Famous federal judge Jack Weinstein has lashed out at the New York Police Department, accusing the department of a proven record of “widespread falsification by arresting officers.” In a four-page decision refusing to throw out a multimillion dollar suit against the city filed by two men who were busted on bogus narcotics charges, Weinstein wrote that "[i]nformal inquiry by [myself] and among the judges of this court, as well as knowledge of cases in other federal and state courts ... has revealed anecdotal evidence of repeated, widespread falsification by arresting officers of the New York City Police Department." He said that while the vast majority of cops don't engage in crooked practices, it was common enough to be an institutional problem. For more on this story go here and here.
An important related question has to be what role, if any, are prosecutors playing in the creation, development or use of falsified evidence?
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