The idea of police internal affairs investigating wrongdoing among officers is an archaic concept best left to screen writers and those with sweet summer child naivete. Civilian police review board at the local level are not much more effective, either.
One of the elements missing in calls for police reform is the need for a uniform level of local police accountability. One way to handle this is to create a national legal structure that applies to all sworn police officers, whether a single-officer police force in Podunk or a large metropolitan force with thousands of officers on the streets.
There is precedent in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ.) It applies to all military personnel who take an oath of enlistment as well as those who accept a commission as an officer. Prior to the creation of the UCMJ in 1950, each military branch operated under a varying patchwork of Articles of War. Enforcement varied by branch and was often unevenly applied. Sailors were not treated the same as soldiers. The UCMJ created a constant for the application of military justice throughout the U.S. armed forces.
Today's police officers are subject to a patchwork of local and state laws. Federal prosecution may step in if there is a civil rights violation. The trials we see today, of police officers accused of abusing the authority conferred by the badge, take place under a conflicting variety of local laws, regulations, and legal precedent that also apply to civilians. And the patchwork is getting even more patchier.
The State of New Mexico recently repealed police qualified immunity. Other states retain qualified immunity in various degrees. Maryland repealed its police Bill of Rights. Police reform continues to draw the local spotlight, but that is not enough and isolated local efforts will lead to even more fragmentation.
A national Uniform Code of Police Justice would apply to every law enforcement officer in the United States who takes an oath to uphold the law and is who is also given the power to take human life. The Code should be narrowly focused and applicable to the professional actions, procedures and processes that are carried out in the line of duty. Absolute integrity and honesty should be required whether a police officer points a radar gun or a service weapon.
The need for discipline in the armed forces translates quite easily to a need for discipline in America's police forces. Military discipline requires that some elements of the UCMJ supersede constitutional rights. There are consequences if a soldier, sailor or airman disputes or fails to obey a lawful order from a military commander. There is no constitutional right to negotiate, if the order is lawful. Members of the armed forces give up their constitutional right to trial by a jury of their peers. A 1957 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Reid v Covert) upheld the constitutionality of the UCMJ, despite perceived affronts to the Bill of Rights and Article III of the Constitution.
In the same way that the military enforces the UCMJ via courts-martial, a Uniform Police Code of Justice should be enforced through courts-policial (yes, it's a word; an archaic one but a word none the less. Perhaps"courts-constabulary?”)
The enforcement and prosecution role can be assigned to the federal district attorney corps. Investigations could be conducted by the FBI. Trials in a court-policial could be carried out by a panel of federal jurists. Given the way police look out for and cover for each other, a trial by peers is not the way to go.
While the militarization of the U.S. domestic police force is lamentable, there is no sign that the trend is reversing. The police officer as guardian is transforming into the police officer as warrior. But warrior against what? Or more appropriately, warrior against whom?
To be sure, the process of police reform has to be multifaceted. It should not take more training hours to become a beautician than it takes to become a police officer. Police officers with an “us against them” attitude need to be weeded out. An incompetent officer dismissed in one jurisdiction shouldn’t be able to move to another jurisdiction, get hired, and continue incompetent police work.
A Uniform Code of Police Justice would not be easy to create or to pass Congressional muster and would face many roadblocks, but it should be a vital and foundational element in national police reform.
If police see themselves as warriors — if police think they should be warriors, then give them a warrior's code to live by and to be judged by.