A corruption story where the cop is the good guy

Anyone who’s been following this blog for a while (anyone?) will know I’m not a large fan of law enforcement officers, particularly with their neverending revelations of corruption, incompetence and propensity for acting like complete jackasses at times. (Just look through posts filed under Police Militarization.) Yet, in this story here, I am fully behind the young cop for his actions and the ridiculous backlash he received in turn. The lesson in this story: watch out who you arrest, because some truly are above the law. Apparently.

Rowell is a new member of the five-man Stockton police force. So, last Tuesday he didn't think twice about pulling over a driver in a small white car for avoiding a DUI stop.

"He didn't have a driver's license, so I issued him a citation for that," Rowell explained.

He didn't think twice, that is, until he handed the ticket to the court clerk.

"She looked at it and said, ‘Hey, you know you just gave the mayor's son a ticket?' And I said, ‘Oh, crap,'" Rowell said.

He said he had never met the driver, 29-year-old Jared Rydalch, before. He said Rydalch told him he was out looking for his dog, and asked him to tell the other officers to not pull him over again.

"I told him, ‘No. If I see you driving around again, I'm going to pull you over again,'" Rowell said.

Rowell said he knew there was trouble when, about 20 minutes later, he found the chief of police in the mayor's truck in a heated discussion. Then he said the mayor, Dan Rydalch, rolled down the window and demanded he get in his truck. When he refused, Rydalch abruptly fired him on the spot.

"He told me, ‘All right, I want your badge in the morning,'" Rowell said. "I tried to defend myself and say, ‘First of all, look, he was breaking the law. Second of all, I didn't know he was your son.'"

Way to show how “no-one is above the law”, Mayor Rydalch. Corruption, anyone?

What does it matter that the cop gave the a ticket to the mayor’s son? Answer: absolutely nothing at all. If the man broke the law, he deserves to get punished just like anyone else would. No-one deserves any preferential treatment, except perhaps in extreme cases – which this is not.

As a result of Rowell’s “mistake”, he has now been suspended without pay, indefinitely, whilst the mayor himself leads his own investigation (whitewash, anyone?). This pathetic excuse for a mayor should be impeached at once, and Rowell should be reinstated immediately.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
Technorati tags: Dan Rydalch · Joshua Rowell · police · Stockton