Today, if the defendant does not take the stand, he can enhance his chances of successfully defending against a criminal prosecution by attempting to destroy the credibility of the police officer testifying against him. By destroying the credibility of the police officer, defense attorneys hope to put reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors. This reasonable doubt is no longer whether or not the defendant is guilty, but whether or not the police officer was capable of conducting a criminal investigation. The goal of every police officer when making an arrest must be to seek a conviction. In order to convict a suspect, the police officer must be thoroughly prepared to do battle in the courtroom.
Police officers train constantly to be able to do battle out on the streets.
Police chiefs spend thousands of dollars sending police officers to tactical schools, firearms schools and defensive-tactics schools. Not enough time is spent training police officers to engage in courtroom combat. No police officer should ever attempt to testify in court without being properly trained to testify. The first consequence of losing a courtroom battle is not gaining a conviction of a suspect who has been arrested. More important to the individual police officer though, it is the possibility of civil liability.