What are Gypsy Cops and Why You Should Be Concerned?

Gypsy Cops?

I'm betting you haven't heard the term before so let me explain.

Gypsy Cops are basically police with questionable records that leave one department only to be hired by another. Maybe you're asking "How is this a problem?" Well often times their records are erased or aren't even checked, and this can be a serious problem especially when you consider the fact that Timothy Loehamann ,the officer who shot and killed Tamir Rice, was a "gypsy cop".

According to the Los Angles Times Loehamann's personal records say that he was in the process of being fired when he resigned from the City of Independence Police Department in December 2016. The Cleveland Police Department said they did not review his personal records because when interviewing the city of Independence resource director they were told quote "Loehamann had no disciplinary history." However if you look at Loehamann's personal record you'll see a completely different story.

Supervisors described Loehamann as "emotional unstable" with a "lack of maturity" and as being "unable to perform basic functions as instructed in weapons training." In a memo sent by Deputy Chief Jim Polak of the Independence Police Department, he said during the weapons training Loehamann had a "dangerous loss of composer." and that he did not believe "time nor training will not change nor correct Loehamann's deficiencies."

This is not the only case of an officer's past records being completely ignored. Walter County Sheriff Glenn Smith , the officer who arrested Sandra Bland, was reportedly suspended from his last position as chief of police of Hempstead, Texas for documented cases of racism.

In some places policies actually allow for police records to be destroyed. This means that disciplinary records from officers can be no longer available. So if a police officer has lots of complaints about misconduct, racism, or whatever you wouldn't know about it. This is especially true in Chicago. According to the Review Journal, "The Fraternal Order of Police is demanding that the city of Chicago destroy all police misconduct records more than 5 years old, arguing that keeping them is a breach of its bargaining agreement with the city. The agreement, which is effective from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2017, says in part: "All disciplinary investigation files, disciplinary history card entries, IPRA (Independent Police Review Authority) and IAD (Internal Affairs Division) disciplinary records, and any other disciplinary record or summary of such records other than records related to Police Board cases, will be destroyed five (5) years after the date of the incident." If the complaint involves alleged excessive force, it is to be destroyed after seven years, according to the contract."

This is a serious problem when you consider people like Loehamann or Jason Van Dyke, the officer charged with the first-degree murder in the killing of Laquan McDonald, had quote, "19 complaints before he fatally shot the teen, including 10 for use of force."

Another reason officers recorders are basically ignored is because of the Blue Wall of Silence aka the blue code. The blue code is an unwritten rule among police officers that basically tells police not respond on their college's errors or misconducts. A lot of times if an officer knows another officer has done something wrong they won't say anything. However if they do speak up they can become tormented and even not given backup in serious situations.

You can learn more about police accountability and the blue code here in this really amazing episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

People are so quick to blame the "criminal" yet in some cases it is proven that these officers are unfit or racially biased years before a police brutality incident. The media can find a mugshot and criminal records for almost every black man shot by the cops but will not dare bring up one bad thing about an officer. Maybe that's because officer disciplinary records are often hard to find, but if that is the case the question is why? There are always going to be a couple of bad cops but the problem with police is that they find the bad ones and ignore them.

There is no excuse for this. If you are unfit to be an officer you shouldn't be given the option to transfer, you should be fired period! This is a job where whether someone lives or dies is a choice you have to make , and if you are deemed "emotionally unstable" you shouldn't be given that choice.