All those who knew... and did nothing to stop... or help the children
from being abused... by God's servants... should face the law... and to
be made accountable for... turning away from the children's cry for
help... Ann
The desire by many to excuse or deny police violence when it happens is understandable in this context.
Each community wants to believe in the integrity of its own police force. But that desire to trust community institutions can also be dangerous if we yield the ability to hold them accountable. The institution begins to insist on monitoring and disciplining its own. Criticism begins to be interpreted as disloyalty. Mistakes and eventually blatant wrongs are swept under the rug in order to preserve the overall institution. Until, finally, one day, the wrongs are so clear and so devastating that the community wakes up and it is too late. Trust in the institution is gone and along with it the community's sense of pride and place.
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-opinion/article/Time-to-hold-police-accountable-6682061.php
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I went to see the movie "Spotlight," about the Boston Globe's revelations regarding the cover-up of child abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church.
It left me thinking hard about our tendency to place loyalty above
truth telling, particularly when it comes to well established community
institutions.The desire by many to excuse or deny police violence when it happens is understandable in this context.
Each community wants to believe in the integrity of its own police force. But that desire to trust community institutions can also be dangerous if we yield the ability to hold them accountable. The institution begins to insist on monitoring and disciplining its own. Criticism begins to be interpreted as disloyalty. Mistakes and eventually blatant wrongs are swept under the rug in order to preserve the overall institution. Until, finally, one day, the wrongs are so clear and so devastating that the community wakes up and it is too late. Trust in the institution is gone and along with it the community's sense of pride and place.
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-opinion/article/Time-to-hold-police-accountable-6682061.php