To tell the truth It is, at a minimum, what we expect of our law enforcement officers. An FHP trooper's testimony that he and other officers routinely misled courts on arrest reports should prompt a federal investigation.
Few things are as sacrosanct as the integrity of the courts.
The testimony of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper that he and other law officers misled the courts on arrest reports as a matter of routine raises the alarming prospect that an untold number of defendants were denied their rights to lawful arrest and prosecution. The U.S. Justice Department should follow the example of state prosecutors and examine whether the trooper's allegations are valid and constitute evidence of systematic misconduct in the handling of criminal cases. Trooper Douglas Strickland testified that troopers routinely falsified information on sworn arrest affidavits in an effort to conceal the identity of FBI informants and to protect ongoing federal investigations. Troopers withheld details of federal involvement, and authorities suggest they did so at the request of FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents. Polk County prosecutors, upset that they and the state courts were lied to, dropped charges stemming from an arrest Strickland made in a 1998 drug conspiracy case.