Previous Politech message: "More on police carcam that recorded cop brutality, dog-killing" http://www.politechbot.com/p-04350.html -- Subject: civilians in the police force - Silverglate's conscription suggestion Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 12:16:02 -0600 Message-ID: <264726D0297E0F48BE39566DCB4507F2F6773F@MAIL-04VS.atlarge.net> From: "Harvey Silverglate" <hasat_private> To: "McCullagh Declan (McCullagh, Declan)" <declanat_private> Declan, One of your readers asked me more about my idea that civilians should join the police force for limited stints of duty, and so I elaborated with the story that made me think along these lines. The story is below. Harvey Harvey A. Silverglate Silverglate & Good 83 Atlantic Avenue Boston, MA 02110 Ofc. tel. 617/523-5933 Ofc. fax 617/523-7554 Res. tel. 617/661-9156 Res. fax 617/492-4925 hasat_private www.silverglategood.com The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education hasat_private www.thefire.org The Shadow University www.ShadowUniv.com ------------------------------------- I have been promoting this idea for some two decades, without noticeable impact. However, there have been some experiences that are informative. For example, some police departments have allowed law students to ride along with police. The students observed some things that were unpleasant, but one had the sense that the police were fairly restrained because the students were along for the ride. I believe some years ago Harvard Law students were allowed to ride with Cambridge police, for example. I believe it was reported in either the Harvard Crimson or the Harvard Law Record. There was one academic in New York who championed my proposal, but I forget his name. I came up with my proposal as a result of a Navy court martial I handled some years ago, during the Vietnam War. Here's the story which is very very instructive. My client was James Darwin Autry. (This is public information. The case is reported in a Court of Appeals for the First Circuit opinion, Autry v Wiley.) Admiral Wiley was admiral of the First Naval District, headquartered in Boston. He preferred court martial charges against my client, Autry, who had allegedly jumped ship in Halifax and deserted, rather than go to Vietnam. Autry was seized (allegedly pursuant to powers granted by the U.S./Canadian Status of Forces Agreement -- I deemed it a kidnapping) by Naval officials in Canada and dragged back to the USA to stand court-martial for desertion. I handled the court martial for the defense, along with a young lawyer who was in the Judge Advocate General's Corp (JAGC). The young JAG officer had graduated law school. He went to law school on a partial Navy scholarship, with the understanding that he would, upon graduation, serve a minimum 4 years in the military justice system before going on with his civilian law career. The scholarship program was the Navy's way of attracting lawyers to serve limited stints in its legal corps. There was a similar program for attracting medical doctors. (I believe it was called "the Berry Plan.") I subpoenaed Admiral Wiley as a witness to the defense's allegation that he had unduly sought to influence the court-martial jury (a so-called "command influence" allegation). My military JAG co-counsel served the subpoena on the Admiral. Admiral Wiley testified, but he was so angry that he seemed to be about to jump out of his chair and throttle me as I questioned him. At the end of the day, I was in the elevator on my way out of the naval building. I was squeezed in the rear of the elevator, not visible to those entering the elevator. (I am only 5' 7 1/2" tall, and I was surrounded by a sea of naval officers' hats.) Admiral Wiley walked into the elevator with an aide. He was complaining loudly to the aide about the indignity of being subpoenaed and forced to testify: "I don't so much mind the role played by the civilian lawyer," Wiley complained. "But I cannot believe that one of my own men, the JAG officer, had the audacity to participate in calling me as a witness. That's the problem with these JAG officers. They are in the Navy only because they have to be, and only for four years. They are not really one of us. They are not all-Navy. They are civilians. Having them in the Navy is like having a Fifth Column. You can't do or say anything without having them blow the whistle." Fifth column, indeed! It became clear to me in an instant that having civilians sprinkled among the professional sailors and solders is actually a very healthy idea for a democracy. If civilians can be induced to join the military for short (here, 4 years) stints by such incentives as scholarships in exchange for some term of service, great. If it takes a draft, that's OK too. (After all, we force citizens to participate in the jury system without thinking it violates the Constitutional proscription against involuntary servitude!) And if it works for the military, it should work for police departments, which are quite military in their organization and outlook. I immediately became in favor of the idea of a program to entice civilians to do anywhere from 2 to 4 years in the police department in exchange for something -- money, scholarship, whatever. It would educate citizens as to police work, and it would civilianize the police. You might contact some organization, such as the Police Foundation, to see if there is any such program anywhere. I hope this is helpful. Harvey Silverglate ---------------------------------------------------------- Declan, I wrote the above in response to the following query from one of your readers: -----Original Message----- From: Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 12:31 PM To: Harvey Silverglate Subject: RE: More on police carcam that recorded cop brutality, dog-killing Has anyone studied whether having civilian ride-alongs affects cops' behavior? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. 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