Truthiness In Law Enforcement

Indy Week reports that several Durham police officers lied about non-existent 911 calls to persuade residents to allow them to search their homes.
According to a department memo, the officers used fabricated 911 calls for the purpose of obtaining consent to enter residences where they believed wanted individuals with outstanding warrants might be living. However, officers were willing to use the ploy to cast a broader net in at least one case — the hearing where the tactic surfaced involved a defendant charged with marijuana possession after the officer discovered marijuana in her home.
Honest mistake, really. I mean, did anybody specifically tell them, as part of their training, that lying was wrong? What we have here is a failure of the system. We are all to blame, really, for letting these poor officers down.

Of course, if you violate a section of the penal code so obscure that the DA has to dig through 100 year-old documents to find mention of it, that's different, scumbag. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

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