Rehiring Killer-Cops Tells Us Everything We Need to Know About the System

Abstract

Rehiring Killer-Cops Tells Us Everything We Need to Know About the System Judson L. Jeffries Two months ago, I learned that Myles Cosgrove, the former Louisville Metro Police Officer who fired the fatal shot that killed Breonna Taylor, an emergency management technician, a few short years ago, is once again gainfully employed in law enforcement. Apparently, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, an hour outside of Louisville, had an opening to fill and deemed Cosgrove worthy of the job. “We think he will help reduce the flow of drugs in our area and reduce property crimes. We felt like he was a good candidate to help us in our county,” said a police official. News of that hiring was disappointing but not surprising. Over the past 30 years, I have had the pleasure of talking to and interacting with many fine police officers of all stripes across the country. In my many conversations with them, on- and off-the-record, one theme continued to surface and that is, some police leaders’ willingness to ignore an officer’s past discretions when filling a position. In other words, not only are those police officers who engage in extralegal force resulting in either serious injury or death often not terminated, but when they are, it is not atypical for them to find employment in nearby law enforcement agencies. Not only is it not uncommon for them to land law enforcement positions elsewhere, it is also not atypical for them to repeat the same behaviors that resulted in their termination by their previous employer. Many years ago, a retired Chicago police officer told me this under anonymity: many of the officers who engage in criminality of all kinds, not just extralegal force, are not first-time offenders. When I asked him to expound on this, he shot back, “By the time they retire, and many of them are kept on the force long enough to retire, they have a jacket/file of complaints as thick as a spiral notebook. On those rare occasions when they are terminated,” said this officer, “it’s not hard for them to find jobs in other police departments.” Another retired police officer, the first woman [End Page 1] chief of a major police department, agreed, but when I asked her why bad seeds are retained or able to find employment elsewhere after they are terminated, she said, “because some police leaders believe that officers like that serve a particular purpose.” She continued, “during my day, it was not rare for a fired police officer to find employment in another city within the same state. That was not uncommon at all.” Despite firing 16 shots into Taylor’s apartment, including the shot that killed her, Cosgrove did not face any criminal charges. He was fired instead for violating use of force procedures and failing to use a body camera during the illegal raid on Taylor’s apartment. Although I found news of Cosgrove’s hiring deflating, it was not surprising. Sadly, the same thing happens in other industries such as healthcare, the legal field, and education, to name a few. Despite a person’s troubled history, as long as said person’s license is not revoked, that person is seemingly free to pursue other opportunities within the same line of work. For example, in academia, members of a search committee may be instructed by administrators to ignore what may be learned about a candidate’s past and consider only the person’s application and how they comport themselves during the interview. How troublesome is that? So, the fact that Cosgrove was able to latch on with another law enforcement agency shouldn’t surprise anyone. Upon learning of the decision by the Carroll County Sherriff’s Office, understandably, some residents were outraged. Outrage without a plan of action will not amount to much. The hiring of Cosgrove is further confirmation that the system is broken and in need of a long overdue rehaul. Thus, our outrage should be channeled toward putting measures in place that brings the practice of recycling problem police officers to an abrupt end rather than staging hastily put-together protests that yield next to nothing and...