Self-proclaimed “authorities” dictate that it’s a crime for you to lie to a police employee, but it’s permissible for that police employee to lie to you. This is demonstrative of the double-standards upon which today’s policing institution is based.
Police employees lie in conversations on the street (when soliciting information), in their own reports (to make their version of the “truth” fit the scenario), and in legaland (a practice so commonplace that it’s been coined ‘testilying’).
Testilying
- telling lies under oath; standard operating procedure for police officers acting as witnesses in trials (UrbanDictionary.com)
- police perjury is the act of a police officer giving false testimony (Wikipedia.org)
Apparently, while you are secondary to the police employee when on the street (despite claims that they work for you), in legaland, should a police employee be caught lying, the facade of objectivity of the criminals justice system is made a higher-priority, as the name of the police employee is recorded on a list known as the “Brady list.” From the Brady v Maryland entry on Wikipedia:
Police officers who have been dishonest are sometimes referred to as “Brady cops.” Because of the Brady ruling, prosecutors are required to notify defendants and their attorneys whenever a law enforcement official involved in their case has a sustained record for knowingly lying in an official capacity
Recently we received an email from a gentleman in Michigan who questioned how Brady lists could be obtained. I didn’t know. I looked and didn’t find a step-by-step process outlined (surprise!). Thus I was motivated to write this post in the hope that you, the reader, would have some information helpful to answer this question.
Should a FOIA request be sent to each state attorney general (as they are atop the police hierarchy in each state), or to each county attorney (as the prosecutor, who’d then be privy to such info), or to each police outfit (who possess the files necessary for the Brady classification to be made), or is there another, less-laborious means?
I did inquire of a lawyer bud in NH, who noted that there, the list isn’t called a “Brady list” but a”Laurie list” after the case State v. Laurie. He said each defendant had the right to such information for those who were going to be called to testify in their case at legaland, and that he questioned whether police outfits would release such information to the public, noting that it may be claimed it’d violate the police employee’s personnel file.
Also, another friend is inquiring of his lawyer friend based in California on how best to proceed.
Hopefully between those leads, and the input generated from this post, a process can be determined, and the names of all known Brady cops can be acquired and posed here to CopBlock.org.
RELATED CONTENT
- Brady v Maryland via Wikipedia
- Police Officer Truthfulness and the Brady Decision via PoliceChiefMagazine.org
- Maricopa County’s Brady List Includes Phoenix PD Internal Affairs Commander via PhoenixNewTimes.com
- Cops who lie don’t always lose jobs via SeattlePI.com
- Police assault trial: Superior lied in court, Toronto constable testifies via TheStar.com
- Cornelius police officers testify fellow officer is not credible or truthful via OregonLive.com
- Spokane police officer to admit lie in Zehm testimony via Spokesman.com
Washington State Accountability Project 