FC: Harvey Silverglate's proposal for civilians in police ranks

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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" <has () silverglategood com>
To: "McCullagh Declan (McCullagh, Declan)" <declan () well com>

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
has () theworld com
www.silverglategood.com

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
has () thefire org
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?




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