A police officer in my municipality was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol. He plead guilty and only received a one-year sentence of probation. If he follows all of the conditions of his probation his conviction will be discharged and it will not go on his criminal record. What exactly is this teaching our children? Do we not teach them that police officers are someone to look up to, someone that you can trust, and someone that should be a role model? I'm personally appalled that all this officer received was a mere years probation. If anything, he should receive the same, if not a higher, sentence than what civilians get. Yes, this officer was off duty, but that doesn't give him any right to do what he did. He should know better, considering that he's been to the scene of accidents caused by impaired driving and knows what can happen.
With a blood alcohol level way over the legal limit I think that there should be some accountability to be held in this situation. As a mother and as a motorist, I want to be able to go about my day knowing that the law enforcement in my area is trying to clean up the streets, not make an even bigger mess about it. And what am I supposed to think when my son tells me that he wants to be a police officer when he grows up? Should I tell him that not all police officers are good people and that he should be a firefighter instead? I don't want to have to do that.
Now I know that not everything should be put onto this one officer. Yes, he did break the law, but he wasn't the one to choose his sentence. At least he was civil enough to plead guilty. No, I believe that the court system has to be held liable somewhere here as well. All of this just reminds me why I used to want to be a lawyer. If I still had the ambition, I'd probably be applying for law school at this moment. But that option is not available to me at this time so instead I'm speaking out as a concerned parent stating that if and officer of the law breaks the law, he should be accountable for the same, or possibly higher, sentence that any other person would receive had they done the same thing.
