On Grand Jury Decisions of Police Action

Life is precious. All life.

When one human takes the life of another, it is inherently tragic.  This is true whether the death occurs with malice aforethought or under justifiable circumstance. This is because the tragedy stems from the perspective of the deceased and their loved ones.  Regardless of fault or cause, there is a loss of a human soul. And that is tragic.

When this tragedy occurs at the hands of a law enforcement officer then we must examine the circumstances. It is our obligation, as a society, to do so.  Our social contract grants law enforcement an exclusive right - the use of force. Police are authorized to act in a physical and sometimes necessarily violent manner on our behalf.  This is needed to keep order.  They can do what the rest of us are not allowed to do.  We entrust them with this power and we place our faith in them to serve and protect all people.  In fact, our peaceful society derives its relative peace in part from the deterrent effect of this police power.  And we appreciate and support their efforts. 

But with that privilege comes massive responsibility.  When law enforcement officers accept the badge and gun, they swear an oath. They must do their very best to exercise their power fairly and justly. 

This is not a simple concept. This is not mathematical science. Policing requires intellect and instinct and patience and logic. Tact and calm and alertness and restraint.  But real life policing situations involve emotion and adrenaline and fear and uncertainty.

We grant the power of life and death to our protectors in the interest of security and justice. We must also grant them the benefit of the doubt. But this does not mean we should turn a blind eye to injustice.

When there is a police-related death, we, the public, mainly get our information from the media. And the reliability of this data is a whole other issue. But suffice it to say that we should not pass judgment based on these brief accounts from often unnamed or unverified sources.  The media should not determine justice.  As we place our faith in our law enforcement system, we must also place our faith in our prosecutorial and court system. They provide the "checks and balances" against corrupt or inappropriate executive (police) action. 

In these instances, Grand Juries are often impaneled to hear and review all the available evidence. These are ordinary people like you and me. They are instructed on the applicable law and are called upon to apply it to the facts, as presented. We must believe that they do their duty. And we must honor their decisions. Hopefully they will reach the "right" decision. Perhaps sometimes they are "wrong."  The system may not be perfect, but it allows our citizens to review the actions of our law enforcement officers. And that is a modern masterpiece. 

History is full of oppressive governmental police power. It existed at the dawn of civilization and it continues throughout the world today. However, a hallmark of our system of government is the following:  Not only do the citizens of this country grant our police the power to use force, we also reserve the right to review it.  This is an iconic feature of a government "by the people and for the people."  Our Grand Jury system acts as this "citizen review board."  We may agree or disagree with their individual decisions; but as long as the system remains fair and functional, we should honor the process. As such, we can retain our faith in the grand scheme of police power.

Subsequently, as these brave men and women are called upon to make very difficult and often spontaneous decisions on our streets, we would hope that they are tempered and guided by their knowledge that this system of review exists.  And also by the knowledge that we support and appreciate all they do for us in the line of duty.

My House Cleaner Hates Me. Part One: Phone Jacks

 If you read my previous blogs then you will know that I spend many Tuesday evenings re-arranging pillowcases. (See "Pillows")  This is because our house cleaner comes on Tuesdays and she has no regard for the sensitive order of pillows.  What happens is that she washes our pillowcases and re-places the pillows randomly. This is a severe annoyance for the anal retentive pillow-sensitive individual.  I always chalked this up to carelessness or insensitivity. But I'm starting to think that there is something more malicious or sinister at hand.

 You see, the pillows are just one plague that I endure during the course of my Tuesday evenings. Another challenge is the telephone. I don't usually notice this until I settle comfortably into my bed to relax and retire for the night. It is only when I set my head on my recently reorganized pillows that I hear a foreign "chirp" from my wife's dresser. It usually takes me approximately 8 seconds of bewildered concern until I realize and remember that this noise is not some distress signal from a stranded extraterrestrial robot or the call of a previously unknown bedside carbon monoxide detector.  Instead it is the simple beeping of the cordless phone base alerting its moron human owner to the fact that it is unplugged.   Finding your mobile phone base unplugged may seem to you to be only a minor inconvenience. But when you consider the fact that it is plugged in behind the headboard of the bed, it elevates the minor inconvenience to a bona fide full strength inconvenience. Especially considering that the outlet is inevitably located exactly 3 centimeters away from the absolute furthest distance that your outstretched arm and fingers can reach on their most loose and limber day. So it is a genuine inconvenience - even the first time.  But when it becomes a more regular occurrence, it evolves from inconvenience to annoyance.  And when it becomes a bi-weekly occurrence, it evolves to major annoyance. And from there, it evolves to Cro Magnon annoyance.  And it finally evolves to "Telltale Heart"-level obsessively frustrating annoyance. 

 But there is more than repetition that makes the situation so utterly enraging. (And this is where my suspicion of foul play comes in.) First of all, it isn't always the power cord that is unplugged. Sometimes it is the phone line itself. One wonders how and why the phone line became unplugged in its remote location at the intersection of Floor St. and Baseboard Ave. in the village of Behind the Headboard Inaccessibility.  I can understand how a power cord can be gently accidentally yanked out in the course of dusting and cleaning. But if you've ever plugged in a phone, you will know that these suckers click into place. Unlike the flimsy 2 prongs of your standard AC outlet, the telephone plug has a sturdy plastic thingamajig that requires the intense pressure of a forefinger to help guide and lock it into place. (Unless of course you are using a phone jack with a broken thingamajig. And you, Lesser Human, may have a houseful of phone jacks with broken thingamajigs but I would not stand for such a travesty in my home. All my phone jacks are fully and lockably intact).  So getting back to the point, the ONLY way that the phone line could be unplugged was if someone reached down to the jack and physically held down the plastic thingamajig while removing the jack. Simply pulling on the phone line will not release the jack. Like those awful finger cuff toys you can find in a dentist's treasure chest, it only strengthens the lock if you pull.  

 Combine this with the remote location of the jack and a logical mind can only conclude that my house cleaner INTENTIONALLY unplugs our mobile phone base.  There is no other conclusion.  Had this happened just once then perhaps I would believe that it was some freaky supernatural occurrence. But since it occurs with "occasional regularity," to coin a phrase, it must be intentional.

But why?  I believe it is part of a grand conspiracy to annoy me. There are several other circumstances that contribute to this plan. (Aside from the pillows.).  I will return on another Tuesday to share those with you. For now, go make sure your phone jacks are secure.