Don’t be ‘pro-cop’ or ‘anti-cop’… be ‘pro truth’ (Opinion)

We're getting a lot of reaction to the video posted Monday of a Toms River cop confronting a guy with a video camera at the police station. Many of the comments seem to fall on which "side" you're on. It seems you're either "pro-cop" or "anti-cop". What about pro-truth or pro-facts or pro-justice? That's the side I'm on. If the police do something positive or above and beyond, we should recognize and celebrate that, and we do! But if there's a problem with enforcement or knowledge of the law and citizens' rights, then we ALL should definitely be made aware of it.

There's no doubt, being a police officer has become more difficult and dangerous in our country in the last few years. You can blame the public for wanting to video and criticize every move police make. You can blame the media for distorting and reporting only the stories that fit a certain agenda. You can blame certain politicians for politicizing every police action to fit their agenda. Whatever the reasons are, we need a healthy relationship with law enforcement and the public. It's vital to public safety and our very precious rights as a free people.

We also need to make sure that relationship and the public's trust is maintained. The maker of this video emailed us several times to state that he is a former law enforcement officer who is NOT anti-cop. Here's more of what he had to say:

I got out of law enforcement because I refused to be complicit in the rampant misconduct, corruption, and extortion I saw daily in my department. I reported my sergeant for destroying public records, tampering with evidence, and falsifying police documents. Nobody did anything besides cover it up and blackball me. I was forced out, so I sued the department and won. That was 10 years ago and things have only gotten worse in this state. Police are poorly trained, overpaid, and rarely held accountable for their actions. Mr. Moschella makes over $118,000 a year and has absolutely no idea how to do his job, which is simply to enforce the law. I think with this kind of salary, we should expect much better from our law enforcement, not just on this particular instance, but consistently.

The guy may come off cocky and like a jerk, but he has a point. And if someone like him doesn't keep an eye on our rights, who will? It's not a matter of whose side you're on. We're all on the same side. We have a constitution and the rights it affords us and we have laws that should follow that constitution. Our men and women in uniform should uphold and enforce those laws and we should support them doing so.

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