One day I happened to go to downtown Charlotte to register some business documents and was told to go from this building to that. From this room to the next. I have a disability from a bad car accident, so on the way through one of the buildings - which happened to have some of the criminal and/or traffic courts I had to sit and rest my back. The only place to sit was inside one of these courtrooms. So I sat and was amazed at what I heard. It wasn't what I heard from the judge or assistant district attorney that caught me offguard. It was what I heard from the police. They were there to answer for the citations and such they issued. According to the U.S. Constitution every person is innocent until proven guilty. But to these police officers, that was not the case. These people were referred to as scum, inbreeds that belonged on Jerry Springer, etc... I overheard racist remarks, jokes about the defendents, etc... all muttered between the police officers. I thought these officers took an oath to uphold justice and American laws. It sure didn't sound like it. Then I noticed something even more disturbing. There were a few deviant individuals in there, but mostly it was the poor and destitute in there. It was also mostly black people. As I looked around there was not one wealthy or even middle class person present. The only people in these catagories was the lawyers, assistant DA and the judge. It was mostly poor people that are working hard to just barely make it by. The black lady I sat next to was there to fight a speeding ticket and an unregistered license plate. The Assistant DA came over and offered to drop one citation if she would plead guilty to the others. The lady's reply - "I was held after at my first job and was rushing to get to my second job so I wouldn't be late. I have already been late due to my first job and my other job on the weekends. I was afraid of being fired and I would lose my kids to Social Services as I wouldn't be able to provide for them. I have three jobs just to put food on the table - I can't afford even one of those fines. I can hardly afford gas. Maybe I should just go on welfare." I couldn't believe what I heard - This lady was working 3 jobs to provide for her kids. She wasn't doing anything wreckless - her ticket was for going 5 miles over the speedlimit. There was no way she was lying. This brought tears to my eyes - I took what money I had in my pocket and wrapped it in a piece of paper and gave it to her when I walked out. She needed it more than I did and it was the right thing to do. What has this world come to. We punish those who can least afford it - if this lady were rich she would have had her lawyer take care of these things for her. I just recently read an article in the Charlotte Observer that described how many inconsistencies there are with the court and policing system in Charlotte. Basically from what I saw is the system is geared to take advantage of the poor and destitute. These people aren't all bad. They are your blue collar hard workers and they are trying to climb out of financial holes many were born into. It wasn't just this one lady. It was one after another, after another. Good people getting slammed by the system and at fees that they cannot possibly afford - $110 court costs + fines. Let's see at least 100 people were in that one court room. Thats a lot of money. And there are many courtrooms full of people just like this one in Charlotte. Hmmm, it sounds like we are taking advantage of the poor to fill probable extravagant local government pockets and coffers. This is just taking advantage of the people that these police as sworn officers swore to protect. It sounds to me like we have created a legalized bully system as I did not hear one police officer that had anything nice to say about these people. And after watching the news and looking things up on the internet I see many articles on police brutality, missuse of power, fraud, corruption - and its not just one instance - there are thousands and thousands of these. This is wrong and needs to be changed. I'm sure this happens in every city and every state. We need to stand up to this - why is it that the local firemen are the first to the scene, always happy to see kids and help out, and always speak positive regardless of the situation. The police scare people lately. I wouldn't hesitate to take my kids to see the firemen - they come out with coloring books, stickers and let them play on their trucks. The police are too busy and don't have time, and to be honest, I wouldn't want to take my kids to see the police. Not after what I saw in one day in downtown Charlotte. Maybe all I saw were the bad police - where are the good ones? I know there must be some. I just wish there were more of them.
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
