and who cares what I think about it anyhow...).  What I am trying to show is that the herding messages are spreading across the country very quickly: the little guy has had enough of getting crapped on and the little guy is not as helpless as the police have allowed themselves to believe.  Look at the reason given for this criminal investigation: "I am very sensitive to some of the events that have occurred around the nation in recent times...I want to ensure that we have transparency as well as accountability for the actions of all of my staff that's involved".

Note how he did not say, " I think my officer might have messed up here and I want to get to the bottom of it.  If he did then he's a criminal and will be treated as one".  He did not say that because he does not believe that.  Yet still he's allowing the state police - an outside agency - to investigate for criminal behavior. 

Well gee Gus, I don't care what anyone says: you do not want to be criminally investigated by the police of any kind no matter who you are.  The reason is that someone might be looking to make a name for themselves at your expense.  In other words, there is a nonzero chance that a nice fall guy has presented himself to the state police so that they can do a victory lap by giving this cop the third degree.

I'm not saying that this will happen.  I am saying that it might happen.  And when it comes to criminal charges, "might" is a pretty big word.  So if you want to see a real case of higher ups throwing their lower level grunts in front of and possibly under the bus, look no further.  Again, the reason I say this is because the investigation is not being done based on the merits of the situation but rather based on political pressure that the sheriff seems to be feeling over this situation.  It cannot go unsaid that the sheriff is an elected official at a time when voters are beginning to stand up for themselves.  I bet this guy would just love to be able to prove to voters that if he finds a bad cop he treats him like the rest of us: with criminal charges.

If I were the shooter I would get a good lawyer and not believe anything that anyone in the dept says to me until after I was cleared.  This thing has "potential fall guy" written all over it.  Don't say I didn't warn you cops.  If you shake hands with the Devil, you get burned.