Being a police officer is incredibly difficult. There aren’t many other professions where the risks and challenges are so great.
Once held in esteem as protectors of the community, today, as a result of disgraceful and even criminal behavior by a minority of uniformed officers, all police have been placed under a microscope. On top of the stress of their daily assignments, now every officer goes to work knowing that they face a skeptical public.
The Massachusetts State Police has weathered more than its share of scandals. It started with troopers and some of their supervisors stealing overtime money that they had not earned. Then there was the alleged bribery scheme involving commercial driver’s licenses. Recently, in Fitchburg, troopers were accused of “egregious” conduct secretly recording suspects in violation of the wiretap statute and then failing to disclose the recordings to prosecutors.
There is the unprofessional behavior of the state police investigator in the high-profile Karen Reed trial. And just recently, a Worcester family lost their son in a questionable recruit training exercise that, according to the family, left him with missing teeth, brain damage and a fractured neck. The ACLU has called for a federal investigation into the death. In the reporting of that incident a former cadet classmate, who had been dismissed from training, told a reporter that he was repeatedly bullied and told to go back to where he came from (Haiti).
Once the gold standard for police professionalism, today the reputation of the state police is in tatters.
A disgraceful incident
Unfortunately, there are other incidents and ugliness that the public doesn’t see. This is one of them.
My wife and I have known Gloria (not her real name) for more than a dozen years. An immigrant from a country in South America, Gloria is hardworking, soft-spoken and very humble.
Every year, Gloria packs her bags and goes to visit her family in her native country. But she always comes back. She loves America.
A while back she summoned up the courage to apply for American citizenship. She studied for her test and when she passed she was excited to take her oath. My two young grandsons made her congratulatory cards welcoming her to America. Even though she had lived here for many years, things were different. Now she was an American.
One day, several months ago, Gloria came to our home and with tears in her eyes told us that she had to go back to her native country. This caught my wife and me by surprise. We asked her if she was unhappy here. She told us that she loved America. We were confused. Why was she leaving?
In broken English she told us her story. After an afternoon at a family birthday party, Gloria was driving home and got stopped by a state trooper. The trooper asked her for her license and then asked her if she had been drinking. Gloria could easily have said no, but she would never lie, especially to a uniformed officer. She admitted that over the course of the afternoon, she had two Coronas.
The trooper asked her to get out of her car and then gave her a field sobriety test. Without hesitation, she complied. Then the trooper asked her to take a breathalyzer test. She politely refused.
Here comes the ugly part. Gloria told us that the trooper started to berate her and told her to go back where she came from. Because she spoke broken English, the trooper probably assumed that she was not an American citizen — or maybe it didn’t matter one way or the other.
Then the trooper shouted at her, “Go back to where you came from. Donald Trump is coming!” The trooper mangled her driver’s license and threw it on the ground. Gloria was placed in handcuffs, arrested and put in the back of the trooper’s car. Gloria said that her license was left on the ground.
As she repeated the trooper’s words, I could barely contain myself. I told her that she didn’t have to leave. But Gloria insisted. “No, Donald Trump is coming. I have to leave.”
It took us a few minutes to convince Gloria that no one could tell her that she had to leave — not even a president. She was an American citizen.
We counseled Gloria to get a lawyer and tell him her story. So far, she has been to court twice. Each time she arrived in court terrified. Her case is scheduled to be heard by a jury later this year. They will decide the merit of the traffic stop.
But there is no merit and no excuse for the trooper’s reprehensible behavior.
When I asked Gloria for permission to tell her story, I promised to leave out her name, the location of the incident and the name of the trooper. She was afraid of retaliation. I could tell when I spoke to her that she still wasn’t convinced that she could stay in her new country. When I spoke to her attorney, I was able to confirm that the court has the body camera footage. Her attorney didn’t see a problem with writing her story.
Gloria came here to America just like my mother did and my grandparents did. She came here just like my wife’s parents did — as immigrants. And just because she struggled with her English and perhaps because her skin was dark, she was told that she had to leave her new country.
There are many fine, hardworking men and women on the Massachusetts State Police. But there are more than a few rotting apples whose very presence stinks up the whole barrel.
Email Raymond V. Mariano at rmariano.telegram@gmail.com . He served four terms as mayor of Worcester and previously served on the City Council and School Committee. He grew up in Great Brook Valley and holds degrees from Worcester State College and Clark University. He was most recently executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority. His endorsements do not necessarily reflect the position of the Telegram & Gazette.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Opinion/Ray Mariano: Memo to state police: Clean up your act
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