John Street is out as Mayor of Philadelphia. Michael Nutter is in. He started out pissing off the local FOP right before his inauguration.
 The Fraternal Order of Police is angered by Mayor-Elect Michael Nutter’s choice for his cabinet. His selection was a defense attorney for a man accused of killing a police officer.
Nutter’s appointment of Everett Gillison to Deputy Mayor of Public Safety is drawing the ire of the Philadelphia Police Department.
“It’s a mistake, I know our officers out there aren’t happy,” FOP President John McNesby said.
While working as a public defender, Gillison represented the man who shot and killed Officer Gary Skerski in 2006.
I’ll be honest, I’m going to stand with Nutter on this one. Every man is entitled to a fair trial, and entitled to have the assistance of council in his defense. There might be other reasons for not liking Gillison, but the fact that he did his duty as public defender is not among them.
Yeah, but did he win?
I think it’s very telling that the FOP is against him because of this. In fact, it rather scares me. Are they against those accused of crimes against cops being allowed a defense? That’s certainly the implication.
“There might be other reasons for not liking Gillison, but the fact that he did his duty as public defender is not among them.”-Sebastian
Agreed. It does tend to show the attitude of the police as not being about a damn thing to do with law or justice, doesn’t it? The idea that a man had a trial probably is as irritating to them as anything. They see it as a questioning of their infallibility and perhaps a hint that they are not viewed as superior beings beyond society’s rules.
We all know how that would anger them.
I agree with you. The man acted as a public defender, he wasn’t hired by the perpetrator. The police in this instance are showing no regard to the constitutional rights afforded every citizen. As said above, that scares me. Their willingness to discard even the image of justice bodes ill for their reputation on the street.