Are Police Exempt From Laws They’re Sworn to Uphold?

Are police officers exempt from following the laws that they are sworn to uphold? Apparently one officer in the rural Texas town of Temple believes that is indeed the case. After arresting active-duty Army Master Sergeant. C. J. Grisham, a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, for “rudely displaying” his firearm while on a walk with his teenage son, one of Temple’s finest is alleged to have defended his gestapo-like tactics with the following reasoning:

Particularly chilling is the officer’s telling Grisham that a police officer is “allowed to” carry a weapon, but that Grisham is not — despite Grisham’s having a permit. “We’re exempt from the law” is not a phrase you want to hear from law enforcement in a constitutional republic.” (here)

Do they not teach basic, Constitutional Law 101 to police officers in the Temple, Texas? Is is too much to expect that a police officer will be able to tell an otherwise law-abiding citizen why he is being detained, questioned and/or what law he has broken that would lead to an arrest? Should police officers simply ignore the laws that they are sworn to uphold? Or, better yet, should law enforcement officers defer to the fears of our fellow neighbors who are alarmed when they see someone walking along a rural road in Texas with a firearm? From the following part of the conversation/arrest caught on video, we might get an idea of how at least one of the Temple Police Officers would answer these questions:

You alarm people and they call us . . .”  Temple Police Officer

“And, did you explain to them what the law is, sir?”  Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham

“They don’t care what the law is.”  Temple Police Officer

“Do you care what the law is?”  Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham

“In this day and age, they are alarmed when they see somebody with a weapon like this.” Temple Police Officer

Undoubtedly, our culture has become polarized over the issue of guns. With gun control legislation set to come before the U.S. Senate in the days ahead, politicians on both sides of this contentious and emotionally charged debate mirror the opinions of Americans-at-large. It would be very easy, therefore, to view what happened to Master Sgt. Grisham through our own personal prism. Those who favor gun control legislation and/or bans on certain weapons will perhaps view the Temple Police Officers’ response to Master Sgt. Grisham as entirely reasonable. Of course, those who favor gun rights and support the 2nd Amendment “Right to Bear Arms” may side with Master Sgt. Grisham over against the actions of the local police in this instance.

However, to better understand that what happened to Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham and his son was both frightening and unconstitutional, let’s change the scenario. Instead of a a white, active-duty Army Master Sergeant walking with his Boy Scout son on a rural country road in the backwoods of Texas, let’s assume that we have a thirty-something African-American male taking a leisurely stroll through an upscale, predominantly white neighborhood in the suburbs of Austin. Now imagine the same conversation between the police officers and the black man:

You alarm people and they call us . . .”  Austin Police Officer

“And, did you explain to them what the law is, sir?”  African-American Male

“They don’t care what the law is.”  Austin Police Officer

“Do you care what the law is?”  African-American Male

“In this day and age, they are alarmed when they see somebody like you walking in their neighborhood.” Austin Police Officer

I have no doubt that this second scenario is not merely hypothetical, but takes place far too often in our nation. The case of Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham, in the whole scheme of things, is probably rare. Whether all-too-common or rare, neither circumstance is one that we should condone in a nation whose ideal is “liberty and justice for all.”  However, for that ideal to be a continuing reality in our Constitutional Republic, we must be a country of laws, not of men. When men or women — be they police officers or politicians — think and act as if they are “exempt from the law” that they are sworn to uphold, then the freedoms we enjoy in our great country — freedoms that Master Sgt. Grisham and so many others have fought and even died to protect — will be lost for future generations.  And, that’s not a loss that any of us — conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, Christian or Atheist — should be willing to take!

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