The Anti-Spanking Movement

The Truth, The Whole Truth
Detective Robert R. Surgenor

Policemen are supposed to be truthful. But after I joined the police department, I soon found that even law enforcement officers would sometimes lie to cover up mistakes or to protect their fellow officers. I soon found that although an officer's testimony on the witness stand held more weight than the defendant's word, some judges doubted the testimony of policemen, even though they were under oath. Although all officers would "swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," not every one did. One of problems with today's parenting techniques is the lack of importance placed on children telling the truth.

I pride myself on being truthful. I attribute that quality to my parents, who never tolerated even the tiniest "white lie." That quality carried over into my private and professional life. There were times when the police chief called me into his office and asked me, "Okay Bob, what really happened out there?" Other officers came to understand that I said what I meant and I always spoke the truth. It was a quality I always tried to instill in my children. My oldest son once said on a job interview, "I can't lie, my dad would never stand for it!"

One day, as I prepared for my shift, I checked all of the equipment in the police cruiser. I checked the overhead lights, the siren, my shotgun, and my radio. There was one thing I forgot to check, the calibration on my radar unit. And wouldn't you know it, I ended up writing a radar speeding ticket within the first ten minutes of my shift. I checked the radar unit after I wrote the speeding ticket, and it was working fine. But our court required our officers to check the calibration BEFORE and AFTER a radar traffic stop. Although there was no law or state requirement that I check the calibration so often, our court required us to do so. To top things off, the offender pled not guilty, and the case went to court.

I arrived in the prosecutor's office thirty minutes before the trial. He asked me the usual questions, but when I indicated that I had not checked the calibration of the radar unit before the ticket was issued, he shook his head. "Maybe we can get around it," he said. The prosecutor instructed me to avoid the subject of calibrating the radar unit while on the witness stand. I told the prosecutor that the radar unit had to be working properly when I caught the speeder, because it was working properly when I checked it later. "That doesn't matter, Bob," the prosecutor said. "Our court requires that you check the calibration prior to when you wrote the ticket!"

The defendant's attorney was no idiot. When he cross-examined me, his first question was whether or not I had calibrated the radar unit before and after the ticket was written. I had to admit, under oath, that I had not checked the calibration of the radar unit before I wrote the ticket. Even though I testified that the unit was operating properly after the traffic stop, the judge was not impressed, and dismissed the case. The defendant walked out of the courtroom with a smirk on his face.

I was leaving the courtroom when the judge yelled, "Bob, I want to see you in my chambers!" It wasn't often that the judge called a patrolman into his private room. The judge ordered me to sit down. He looked over his desk at me, as I squirmed in the chair. He then asked me, "Bob, why did you testify that you didn't check the calibration on your radar before you went out on the road that day?" The judge's next question floored me. "Who else would have known?" he asked.

My mind was racing as I searched for an answer. Why was the judge asking me this question? Was he angry because we lost the case? Did I mess things up and cost the court a lot of money because of the "not guilty" verdict at the trial? I decided to answer the judge truthfully.

"God would have known," I answered. "When I swore under oath to tell the truth, I meant what I said." A smile crept across the judge's face. He slowly got up from his chair and walked to the door. As he opened the door to let me out, he said softly, "That's all I wanted to know."

Proverbs 14:5 says, "A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies." There were many trials that I testified in during the coming years in that judge's courtroom. Whenever I took the witness stand and raised my hand to take that oath, there was never any doubt in that judge's mind that I was telling the truth. I had established myself as a "faithful witness." When I testified on that witness stand, that judge believed what I said.

Honesty is one of the most important qualities parents can instill in their children. I truly believe that honesty will get you further in life than intelligence, good looks, or an education. You can have a Master's Degree, but if you are dishonest, you will self-destruct in a very short time. You can be very good looking, but if you deceive your friends, they will quickly abandon you. You can be a genius, but if nobody trusts you, you will get nowhere.

God's word gives us an idea of the seriousness of lying. Exodus 20:16, one of the commandments given to Moses says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Obviously, God felt that lying was a bad thing. Exodus 23:1 goes on to say, "Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness." Here, God tells us that a liar is "wicked," but the second part of this verse is more important.

When God tells us "put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness," he is ordering us never to collaborate with a liar for any reason. Why is this so important? Deuteronomy 19:15 says, "One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established." Here, God establishes the requirements for prosecution, at least two witnesses to the crime. Some Ohio criminal statutes actually contain the wordage, "No person shall be convicted of a violation of this section solely upon the victim's testimony unsupported by other evidence." If two people conspire and lie about another, that person could be wrongly convicted. Can you imagine two police officers lying on the witness stand to wrongly convict someone of a crime? That is why today's penalties for conspiracy and perjury are so severe. God realized the seriousness of lying under oath. So does our modern day court system.

Proverbs 19:5 says, "A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape." God places a great deal of importance on the truth. So should parents!