Slate: “After two years, we have finally seen the most significant step toward anything resembling accountability for the death of Breonna Taylor in March 2020. On Thursday, Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice has indicted four of the officers involved with securing and executing the search warrant that ultimately led to Taylor’s death. Even more surprising than the actual indictment, however, were the details it contained about how Louisville cops knowingly made false statements in securing the search warrant and then conspired to cover up their actions once things had gone awry.
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The deaths of Taylor and Rosenau represent just one of the most extreme results that occur when police act without regard for truth and integrity. For two years, Taylor’s death was explained away as the unfortunate cost of policing and public safety. Rosenau’s death ignited the familiar cycle of public protest and police investigation, but if the killing of his father by law enforcement 15 years prior is any indication, the cops may never be charged. The death toll in Uvalde, almost certainly increased by police inaction, and law enforcement’s subsequent willingness to lie in the face of grieving parents is a reminder that even the loss of the most innocent lives will not dislodge the police impulse to conceal the truth.
Together these incidents reveal one of the most glaring problems in policing today. We have written cops a proverbial blank check in terms of their discretion in the execution of their duties under the guise that they are legitimately engaged in ensuring public safety. But as these incidents show, the police routinely fail to hold up their end of the bargain—and then lie to cover their failures. Too often, the cost of this corrupted arrangement is paid for in the loss of lives.”