One day I went to downtown Charlotte to register some business documents and was told to go from this building to another. From this room to the next. I have a disability due to a serious 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 down and rest my back. The only place to sit was inside one of these courtrooms. So I sat down and was surprised by what I heard.
It was not what I heard from the judge or the assistant district attorney that took me by surprise. It was what I heard from the police. They were there to answer for the subpoenas and the ones they issued. Under the United States Constitution, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But for these cops, that was not the case. These people were referred to as scum, inbreeding belonging to Jerry Springer, etc … I heard racist comments, jokes about the defendants, etc … all whispered among the police officers. I thought these officers took an oath to uphold American law and justice. It sure didn’t sound like that.
Then I noticed something even more disturbing. There were some deviant people there, but most of them were poor and destitute. They were also mostly black people. As I looked around, there was no rich or middle class person present. The only people in these categories were the attorneys, the assistant district attorney, and the judge. It was mostly poor people who were working hard to survive. The black lady I sat next to was there to fight a speeding ticket and unregistered license plate. The assistant district attorney came over and offered to set up an appointment if he pleaded guilty to others. The lady’s response:
“I was later retained at my first job and was in a hurry to get to my second job so as not to be late. I was already late due to my first job and my other job on the weekends. I was afraid of being fired and would lose my children because of to social services because I couldn’t support them. I have three jobs just to put food on the table, I can’t pay even one of those fines. I can barely afford gas. Maybe I should go to social assistance. “
I couldn’t believe what I heard: this lady had 3 jobs to support her children. He wasn’t doing anything reckless – his ticket was for exceeding the 5-mile speed limit. There was no way he was lying. This brought tears to my eyes: I took the money in my pocket, wrapped it in paper, and gave it to him when I left. She needed it more than I did and it was the right thing to do. In what has become the world. We punish those who can least afford it: if this lady were rich, her lawyer would have taken care of these things for her.
I recently read an article in the Charlotte Observer that described how many inconsistencies there are with the judicial and police system in Charlotte. Basically, from what I saw, the system is geared towards taking advantage of the poor and the destitute. These people are not all bad. They are your blue-collar hard workers and are trying to get out of the financial holes many were born into. It wasn’t just this lady. It was one after another, after another. Good people are criticized by the system and pay fees they can’t possibly afford: court costs of $ 110 + fines. Let’s see that at least 100 people were in that courtroom. That’s a lot of money. And there are a lot of crowded courtrooms like this in Charlotte.
Hmm, it seems that we are taking advantage of the poor to line probable pockets and extravagant coffers of the local government. This is only taking advantage of the people these police officers as sworn officers are sworn to protect. It seems to me that we have created a legalized intimidation system, as I did not hear from any police officer who had anything good to say about these people. And after watching the news and looking for things on the internet, I see a lot of articles on police brutality, misuse of power, fraud, corruption, and it’s not just one case, there are thousands and thousands of these.
This is wrong and needs to be changed. I’m sure this happens in every city and in every state. We have to face this: why are the local firefighters the first to arrive, always happy to see the children and help, and always speak positive regardless of the situation? Police scare people lately. I wouldn’t hesitate to take my kids to see the firefighters – they come out with coloring books, stickers, and let them play in their trucks. The police are too busy and have no time, and to be honest, I would not want to take my children to see the police. Not after what I saw one day in downtown Charlotte. Maybe all I saw were the bad cops, where are the good guys? I know there must be some. I wish there were more of them.