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Policing after Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzalesz, 545 US 748 (2005)

There were times when the creed “To Protect and Serve” blanketed communities with a sense of safety, and security. Later however, that creed turned into a motto emblazoned on the doors and fenders of police patrol cars, seemingly advertising the concept that the police would “protect” and “serve” the community selflessly, and honorably.

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American Cowardice | Atlantic Magazine, March 2024

… I recently bought a book… titled “Make Good Art” by Neil Gaiman, who wrote the movie “Coraline.” I think it might resonate with you as well.
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Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012

In LeChiffre v. Exley, et al. (United States District Court for the District Court of Colorado), one sees that police are no longer constituted “To Protect and to Serve.” That motto and creed no longer applies. Rather, the police have become emboldened to do as they see fit, because the prosecutors and the Courts have enabled a “justice system” which provides for two rules of law: one for the public, and one for members of law enforcement.

One need not look further than the 1,000 (+) deaths that have occurred in 2022, at the hands, knees, boots, batons, Tasers, and guns of those who claim to “protect” American citizens. “I feared for my life”; “I just wanted to go home”, “I thought he was reaching for a weapon”, and “He was resisting” have become the standard excuses … and they work, time and time again, unless these deaths are captured on video. And even with video evidence, the local District Attorneys often decline to prosecute, because they are members of the “Thin Blue Line” and/or its “community”.

LeChiffre v. Exley shows that the images which have been engrained over decades of law enforcement T.V. shows such as “NYPD Blues”, “Law and Order”, “Hawaii Five-O”, and the like, no longer apply to many law enforcement agencies and departments, including the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Recall that a generation ago, the Colored Springs Police Department’s motto was reassuringly emblazoned on the sides of their police cruises . . . “To Protect and to Serve.” In 2005, however, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzalez, held that “the so called substantive component of the due process clause of the United States Constitution does not require the state to protect the life, liberty and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors.” See Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzalez, 545 U.S. 748, 750. 125 S. Ct. 2796, 2800, 162 L. Ed. 2d 658, 658, 2005.

The Supreme Court’s holding in Town of Castle Rock clearly planted the seed in the minds of the law enforcement community that, contrary to decades of public perception and television dramas, the police DO NOT OWE A DUTY TO PRIVATE CITIZENS to protect their “life, liberty and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors.” What was then established was the concept of the “Thin Blue Line” which implicitly provided that if any duty of care or protection exists, it exists only between and amongst their
police Fraternity, and members of their “community.”

This monumental shift in responsibility created by Town of Castle Rock culminated in the Colorado Springs Police Department changing their motto from “To Protect and to Serve” to “Serving the Community as our Family.” Following the logic and reasoning in Town of Castle Rock, the Colorado Springs Police Department seemingly embraced the concept of “our family” to favor “their family”… the so-called “Thin Blue Line”, and its supporters, to the detriment of those who would not fall into lock-step, or who had differing
political, religious, or moral opinions, including Jean-Joseph LeChiffre.

Much like thousands of men and women who served during World War II in the Axis powers, “Unity and “Loyalty” became paramount to any other motto in Colorado Springs! In fact, the El Paso Country (Colorado) Sheriff’s Office’s current motto, which is engraved on Deputy Badges is simply, and brazenly “Unity, Loyalty, Honesty.”

After Town of Castle Rock, “To Protect and to Serve” lost its meaning, to the detriment of those most in need of protection, not only in Colorado, but across the Country. In Uvalde Texas, for instance, 19 (nineteen) elementary school children, and 2 (two) teachers were executed by 1 (one) gunman, as over 400 (four hundred) law enforcement officers and agents, clad in bullet-proof vests, some protected by bullet-proof shields, and supported by military style assault weapons and militarized equipment, stood idly and safely outside of harm’s way for 77 (seventy-seven) minutes.

Shame on every one of those members of law enforcement who disregarded the outdated motto of “To Protect and to Serve”, but rather relied upon the new and improved “Serving the Community as our Family.” One wonders if their children, or family members were in that school, under the gunman’s cross hairs, would they have remained idle? Of course, some will say that, in such cases as Uvalde, “one good guy with a gun” is all that is needed to avert a tragedy. That day, in Uvalde, there were many men and women with guns stationed outside of the elementary school. Yet, with 400 (+) “good guys” in blue, the tragedy unfolded, while those same “good guys” remained safely behind bullet-proof vests, and badges. That is the new normal in the United States of America.

Closer to home, in November 2022, a mass shooting occurred at “Club Q” in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where 5 patrons were murdered, and 19 were injured, based upon their membership, or perceived membership in a protected class of people. The alleged shooter is Anderson Lee Aldrich, a young man well known to the Colorado Springs Police Department, and to the District Attorney, prior to November, 2020!

In fact, months before, the Colorado Springs Police Department, Colorado Springs Law Enforcement, and the Colorado Springs District Attorney’s office stood idly and safely outside of harm’s way, and released Anderson Lee Aldrich, a manifestly troubled and dangerous young man, back onto the streets of Colorado Springs, after Anderson Lee Aldrich threatened to kill a family member with a home-made bomb, and then had a stand-off with the Colorado Springs Police.

The records for Anderson Lee Aldrich arising from that prior bomb threat and “stand-off” were sealed “in the interest of justice.” His live stream of the “stand-off”‘, however, remains in the public domain, and shows Anderson Lee Aldrich to be deeply disturbed, and dangerous.

Even with the terrorist threats, and Anderson Lee Aldrich truly disturbing behavior captured on a live stream, he was given extremely favorable treatment by the Colorado Springs Police Department, Colorado Springs’ Law enforcement, and the Colorado Springs District Attorney’s Office. Those records have been sealed, so the surviving victims might never know.

Rather than looking back at its failures, the Colorado Springs District Attorney’s Office, now proudly gives press conferences where the DA holds up the charging documents, as a talisman of legitimacy on his sleeve. Those charging documents included over 300 criminal charges, totaling hundreds and hundreds of years in prison. Yet, the DA will not answer questions as to why its original charges related to the prior terrorist threat were dropped, or reduced. Charges that, if proven beyond a reasonable doubt, would have had
Anderson Lee Aldrich securely in custody on the night that 5 patrons at Club Q lost their lives, and 19 were injured. Does the DA’s heroics with the 300(+) charges today bring back the lives lost in November of 2022, or would prior incarceration have better served the citizens of Colorado Springs?

One should ask. Why do the laws differ so drastically for a young white man from a “good family”, as compared to a young black or Latino man from a “marginalized family”? Ask also why can a Colorado Springs Police Officer fatally shoot a young black man in the back, as the black man is running away in fear of HIS life, and then the Officer avoids any prosecution? The sad answer is that the Officer simply can, and when he does, the “Thin Blue Line” will rally around him, and the prosecutors will rely upon the magic words
whispered throughout the Academy for such occasions – “I feared for my life” . “I just wanted to go home.”

“BLACK LIVES MATTER”

In addition to Town of Castle Rock, a second monumental shift in Colorado Law Enforcement occurred in 2020 due to the tragic murder of George Floyd.

The justified outrage over George Floyd’s murder, and the demonstrable systemic racism in policing led to the grass-roots “Black Lives Matter” movement, and the call to “De-fund the Police.” The positive press, peaceful protests, political endorsements, bumper stickers, t-shirts, songs, yard signs, and acts of civil disobedience by numerous professional athletes and celebrities led citizens like LeChiffre to exercise their own rights to freedom of speech, and freedom of association … to their detriment.

Many members of law enforcement, and their supporters began to take umbrage, and figuratively dig trenches comprised of “us versus them” rhetoric, and the “All Lives Matter” counter-slogan. Tensions between
members of “Black Lives Matters” and police ran high in the Spring and the Summer of 2020. With the power of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, came the push back from law enforcement.

One need not search long on the internet to find hundreds of videos capturing the use of excessive force by law enforcement against peaceful protestors who supported George Floyd, and “Black Lives Matters.” Those who exercised their First Amendment Rights did so at their peril, against the “Thin Blue Line” who saw that “Unity and Loyalty” had been exposed by a knee firmly placed on a man’s carotid artery, and the callous disregard to the plea: “I Can’t Breath!”

That appreciation of the dangers to Law Enforcement’s status quo was captured within the halls of the Colorado Springs Police Department on July 22, 2020…

SEALE: “He [LeChiffre] works for the bad boys … the bad boys are looking for him so he’s done some pretty not so good things…”
SEALE: “All this bullsh*t going on – “Black Lives Matter” – everyone’s f*cking lives matter.”
Detective. LAMBERT: “I know. It’s hard, I appreciate you…”

“UNITY” and “LOYALTY”

“Unity” and “Loyalty” embolden CSPD Detective Exley, CSPD Detective Lehmkuhl, CSPD Detective Aragon, and CSPD Detective Aulino, and others to later conspire against LeChiffre, because the mold was set generations ago… “police watch after their own.” Sadly, and problematically, “Unity” and
“Loyalty” in Colorado Springs law enforcement has be relied upon within the law enforcement “community” to injure disfavored members of the greater Colorado Springs’ “Community.”

LeChiffre v. Exley, et al., shows that conspiracies to deprive certain citizens of their rights, and conspiracies to protect Colorado Springs Police Officers, retired officers, and their “Families” from prosecution or censure are permissible in the interest of the Colorado Springs Police Department’s own brand of “Justice.”

Here, CSPD Detective Exley, CSPD Detective Lehmkuhl, CSPD Detective Aragon, and CSPD Detective Aulino, and one or more of the Doe Defendants goals were strictly conspiratorial, with no interest in pursuing truth in an academic sense, only arriving at conclusions that accorded with their conspiracies, and their preconceptions.

THE CONSTITUTION IS NOT AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE GOVERNMENT
TO RESTRAIN THE PEOPLE; IT IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE PEOPLE
TO RESTRAIN THE GOVERNMENT. – Patrick Henry

LeChiffre v. Exley, et al., should trouble every American. Free Speech, privacy, due process, and equal protection of the laws are rights protected by the U.S. Constitution. However, police misconduct and corruption demonstrate how deeply our Constitutional rights, and our national values are eroding. LeChiffre v. Exley, et al., also alarmingly demonstrates how those, like LeChiffre, who demand better are at risk of losing their families, and their liberty. Perhaps the Colorado Springs Police, and the Defendants in LeChiffre
v. Exley, et al. recognized Frederick Douglass quote on the bumper sticker on LeChiffre’s Mercedes Benz “Power Concedes Nothing Without A Demand. It Never Did And It Never Will”. The obvious solution – take away the “Demand”, and those who voice it, and there need not be any concessions!

David Kirby, the author of Evidence of Harm, a New York Times bestseller, and winner of the 2005 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, and a finalist for the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism said it well:

“In the face of overreaching government, it is up to us, the American people, to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The Bill of Rights has largely (though not entirely) shielded us from domestic tyranny for nearly 230 years. As the inheritors and stewards of this extraordinary document, we have no choice but to guard its protections jealously, rather than wrongly – and fatally – take them for granted. Fighting back, standing up, being counted – that is America at its best… vigilance matters.” Excerpt from “When They Come For You – How Police And Government Are Trampling Our Liberties, And How To Take Them Back.” St. Martin’s Press 2019