The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week...

...are an all-star lineup of Albuquerque, New Mexico Police Chief Ray Schultz, Bernalillo County, New Mexico Sheriff Darren White, and the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, specifically APOA Secretary James Badway, who have all apparently graduated from the Wayne Shellum School for The Blind (Spot When It Comes To Officers Doing Wrong). These men win this week's award for their treatment of Albuquerque Officer Sam Costales, who has just been named The Agitator's "Cop of the Year" for 2007.

What did Officer Costales do to make these officials so mad at him? He testified on behalf of NASCAR racers Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser, who were being prosecuted on charges of disobeying an officer and resisting arrest that stemmed from an incident that occurred in August 2006 . Costales testified under oath that the Unsers' version of events was the correct one, and that the Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputies had had no reason to arrest the Unsers. The Unsers were aquitted of all charges, in large part due to the testimony of Costales, who had not volunteered his testimony; a private investigator working for the Unsers had ascertained that Costales had been at the scene, and then subsequently subpoenaed Costales to get his version of events. When Costales's recollections were found to match the Unsers' claims, he was then called as a witness for the Unsers in their trial.

After the trial's outcome, the Albuquerque police chief initiated an internal affairs investigation of Costales. The allegation? That the officer had wrongly worn his uniform on the stand while testifying for the Unsers. You see, according to Albuquerque Police Public Information Officer Trish Hoffman,

"it is ‘common knowledge,’ not written policy, that to avoid confusing the jury, officers should not wear their uniforms when testifying against other law enforcement agencies."

Did you know that? I sure didn't. Heaven forbid that a jury has to hear competing testimony from two different cops and then decide which is telling the truth. Hoffman's "common knowledge" is, of course, absolute bullcrap, which is the very reason why it's not written policy. It's glaringly apparent that this so-called "unwritten knowledge" is a blatant attempt to prevent any law enforcement officer from ever testifying about another cop's wrongdoing, or to expose someone's lying on the stand. As one retired law enforcement officer puts it when discussing the incident on his blog,

"It’s not now, nor has it ever been 'common knowledge' that 'officers should not wear their uniforms when testifying against other law enforcement agencies.' The emphasis that testifying for or against, mischaracterizes what an officers’ duty, obligation and role is in the judicial system. Officers testify to facts, not for or against. Whether it is a law enforcement officer or alleged heinous criminal, the truth is the only concern."

Amen, sir. I wish that you were still working in law enforcement, instead of these clowns.

After a loud outcry over the investigation of Costales, the charges against him were dropped. The fun didn't end there, though. James Badway, the secretary of the local police union, sent an email to Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, in which he actually wrote the following:

"As Secretary of the APOA i feel it is my duty and responsibility to apologize to you and your officers. Ofc. Sam Costales does not represent APD/APOA. The majority of our officers look at the BCSO as our brother and sisters in blue. We are embarrassed and ashamed of Ofc. Costales's testimony in the Unser trial. If there is anything we can do to rebuild the damage caused by Sam please let me know."

A classic case of protecting one's own at any cost, the cost in this case being the honesty and integrity of two police agencies and their union, which teamed up to punish an honest cop for telling the truth.

Here's part of Sheriff White's response to Badway:

“I was shocked and dismayed when I learned that Sam was on the stand sucker-punching our deputies... Make no mistake, while his testimony was a work of fiction, it was pretty much game over after he finished."

So that's the game plan. Stand solidly behind your officers, no matter what wrong they do or how much they lie, until an honorable officer refuses to play the "blue shield" game and exposes wrongdoing by a cop, after which that officer then becomes a liar and an embarrassment to law enforcement, to be shunned for the rest of his career.

I heartily endorse The Agitator's naming of Officer Costales as his Cop of the Year, particularly after finding out that Costales had retired from the force once already, apparently due to his inability to tolerate citizen abuse and brutality at the hands of other cops, but had been persuaded to return by the city of Albuquerque, which wanted to quickly increase the number of officers working the street.

Citizens of Bernalillo County, you could do a lot worse than to draft and elect Sam Costales as your next sheriff. Imagine that: A public safety official that you could be proud of, and that you could trust to be impartial, honest and truthful. What a refreshing change it would be for that part of the country.