Internal Affair? No Kidding!

[Jellay]

 

Internal Affair? No Kidding!

 

 

The Los Santos Police Department. “Obey, and Survive.” The law-keepers. The protectors. The fine men and women at the front lines combating injustice and crime wherever it rears its ugly head. Justified in the eyes of the government, and a shining example for every citizen to follow...

 

...most of the time.

 

No one person can ever be described as ‘perfect’ by any means. No one person can ever dare say that they are not without fault. It’s in our nature as human beings to be flawed, and many say it’s our flaws that define the better part of our character, that within our weaknesses do we derive our drive and our will to find our strengths.

 

The same can be said of the LSPD. As great and as mighty as the police force is, you cannot say they’re not without fault. Sometimes an officer slips up while on patrol, sometimes an officer will go down path A when path B was the more favorable choice. But as with life, mistakes and missteps are a natural part of day-to-day operations. The LSPD knows this, which is why the Internal Affairs (‘I.A.’) exists. The I.A. is a branch within the LSPD that closely monitors, reads over, and solves case-to-case scenarios where officers of the law are reported for misconduct or questionable activity while in the field. Those who are found ‘guilty’ of such misconduct are then disciplined in accordance with their departmental guidelines.

 

...but does it ‘really’ work the way it’s supposed to? The citizenry, says NO. I asked around the Los Santos Bank for those who had dealt with the I.A. System in the past or knew of others who had done so, and the responses received all pointed to one direction. The Internal Affairs branch of the Los Santos Police Department is corruptible. 

 

One concerned citizen gave his statement in the form of “If you allow an organization to police their own with no sort of checks or balances in place, you’re opening up a very broad, vulnerable road to corruption on a scale too large to control.” 

Another citizen gave a far more grave, concerning report of a Police Officer who had placed a charge on him concerning the carrying of an illegal firearm that he did not have in his possession, and that the charge had been falsified. The only comment the Officer could relay in response was ‘Not sure, submit an I.A. Report’.  Many others voiced their agreements and closely detailed stories in a similar fashion, with many commenting on the I.A.’s inability to even function, as it’s been reported that it takes many weeks, if not months, for a report to even be acknowledged by the I.A. Department in the first place. All the while, the citizenry is being heavily fined and imprisoned for actions that many say are falsified. Months and years, taken away from people who believe their rights and freedoms have been viciously violated by the people who have sworn an oath to protect them from such abuse.

 

Even today, at the conclusion of a report shootout at a clothing store just a block away from the city’s own Government Headquarters, one of the LSPD’s High Command members after being asked that if officers were being accused of misconduct, that such offenses would be reported through the I.A. system, he said “Yes”. However...the answer to the next question proved most chilling.

 

The question? “Do you believe that your I.A. System has an appropriate level of follow-through when it comes to giving your officers disciplinary action?”

 

The answer? “It does not.”

 

I believed I had heard wrong at first, and after trying to confirm his statement it appeared that the High Command Unit was trying to avoid the question, and in turn changed his answer after the fact.

 

None of the other officers could comment, saying they were bound and restricted by their media relations department to not say a word. It’s a very concerning thought when one of the LSPD’s finest doesn’t even believe in its own I.A. system to be accurate and efficient.

 

But the more troubling question is, if the I.A. department which is meant to keep the fine men and women of law enforcement in check isn’t working as intended...could there be something more sinister at work behind the closed doors of the Los Santos Police Department? Could it be just the I.A. Department that is at fault? 

 

As always, we would like to invite the LSPD’s Media Relations to release their own statement on the topic of these current events and accusations presented by the citizenry.

 

Rhea Moraine

Weazel News