Orson Welles Quotes
The most personal thing I've put in [Touch of Evil] is my hatred of the abuse of police power. It's better to see a murderer go free than for a policeman to abuse his power.
Estrin, Mark W., editor. Orson Welles: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi, 2002.
By allowing illegally obtained evidence to be used in court.
The NRA has not only become extremely right wing organization from its early non-partisan posture, but a few of the officers have demonstrated an anti-government paranoia that most extremists would think extreme such as this quotation. Here he is on political company with the Black Panthers, the KKK, the Aryan Nation and the most extreme of the “lunatic fringe”
This statement by the police commissioner was very controversial as a major form of police brutality at the time was clubbing citizens with their nightsticks which were much larger and heavier than those used today. However the effect on the police officers was to green light heavy use of the nightstick and soon there was a major incident where the police badly beat many innocent citizens in their quest to control and punish alleged leftists. Whalen was forced to resign. See {626664} and {626663}.
In many cases of police brutality, the police arrest the victim and the prosecutor agrees to drop the criminal charges if the victim agrees not to file a police brutality complaint. In Rangel’s youth there were no police review boards and if police beat young men, they were usually able to get away with it, unless the victims happened to be from rich, powerful families. In modern times, the police still get away with brutality but more and more are caught and prosecuted. However, the less police brutality is in large part due to the increased professionalism among police officers brought about by higher qualifications and much better training.
Police have been exceeding their authority under the law of the land for centuries in most nations. In the century that has passed since she wrote this quotation, there have been many reforms in American law enforcement. The situation is better but many police still exceed their authority. For centuries, most politicians have not wanted to curtail or restrict the police regardless of their human rights abuses, and most citizens did not realize the extent of police abuse. Modern media policies and technology has shed much light on the problem.
George Orson Welles was an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer who is remembered for his innovative work in radio, theatre and film. He is considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
