Convicted by Jameel Zookie McGee

Author:Jameel Zookie McGee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2017-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

Andrew

After the sergeant drove me home from the station, I told my wife I was in trouble for some drugs I hadn’t handled correctly. “I should have put them into evidence, but I never did and now they want to prosecute me over it,” I said. I’d lived a lie for so long I actually believed what I told her. When the story broke on the news that night and my face was plastered across the screen, I believe doubts crept into my wife’s mind about me.

Even though the situation could not have looked worse, I still thought I could find a way out of it. Surely if I explained that in my zeal to get more drugs off the street I had simply forgotten to log these drugs into evidence, my superiors would understand that. I’d admit I’d been lazy and sloppy. I rehearsed what I planned to say over and over in my head until I nearly believed it myself.

My plan for redemption blew up when I met with the police union attorney. The first words out of his mouth were, “I’m not sure what you did, but this is getting big.”

I tried to play it cool. I gave him that old “I don’t know what you’re talking about” look and said, “Big? Really? How?”

“Now the FBI is involved. They’re already talking about indicting you for a racketeering conspiracy. Investigators are interviewing all your confidential informants because apparently the police suspect you lied about your controlled buys. Word is the money that was supposed to go to the CPIs went into your pocket,” he said.

I tried not to react, but I knew I was dead where I stood. Only one other person on earth knew about my pocketing money. B must have come clean. But if he had, he would have had to tell on himself as well. Or he may have simply lied to save himself. The thin blue line had failed me again.

I could hardly force words out of my mouth. Finally, I managed to spit out, “So what can I do?”

“If you resign immediately, they might back off since they will have given the public what they want, which is to get rid of you,” he said.

“Okay,” I said. My little plan to save my job was no longer an option. Now I hoped to avoid going to prison. With great reservation on my part, the union attorney and I went to the chief’s office, where I signed my resignation papers. I could not believe my dream was dying like this. On the way out of the station, I ran into the captain and B. The two were walking along, joking with one another, until they saw me. B’s eyes dropped to the floor. The captain stared a hole through me. I recognized the look. It was the same one I gave suspects after I’d nailed them.

When I returned home I collapsed onto a chair in the living room and felt the weight of all my failures crashing down on me.

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