It has been said that one can only feel shame for oneself, but somewhere along the way most of us have encountered situations where we felt shame because of another's behavior. What makes a cop a bad cop? How can good cops cope with the public remands, reprisals and media exposure that accompanies the "bad cop" story? While we do not have the answers to these questions, we share the following opinion with you.
Judge Bauer claimed that Rick Runnels was a crook, and it was just unfortunate that he was also a cop. Runnels made a habit of stealing money and property from a variety of individuals and businesses in the Chicago area. He and his partner could intimidate, harass and threaten anyone. Some of the scenes from United States v. Runnels, 93 F.3d 390 (7th Cir. 1996). . . .
Runnels, his partner, Leonard Kurz, and two other officers went into a tavern, ostensibly to check its liquor license. Runnels stayed behind the bar while Kurz proceeded to the two bedroom apartment behind the tavern where the owner, Esther Cruz lived. Without a warrant or Cruz' consent, Kurz began searching the apartment, opening drawers and closets and looking under cushions and mattresses in the bedrooms. Discovering an envelope containing $1,900 in cash, Kurz simply helped himself to the bills. Upon request, Cruz presented the tavern's valid liquor license which Kurz threw on the floor and trampled, smashing the glass of the frame in which the license was placed. As Runnels and Kurz left the tavern, they searched the bar area (while 66 patrons watched!) and took another hundred dollars in cash. After all the patrons left, Runnels and Kurz arrested Cruz for possession of a weapon for which she had a valid Illinois Firearm Owner's Identification card.
In a second incident, Runnels and Kurz were investigating one Victor DeJesus, a suspected cocaine dealer. They went to the transmission shop where DeJesus worked, punched him in the stomach, handcuffed him and took $380 in cash from him. They then drove DeJesus to an isolated area and threatened to kill him if he told anyone of the beating.
Incident number three occurred when Runnels and Kurz went to investigate a reputed drug house at an area car wash. Following roughly the same modus operandi, Kurz began a warrantless search of the premises while Runnels stood vigil over the employees. While this owner was not subjected to a beating, the two cops managed to steal $4,600 in cash and a portable telephone.
We are sorry to report that all the above evidence and testimony of the victims was substantiated at trial and affirmed on appeal. Robbery, battery, threats. . . conspiracy. This duo had no mercy.
Is this an isolated incident? Unfortunately, it is not. While this court decision dates from a few years back, we have since seen stories explode in the media about false convictions, false arrests, illegal searches and seizures, and . . . the concealment of this type of conduct by law enforcement after it has come to their attention. But law enforcement alone is not to blame. Prosecutors, too, have often induced cops to lie under oath, to conceal exculpatory evidence from the defendant's counsel, to hide the truth when it becomes known to them lest the innocent person upon whom they have already focused their attention has been focused "gets off." Fanciful statement? Unfortunately, no! One needs to open only our daily newspapers to see the stories about prosecutors and cops more interested in convicting at all cost a suspect, whether or not he is guilty . . . sometimes in spite of his innocence. Indeed, a 10-part series of articles ran in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on November 22, 23, 24 and 29 and on December 1, 6, 7, 8, and 13 under the title: WIN AT ALL COSTS--Government misconduct in the name of expedient justice.
After the well-known Fred Zain controversy in West Virginia, where, according to a West Virginia Supreme Court opinion (see 438 S.E.2d 501 [W.Va. 1993), the former head serologist of the West Virginia State Police Crime Laboratory was revealed to have given false or misleading forensic opinion evidence in many cases, a recent newspaper editorial in the Charleston (WV) Gazette on January 12, 2000, titled "Nightmare--Another frame-up?" reports on having found another instance wherein a different West Virginia state trooper deliberately lied on the witness stand to send an innocent man to prison for 12 years. Lest one think the misdeeds are confined to only a few states, evidence abounds of similar occurrences in many states.
The state of our justice system is dangerously in peril of losing national credibility by the revelations of lawless police and prosecutor conduct. Something needs to be done about it. But what?
