Submitted by 54_actual t3_zxmwg6 in todayilearned
Sgt. Norman Pilcher, (1935-2021) had a celebrated career of targeting and busting pop stars, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, George and Pattie Harrison, and members of the Rolling Stones. Pilcher was, however, later accused of planting evidence in later years. Several stars complained that drugs had been “found” in places where the drugs had not been kept. George Harrison’s “stash” was allegedly found in a shoe, yet George noted that he was “a tidy person,” and the drugs found “weren’t his.” The arrests of several of these musicians sometimes plagued their careers for many years.
He was convicted to four years’ imprisonment following mid-70’s conspiracy charges. In his 2020 book, “Bent Coppers,” he alleged there was corruption throughout the police agency, and that his planting evidence was at the urging of his superiors.
In addition to Lennon’s mention in the song, “I Am The Walrus,” Sgt. Norman was also the inspiration for the character “Spiny Norman,” in the Monty Python “Piranha Brothers” sketch.
“Was later accused of…”
He said “his planting of evidence was at the urging of his superiors.”
Sounds like him planting evidence is just a fact.
To try to be completely accurate, this seems like a legal issue, and nothing is ever cemented until proven in court when it’s legal. It’s like how tectonic plates are a “theory” in science despite the evidence being highly compelling for them. We can’t, as of yet, scientifically test them so they remain a theory rather than law (iirc). It’s a system thing, even though it seems like it’s so obvious.
The scientific definition of a theory is different from a literary one. When you have a hypothesis and through repeated testing it's proven to be highly probable that it is the case then with the proper mathematical or chemical backing (depending in which field the discovery is) it is elevated to the status of a theory which is the highest it can go and the laws are postulates that help the theory work. For example, Newton's theory of gravitation states that two objects a distance apart are attracted to eachother and have a force acting on eachother that is proportional to the product of their masses and inverse to the square of the distance between them and the law of gravity is Gm1m2/r² with G being the universal gravitational constant. Laws are not of a higher status than a theory but parts of a theory.
Gotcha, I understood “law” as a theory that is repeatable and testable. Maybe I was taught wrong, but something is a theory, no matter the amount of theoretical evidence, until it can be proven law (and this proof is more along the lines of the scientific method. Mathematical evidence, for example, cannot establish something as law).
Ah don't worry, yeah you were probably taught wrong but in a scientific context a repeatable and testable educated guess is called a hypothesis which on recieving further evidence becomes a theory which will be our new understanding of it but the caveat is that you can never be 100% sure and scientists have the humility to say that they too can be wrong and call it a theory. However that doesn't discredit their work as some phenomenon stated as fact today are still theories. For example gravity, plate tectonics, thermodynamics, evolution, genetics, etc. The laws are like the important points of a theory as to what happens.
Gotcha. I knew theories were solid, but definitely misunderstood the role of law. Thank you!
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