Technicalities

I was watching some TruTV at work tonight -- one of those follow the investigation shows -- and something one of the officers said struck me as just plain wrong. He said something to the effect that they were absolutely positive that the guy was their murderer, but he was able to 'get off on a technicality.'

Quite frankly, there's no such thing as a technicality. Either you (as a cop) did your job correctly, or you didn't. You either filled out the application for a warrant fully and correctly, based it on valid (i.e. legal) observations, and executed it within the letter of the law; or you didn't. There was no technicality, there was a fuck up; and it's on you. You broke the rules that allow the prosecutor to present your evidence to the court -- whether it was continuing questioning after a subject asked for a lawyer, stopping a vehicle without a valid reason, or just plain not dotting your 'i's and crossing the 't's on your report -- don't blame the court for finding that the defendant was right on challenging how you did your job.