Consider the plight of James Conick, a resident of Maryland, a Marine Corps veteran, law-abiding citizen, taxpayer.
I think his recent experience with law enforcement may be a metaphor for our times.
Conick wrote to me two weeks ago when several men he believes to be illegal aliens rear-ended his car on Route 50 – the very day illegals were protesting throughout the area and the nation.
The Maryland state trooper who responded to the scene gave Conick a document from the head of the Maryland State Police stating that since the agency is overwhelmed with calls, the officer would not be able to issue a traffic citation to the driver responsible for ramming his car.
Conick was livid about that policy – and well he should be.
But the real tragedy of the moral and social crises affecting law enforcement – not just in Maryland, but throughout our country – came home to Conick late last week.
Once again, he was driving on Route 50. This time he wasn’t rammed by an illegal alien. This time he was pulled over by a state trooper who wasn’t too busy to issue a citation. And issue one he did – to Conick, for driving a vehicle with one of two tail lights not working.
Why wasn’t it working? Because of the accident about 10 days earlier – an accident in which he was rear-ended by someone who should not have been in this country in the first place who got off scot-free because the police officer was too busy to write a citation.
Conick hadn’t had a chance to get the tail light repaired because of a hassle with his insurance company. (They can happen – especially when the offending driver in an accident is an uninsured illegal alien.)
“It seems the Maryland State Police are too busy to cite the individual who rammed into me, but not too busy to cite me for the tag light being out because of the accident,” Conick says. “Now I have 10 days to get this fixed and take my vehicle to the police so they can verify it, and the [blankety-blank] who hit me isn’t held accountable and doesn’t have to do a thing!”
It’s an amazing story on the one hand, but not that unusual on the other.
I don’t know about you, but when I see police officers falling all over themselves to play wet nurse to inebriated congressmen, I lose a lot of respect for the profession of law enforcement.
Don’t get me wrong. I know there are lots of great cops out there. I’ve met many of them. But there is a growing disconnect between police officers and the people whom they are supposed to serve and protect.
We can find all kinds of excuses and rationalizations. We can blame the politicians. We can talk about how the culture has changed for the worse and made law enforcement a much more dangerous job.
But, like it or not, at the end of the day, police are just not serving the people. Maybe their job has become a mission impossible. I’m willing to acknowledge that. But, from my vantage point, our experience as law-abiding citizens with police officers is getting worse all the time.
The rule of law is breaking down in America. It can hardly all be blamed on cops. But policemen and policewomen are on the front lines. They are the people who are most likely to have direct, face-to-face contact with we the people. And, whereas that contact in the past has often been a positive experience, it is becoming increasingly negative for many of us.
The contradictions are heightening all the time.
When we see foreigners moving in to our country in violation of the law, taking our jobs, feeding at the public trough and seemingly unaccountable to the same rules and regulations we must live under, the contradictions are obvious.
When we see a staggering Rep. Patrick Kennedy wreck his car in the nation’s capital and get a free police escort home, the contradictions are obvious.
And when we examine James Conick’s plight, the contradictions are glaringly obvious.
Unfortunately, we’ve all got stories like this – some even worse.
That’s what happens when the rule of law breaks down. That’s what happens when laws are applied unevenly. That’s what happens when there is selective enforcement. That’s what happens when justice is no longer blind. That’s what happens when justice is no longer equal for one and all.
Servile Biden-puffing ‘journalists’ loyal to the end
Tim Graham