The Bias of the Police

The Influence of the Police

by Jesse Shuter

“I would like to begin this story Doctor by telling you that murder is a crime. It is not to be laughed about, made fun of, attempted, or even discussed by those not in a position to deal with the fact that it is a crime.”

“Tell me the whole story Steve, from the beginning.”

“It all began last July, or was it August, no wait it was May. Yes I’m certain it was May because it was springtime. I was doing my usual paperwork when I came across a very peculiar file. This file was especially peculiar because it was marked Top Secret from the date January 12. Usually the files that are brought to me at the Police Station are not marked in this way. Anything that is marked Top Secret is to be brought to me immediately. So as you must also be wondering, why was this file not brought to me earlier? Why was a file that is supposedly urgent from January being brought to me now in May?

So I open the file, and I read the thing that gets police commissioners all across America more apoplectic than anything else. A murder. I was especially frustrated because I had previously worked so hard to keep the streets of Philadelphia clean of murder and yet here one was. Then the weirdest feeling of deja vu overcame me. I felt like I had heard this case before before. Yet I was adamant that it was new. It was because of these mixed emotions that I was not prepared for, nor was I in a position to deal with what was to come in the next few days.

The next day, I officially sent out a warrant for the arrest of whoever murdered the man. I decided to take a look at the body in our analyzation lab. The body was on an examination table, yet there was no one in the lab examining the body. I quickly slipped on some rubber gloves and began taking a look for myself. It was a man, he appeared to be  in his late thirties to early forties. He was a white man, handsome, he had short brown hair that reminded me of my own. He seemed like the kind of man I would be friends with, and here he was in front of me dead with a bullet hole through his chest. I could have sworn that I knew the man, there was a feeling of longing, both for the knowledge of who this man was, and also who killed him. It was crazy that we couldn’t find him in the system. To be honest, it was this attachment to the man, that drove me to make such rash decisions about this murder. Finally, an officer, Jenkins was her name, came to me with news, regarding the man’s killer. Apparently two men came to turn themselves in. The interesting thing is it was the same crime. Both of these men were claiming to be the murderer of the same man.

I did the only logical thing to do in this scenario, I decided to interrogate both the men and see what each of them says about the murder. The first man was named Jack Jordans. His file said that he had graduated from UCLA and was now working as a successful architect. The file also said that he had a wife but no kids and that he currently lives in New York City. He was 34 years old. I decided to take a look at this guy wondering why he would commit a crime if he is as successful as his file says he is.

I started by examining him through the two way mirror. He was young looking for his age. He was a black man, strong looking. He was tall and had short hair. He looked up at the mirror and it almost seemed like he was scowling at himself in the mirror. I stepped into the interrogation room and asked Jordans who this man was that he killed and he said that he was a client of his named David Read. I asked him questions about the murder and why he did it. He wouldn’t give me much of a straight answer until I got in his face. I began raising my voice and asked him why he killed the man, he said that he didn’t know why, he just had to. I turned around and began walking away after getting all of the information I could from him. Then he spoke again, in a lower register, I heard him say “I killed him because he was a punk, like you”. I quickly spun back around, and yelled at him asking him to repeat that. He looked at me frightened, saying he didn’t say anything. I stormed out furious, the nerve of that man. He definitely seemed like the kind of guy that would want to kill, in more ways than one. After the interrogation I looked up David Read in our system, however, no one existed under that name.

The next man to claim that he was the killer of “David Read” was a man named Chase Stefano. According to his file he was a lawyer who graduated from Michigan University. He was just as successful as Jordans, it was almost uncanny how similar they were financially and otherwise. He too had a wife but no kids. It was weird that these men with seemingly great lives turned themselves in for a crime. I asked him a few basic questions about his family and his job, nothing I didn’t already know the answer to, but then I got to the juicy stuff. I decided to come out of the gate by asking him why he turned himself in. He said that he couldn’t live with the guilt. I looked at his face and he looked sad, also he wouldn’t make eye contact with me. I noticed some of his features, he was white first of all, he had blonde hair and green eyes. Despite the looming despair of the situation his held himself well. He answered all of my questions in a mature manner. I respected him, he seemed like a guy I would vote for to be president. He was well spoken and seemed to be telling the truth at all times, but I knew something didn’t seem right he didn’t seem like the kind of guy that would kill. He had a great life, why would he throw he it away. I even heard him whisper under his breath, “why am I here right now?”. That cinched it. The guy didn’t even think he should be here, clearly he was innocent.

After interrogating both men it was clear to me that Stefano was innocent while Jordans was lying for some reason. So I told everyone that Jordans was clearly the murderer, and that Stefano should be released. That was how it seemed, I heard this guy Jordans say horrible things, while Stefano admitted to not wanting to be here. It makes sense if you think about it Doc, most of the bad guys out there, the killers, are black guys. Haven’t you noticed that in the news. I hate murderers more than anything, and murderers are usually those African Americans that think they are too cool for the law. White guys stay clean. So I released Stefano and gave Jordans the chair for murder after a sentencing by the judge.

So Doctor what do you have to say to that, it all adds up, so why am I here. Just because I was diagnosed with some disease, doesn’t mean that I am crazy. Everything I told you was true, so why did the judge sentence me to come to sessions with you?”