MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A remarkable and unusual scene took place outside a Massachusetts courtroom last week. Hundreds of people - many wearing pink T-shirts - erupted into cheers and tears upon news of a verdict. They were there to support a woman named Karen Read, who'd been accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV during a snowy January night in 2022. Why the strong reaction? Well, some had been persuaded by the defense theory that the boyfriend had actually been killed by fellow cops who then conspired to frame Read, but others who followed the case said some of the reaction was due to outrage at unprofessional conduct by police during the investigation, including notably from the lead investigator, Michael Proctor. So does this case tell us anything about the public's trust in law enforcement? I asked David Sarni this. He's a retired NYPD detective and adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who teaches police ethics among other courses.
DAVID SARNI: Unfortunately, there are a lot of - I'm not going to say unethical, but you're looking at some things that were, you know, the investigator, unfortunately, from an outsider point of view, put himself in an unprofessional demeanor, between the text messages to his friends, you know, the professional protocols may not have been established properly, the chain of custody, the recovery of evidence. All those things came into play.
MARTIN: Let me just back up here for people who did not follow this as closely as other people did, that some of the things that stood out were just, first of all, the way the evidence was collected - using a leaf blower to clear snow away from the scene, people question, gee, did that disrupt evidence? Investigators didn't search the house. But what was most damning was these text messages that the lead investigator sent to friends. At the first trial, he had to read them aloud. He disparaged Karen Read. He mocked her. He suggested that, you know, he hoped that she would kill herself. So you don't think that was unethical?
SARNI: Here's the issue is if you're the lead investigator, you have to be beyond reproach. And the key to everything is, it's an unbiased investigation. You have to determine by the totality of circumstances and the facts available. When you start disparaging victims and perpetrators and subjects along those lines, it decimates your credibility. It decimates your unbiased operation of the investigation.
MARTIN: Do you think there's a broader issue here with the way the public views law enforcement? Because in recent years, there have been a number of these high-profile cases where police conduct has been an issue. I mean, obviously, in the case of George Floyd or the case of Tamir Rice, this 12-year-old was playing with a BB gun, and then the police shot him within, like, literally minutes of coming upon him. And I just wonder, do you think that there's a broader issue here of credibility that has been eroded by these cases of police misconduct?
SARNI: Well, when you see these things, you do - you'll see an erosion. You will see that because high-profile cases, videos that come out without any context, people make these decisions based on 15, 20 seconds, 30 seconds of video. And that's the thing, the totality of the investigation, the totality of the incident that takes place. The Tamir Rice, these - you know, we talk about issues of use of deadly force. And in this case, you know, split-second decisions are made, and let the investigation happen. That's - unfortunately, we have lost that because the court of public opinion is much faster to respond to that. That's why, when it comes to this investigation, the Karen Read trial and the Karen Read case, it is specific to the commonwealth. It's specific to the Karen Read investigation. But you will see investigations that take place in other places - Connecticut, New York City, New York State, where investigators are beyond reproach. Their investigations are honorable, respectful, but you don't get the media coverage for that.
MARTIN: Is there something that you will draw from this going forward as you continue to teach police procedure?
SARNI: I want to always make sure that people who are going to law enforcement will need to (ph) understand law enforcement, understand the whole process. And if you're going into the position of a police officer, if you're going there, you should know the good and bad side of it. It's a very positive job. It's a profession. If you treat it as such, if you bring the attitude and effort to do it the right way in every sense of the way. And that's really what it comes down to.
MARTIN: That's David Sarni. He's a retired NYPD detective, and he's a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Professor Sarni, thanks so much for talking to us.
SARNI: Thank you very much and take care. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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