Police Behavior and What To Do About It

[LFC]

Virginia state senator Amanda Chase (R-Of Course), the wannabe Gestapo Governor, was screeching with dials all up past 11 over the Derek Chauvin verdict. Once again we have a non-rando but rather an official of the Republican Party spouting this kind of fascist, white supremacist insanity.

Virginia state Sen. Amanda Chase (R), one of seven GOP gubernatorial candidates, bashed the verdict in ex-cop Derek Chauvin’s murder trial that found him guilty on all counts for the death of George Floyd earlier this week.

“Friends, today’s verdict makes me sick,” she said during a campaign stop after the decision was announced on Tuesday, per a video tweeted by liberal PAC American Bridge. “I am so concerned about our law enforcement right now quitting. And you should be, too.”

Chase also said the verdict “grieves my heart,” according to VPM.

The candidate doubled down on her complaints later that day in a formal statement reported by Virginia Scope, saying she was “concerned” that the verdict was “politically motivated more to prevent civil unrest than to serve justice.”

Democratic Party of Virginia spokesperson slammed Chase’s “racist and dangerous” remarks in a statement to the Washington Post.

“It’s incumbent upon the other candidates to condemn these comments in no uncertain terms,” he said. “Anything less is a de facto agreement, and proves there is no daylight between them.”

And yet the Republican Party is remarkably quiet about these people. Establishment Republicans hit their low point with their defense of Marjorie Taylor Greene but I have no illusions that that's the ultimate bottom.

[LFC]

Trump continues to be as helpful as ever as he say up is down and day is night.

Former President Donald Trump who repeatedly turned racist dog-whistles into bullhorns and feasted on division as a platform for his failed reelection bid last year, suggested that a call for “accountability” by an NBA star in the recent police shooting of an Ohio teen was both “racist” and “divisive.”

The former President released a statement on Thursday night suggesting that Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James should “focus on basketball rather than presiding over the destruction of the NBA,” after James tweeted a photo earlier this week of an officer suspected for involvement in the shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant.

“His RACIST rants are divisive, nasty, insulting, and demeaning. He may be a great basketball player, but he is doing nothing to bring our Country together!” Trump said.

Hey, blart-boy. Maybe you should focus on stealing money through crooked real estate deal rather than presiding over the destruction of the United States of America.

[LFC]

Inmates who have charges dropped against them can be charged for the cost of their incarceration in Kentucky and other states. Isn't that just extra special.

David Jones spent 14 months in jail, on charges that were later dropped. While behind bars, he lost his home, his job, his car, he said.

Then, when he was finally released, his jailers sent him a bill: he owed more than $4,000 for his time in custody.

Kentucky is one of at least 43 states that allow jails to charge inmates for their food and housing—even if the inmate is found innocent or their case is dismissed, those facilities say. Now 51, Jones found himself in a legalistic nightmare after a shoddy investigation saw him wrongly accused of downloading child pornography. Although a forensic examination of his devices found no evidence of the crime, police let Jones languish for more than a year while the fees piled up.

Now Jones is going on the offensive, arguing before the Kentucky Supreme Court this week to strike down the policy of charging pretrial inmates for their time in jail, a practice that civil-liberties advocates have decried across the country in recent years.

The bill “was a big surprise to him,” Jones’ attorney, Gregory Belzley told The Daily Beast. “In addition to the bill, over that 14-month period, he had money occasionally deposited into his inmate account. There were monies confiscated from that to offset the cost of his confinement.”

A 2000 law allows Kentucky jails to bill inmates for their detention. In the fiscal year 2019, the state’s jails took in more than $24 million from inmates, according to analysis by the Vera Institute of Justice, a research nonprofit focused on criminal justice issues.

The policy is controversial, and in Jones’ case, misapplied, Belzley argued. The law’s current language states that “a prisoner in a county jail shall be required by the sentencing court to reimburse the county for expenses incurred by reason of the prisoner’s confinement.”

But Jones was never sentenced, or even tried in court. “An innocent person who is not being sentenced, who doesn’t get sentenced, has no reimbursement obligation,” Belzley argued.

[LFC]

The former medical examiner who claimed in court that the cause of death couldn't be determined (and floated the evidence free carbon monoxide tripe) is now having his cases reviewed by the state he worked for. The fear is that this clown may have been covering up police murders for years.

Maryland officials are launching an investigation into reports regarding death in police custody that were handled by former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler, just days after his testimony in defense of former police officer Derek Chauvin drew criticism and calls for a review of his work.

“We agree that it is appropriate for independent experts to review reports issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) regarding deaths in custody,” said Raquel Coombs, a spokeswoman for Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh on Friday in response to calls for an inquiry. “We are already in conversations with the Governor’s Office about the need for such a review, and have offered to coordinate it.”

Coombs’ statement was first reported by the Baltimore Sun.

Michael Ricci, a spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), told the Washington Post that the state plans to begin quickly working to identify independent experts who can serve on a work group to review cases under Fowler’s leadership.

Fowler’s tenure as Maryland’s chief medical examiner spanned 17 years, and concluded in 2019. He served as a key witness in the trial for Chauvin, a former Minneapolis officer, who was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd by a jury Tuesday.

Days after the verdict, Fowler said in a statement Friday to the Post that in the Chauvin case his “opinion was formulated after the collaboration of thirteen other highly experienced colleagues in multiple disciplines.”

The attorney general’s review gained further urgency this week after D.C.’s former chief medical examiner Roger Mitchell, wrote an open letter signed by more than 400 doctors around the country that said Fowler’s “baseless” testimony had “revealed obvious bias.”

“We believe the unsubstantiated opinion that carbon monoxide exposure may have contributed to the death of George Floyd is far outside that standard and is grounds for an immediate investigation into the practices of the physician as well as the practice of the Maryland State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) while under his leadership,” the letter said, calling for an inquiry.

Fowler is also notably facing a lawsuit that alleges striking similarity to Floyd’s death in the 2018 case of Anton Black, a teenage college student who died after an encounter with a local police officer who responded to a call of a possible kidnapping on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

According to the Post, Fowler is being represented in that case by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office who has moved to dismiss it.

[LFC]

Minnesota's AG said by history Chauvin had every reason to believe he could do whatever he wanted to.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison believes that ex-Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted last week of murder for the death of George Floyd, killed Floyd despite knowing he was being recorded because he thought he could get away with it like cops have before him.

“I think that if he looks at history, he has every reason to believe that he would never be held accountable,” Ellison told “60 Minutes” in a pre-taped interview that aired on Sunday evening. “There’s never been anyone in Minnesota convicted — any police officer convicted of second-degree murder in the history of our state. So this was precedent setting in that way.”

“So history was on [Chauvin’s] side,” the attorney general added.

Asked why Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck that day, Ellison said that “all we could come up with is what we could divine from his body language and his demeanor” on the video recorded by Darnella Frazier, who was at the scene, that went viral.

“And what we saw is that the crowd was demanding that he get up,” the official said. “And then he was staring right back at them defiantly. ‘You don’t tell me what to do. I do what I wanna do. You people have no control over me. I’m going to show you.'”

Chauvin is an Eric Cartman and you will "respect his authoritah!"

[LFC]

Two of these people are severely mentally ill. Neither is the 73-yr old woman with dementia.

Two Colorado cops violently arrested a 73-year-old woman who has dementia—then were caught on camera celebrating and laughing when they reviewed their horrific body-cam footage hours later at the police station.

The two officers have been identified as Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali of the Loveland Police Department. They arrested 73-year-old Karen Garner on June 26, 2020, after she left a Walmart with $13 of goods that she hadn’t paid for. Garner’s family says she forgot to pay because of her condition.

According to the Denver Post, Hopp found Garner walking home after Walmart staff had reported her. Body-cam footage released this month showed Hopp tackling the terrified woman to the ground when she refused to stop walking way from him, then he handcuffed her and pushed her hard against his cruiser. A concerned citizen can be seen stopping by the side of the road to ask Hopp if so much force was necessary.

The cops fractured the woman’s arm and dislocated her shoulder during the arrest, her family has said, and it’s this horrific body-cam footage that the officers were caught on surveillance camera watching as Garner sat in a nearby cell for hours after her ordeal at the hands of the police.

“Ready for the pop?” Hopp said to Jalali and another officers while they gathered round to watch the footage of the violent arrest. “What popped?” another officer asked. “I think it was her shoulder,” Hopp replied. These comments can be heard at 48:30 in the below video.

Hopp can be heard saying “I can’t believe I threw a 73-year-old on the ground,” while Jalali comments: “It’s like live TV... Body-cams are my favorite thing to watch, I could watch livestream body-cams all day.” The third officer can be heard suggesting “The Body-Cam Show” as a title for a proposed television special, and says to Hopp: “Impressive, buddy.”

[LFC]

Biden's DOJ is doing what Trump's should have been doing. Remember that is was that little weasel Jeff Sessions who initially decided that the Department of "Justice" wouldn't look into cases of state and local police violating people's civil rights.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Monday that the Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into the policing practices of Louisville, Kentucky, which have been under public scrutiny since last year’s killing of Breonna Taylor.

The investigation is the second so-called pattern-or-practice investigation the Justice Department has announced in recent days, in what has been a sharp turn away from the Trump Justice Department’s antipathy towards systematic reviews of local police departments.

“Those investigations, and the recommendations and actions that ensue, do not only protect individuals’ civil rights,” Garland said. “They also assist police departments in developing measures to increase transparency and accountability.”

[Bact PhD]

You know all those "Citizen Police Review Commissions" (or something along those lines) that municipalities created as a sort of civilian-based police oversight? Pretty much hamstrung and all but useless.

(Paywalled)

Federal authorities demanded a wide range of reforms from the city — including a new civilian oversight agency with greater authority.

But many in Albuquerque fought change at every turn: The police union sued to block the new agency and later demanded the resignation of an agency board member who pushed to tighten the police department’s use-of-force policy. The city council took four years to give the agency stronger subpoena power for its investigations. And veteran police officials pushed back against efforts to increase scrutiny of the department’s use of force, creating a backlog of investigations that has prevented the agency and its board from completing their reviews of most fatal shootings.
“This was supposed to be the [board] that wasn’t dysfunctional, and it ends up being just as dysfunctional, just as ineffective as the prior iteration,” said Chelsea Van Deventer, the board member who was targeted by the union.

The struggle in New Mexico’s largest city illustrates the challenge of asking civilians to check police powers. Police nationwide have frequently defied efforts to impose civilian oversight and, in turn, undermined the ability of communities to hold law enforcement accountable, according to a Washington Post review of audits, misconduct complaints, emails, lawsuits and interviews with dozens of current and former officials.

More than 160 municipalities and counties have implemented some form of civilian oversight through review boards, inspectors general and independent monitors. Another 130 localities are trying to do so, according to officials from the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, or NACOLE, though this represents a fraction of roughly 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 27, 2021 13:55:59 GMT Bact PhD said:

You know all those "Citizen Police Review Commissions" (or something along those lines) that municipalities created as a sort of civilian-based police oversight? Pretty much hamstrung and all but useless.

Not surprising.  In my locale we saw the Sheriff essentially lock an independent inspector general hired by the county out of county facilities and from interviewing anyone in the Sheriff Department.  Based on a County Counsel opinion he then argued that the County's legislative body had no oversight authority over his office and department. He said the voters elected him and he only answers to the electorate.  

[LFC]

Apr 27, 2021 15:15:57 GMT goldenvalley said:

Not surprising.  In my locale we saw the Sheriff essentially lock an independent inspector general hired by the county out of county facilities and from interviewing anyone in the Sheriff Department.  Based on a County Counsel opinion he then argued that the County's legislative body had no oversight authority over his office and department. He said the voters elected him and he only answers to the electorate.  

A Sheriff who believes they have complete and total authority with no oversight and no investigation into whether or not they broke the law as long as they win an election. Sounds like a mini-Trump.

[LFC]

The department that employs the officers who killed Andrew Brown, apparently shot in the back of the head as he was unarmed and fleeing in a vehicle so no threat to officers, said they'd show the family the body cam footage. They just made things worse. MUCH worse. This sure smells like a coverup is being attempted.

The family of a Black man shot and killed by police last week saw just a “snippet” of one sheriff’s deputy’s body camera footage of the shooting Monday, attorneys for the family said.

Andrew Brown, Jr.’s family reviewed what was described as a 20-second clip of the deputy’s body camera after a several-hour delay, which County Attorney Michael Cox said was the result of an effort to redact individuals’ faces in the clip. Attorneys for Brown’s family said Cox made the decision to only show the 20-second clip, and also that the private viewing at the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office had been combative.

One family attorney, Bakari Sellers, recalled in a press conference afterward that Cox said that “he was not fucking going to be bullied” during the meeting.

The footage showed that Brown had been “executed,” Brown’s son asserted after viewing the footage.

Another family attorney, Chantel Lassiter, said the clip showed deputies firing at Brown while his hands were on the steering wheel of his vehicle.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 27, 2021 15:25:10 GMT LFC said:

Apr 27, 2021 15:15:57 GMT goldenvalley said:

Not surprising.  In my locale we saw the Sheriff essentially lock an independent inspector general hired by the county out of county facilities and from interviewing anyone in the Sheriff Department.  Based on a County Counsel opinion he then argued that the County's legislative body had no oversight authority over his office and department. He said the voters elected him and he only answers to the electorate.  

A Sheriff who believes they have complete and total authority with no oversight and no investigation into whether or not they broke the law as long as they win an election. Sounds like a mini-Trump.

You hit the nail on the head with that one. This Sheriff hustled out to DC in the early Trump years to talk about undocumented immigrant crime being a huge problem in our area.  That was news to a lot of us here who hadn't heard much about it until Trump made national news over the ricocheted bullet shot by an undocumented immigrant that hit a bystander.  This sheriff ran on the idea of processing as many concealed weapon carry applications as possible, the county jail has issues with inmates dying there, the inspector general he blocked concluded that the department's shooting of a guy having some sort of mental breakdown "excessive" (only 28 shots), his department has a number of sexual harassment claims by department employees working through the court system. He's tuff dontcha get it? And that's just what the voters want in a sheriff. You'd think we're in the Deep South in the 1960s instead of in looney liberal California.

 

[AnBr]

Apr 27, 2021 15:25:10 GMT LFC said:

A Sheriff who believes they have complete and total authority with no oversight and no investigation into whether or not they broke the law as long as they win an election. Sounds like a mini-Trump.

Sounds like a typical Repug.

[LFC]

A take from one of the jurors in the Derek Chauvin trial. I heard this same kind of thing elsewhere. He felt no remorse and fully believed he was going to walk. He was a psychopath with a badge.

For weeks, he was known only as Juror 52—but now Brandon Mitchell has become the first juror in the Derek Chauvin case to speak out. The 31-year-old basketball coach told CNN that there was an oppressive atmosphere in the courtroom every day up until Chauvin was convicted on all charges in the murder of George Floyd. “It was just dark. It felt like every day was a funeral and watching someone die every day,” Mitchell said. “It was tense every day. I wasn’t nervous, but it was stressful. It was a lot of pressure.” Mitchell commented that Chauvin appeared confident in the early days of the trial, but he seemed to shrink as time went on. “His demeanor kind of changed to more of a confused look as this isn’t how it’s supposed to go... I didn’t see any remorse,” said the juror. Mitchell, who is Black, said he was relieved by the verdict, adding: “We haven’t seen an outcome like this on a case. I really think this is a start and I think it’s a good start.”

[LFC]

Torture, plain and simple. This sick f*** should be put away for the rest of his life.

A controversial Georgia sheriff who was charged for accidentally shooting a friend—years after he was acquitted on corruption charges—is in legal trouble once again after being accused of strapping inmates in a restraint chair for hours as punishment.

A newly unsealed federal indictment alleges Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill violated the civil rights of four detainees by forcing them to be strapped in the chair for hours, causing “physical pain and resulting in bodily injury.” On at least one occasion, an inmate was barred from using the bathroom and forced to urinate on the restraint chair, according to the indictment, which was filed on April 19 but unsealed Monday night.

“I’m a sit your ass in that chair for 16 hours straight. Do you understand me?” Hill allegedly told two of the inmates last April as they were strapped to restraint chairs, according to the indictment. “I need to hear from both of y’all that y’all not gonna show y’all’s ass in my county no more.”

Hill, who describes himself on social media as “the crime fighter,” has denied the allegations. In a Tuesday statement, he called it a “political[ly] motivated federal legal case” and said he and his “legal team are the only ones authorized to speak on the details of this matter, and they are confident about the facts of this case.”

“Meanwhile, as we go through this process, I will continue to focus on the mission of fighting crime in Clayton County for continued success,” Hill said.

Drew Findling, one of Hill’s lawyers, told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that while they have been aware of a federal investigation into the sheriff for at least six months, “we are shocked that this was indicted.”

This is all new, and more than a bit frightening, to these sadists who believe they can do anything they wish once you're in their custody. For far too long and far too often they've been almost totally right.

[LFC]

The DOJ is going to bring federal charges against Chauvin et al. In fact they had plans to arrest him right then and there if he had not been found guilty.

Justice Department officials were planning to arrest former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin at the courthouse earlier this month after spending months collecting evidence to indict Chauvin on federal police brutality charges if he had not been found guilty of murdering George Floyd, or if the case ended in mistrial, the Star Tribune reported early Thursday.

Under the contingency arrest plan, the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office would have charged Chauvin by criminal complaint, sources told the Star Tribune.

In the wake of Chauvin’s guilty verdict on all charges during his state trial, federal prosecutors are now moving forward with their case which would involve charges on civil rights violations for Chauvin and the three ex-officers in connection with Floyd’s death, according to the Star Tribune.

Leading up to the trial, federal prosecutors had reportedly ramped up calling witnesses before a grand jury, signaling the federal civil rights charges for Chauvin.

Sources familiar with the secretive proceedings told the Star Tribune back in February, that federal prosecutors were investigating Chauvin’s use of force on Floyd and a 2017 arrest that involved Chauvin pinning a 14-year-old with his knee.

In the lesser known second case, Chauvin struck the teen on the head with a flashlight, then grabbed him by the throat and hit him again, according to court documents reviewed by the Star Tribune that describe body camera footage that has not been publicly released.

Josh Marshall has a sigh of relief that it wasn't necessary to arrest Chauvin on the spot. Interestingly it appears that the DOJ under Wilhelm Barr wasn't willing to cut a plea deal where they dropped federal civil rights charges. I suspect it would have been very different under Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions.

Thank God it didn’t come to that. But if Derek Chauvin had been acquitted in Minneapolis federal officials were planning to arrest him at the court house on federal civil rights charges. The DOJ still plans to bring those charges against Chauvin and the three other officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death.

Worth remembering that after the conviction there were reports of early negotiations over a plea. They apparently broke down over the unwillingness of the DOJ – then under Bill Barr – to agree to waive federal civil rights charges as part of a deal. So such charges being in the cards, or at least under consideration, didn’t start with Biden’s inauguration.

Obviously, it would have been a very bad day for the country if Chauvin had been acquitted and likely would have unleashed another wave of protests. One imagines the drama of such an arrest and the promise of a second shot at accountability was meant to disrupt, at some level, that chain of events.

As I said, thank God it wasn’t necessary. But I’m fascinated to imagine how that scenario would have played out.

[LFC]

No video release, no charges, nothing to see here in the gunning down of an unarmed fleeing suspect in North Carolina. I guess they were scared so it's OK to just open fire. The press conference sounded like a shit show.

The Pasquotank County, North Carolina District Attorney announced Tuesday he will not be filing charges against police officers who shot Andrew Brown, Jr., an unarmed 42-year old Black man, in the head, killing him while serving an arrest warrant on April 21. After holding a lengthy press conference Andrew Womble became defensive when asked about releasing the video, and later when asked how he could make a decision to not charge officers when all the facts are not in.

"I'm not releasing the video, this is done," Womble told reporters. "Anything in my office is not public record by statute."

The Associated Press adds: "Womble, who showed portions of the video at the news conference, said Tuesday that he would not release the video."

Womble reportedly has a total of about two hours of video from police body cams, but only allowed the family of Andrew Brown, Jr. to see less than 20 minutes worth. He showed a very small portion of video on Tuesday to support his decision to not file charges against any of the officers.

Womble went on to say that any release of the video would have to be done through the court, but when asked if he had requested the video be released he said he had not.

“You can not swing a skunk in front of a group of people then ask them not to smell it," Womble said last month.

On Tuesday Womble told reporters, "Mr. Brown's death, while tragic, was justified, because Mr. Brown's actions caused three deputies with the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office to reasonably believe it was necessary to use deadly force to protect themselves and others."

After urging the public to not "jump to conclusions until all the facts are out," one reporter reminded Womble he had just admitted he did not have all the facts.

"Do you think all the facts are out?" the reporter said. "You told us that you don't know how fast the car was going, whether the car was decelerating or accelerating. And the still images you showed us told a different story, before the first shot was fired. Once you put the video in motion, it looked like Brown was turning away from the officer."

"I'm sorry, your question is?" Womble, defensively replied.

"How do you respond to that?" the reporter posited.

"What was the question?" Womble again replied.

"Are you sure all the facts are in?" the reporter continued. "You said you don't know if the car was decelerating or accelerating."

"I know that all of the facts that I needed to make this decision are in," Womble replied.

[Deleted]

Apparently video has been released.

[LFC]

May 18, 2021 19:06:07 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

Apparently video has been released.

As far as I can tell just a minority of the video as selected by the DA who said the shooting was justified.

[LFC]

Another murder of a black man by police that was covered up.

Louisiana state troopers were captured on body camera video stunning, punching and dragging a Black man as he apologized for leading them on a high-speed chase -- footage of the man’s last moments alive that The Associated Press obtained after authorities refused to release it for two years.

“I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!” Ronald Greene can be heard telling the white troopers as the unarmed man is jolted repeatedly with a stun gun before he even gets out of his car along a dark, rural road.

The 2019 arrest outside Monroe, Louisiana, is the subject of a federal civil rights investigation. But unlike other in-custody deaths across the nation where body camera video was released almost immediately, Greene’s case has been shrouded in secrecy and accusations of a cover-up.

Louisiana officials have rebuffed repeated calls to release footage and details about what caused the 49-year-old’s death. Troopers initially told Greene’s family he died on impact after crashing into a tree during the chase. Later, State Police released a one-page statement acknowledging only that Greene struggled with troopers and died on his way to the hospital.

That lie alone should have instantly triggered firing of the officers and prosecution for murder. No killing of a suspect by police should ever go uninvestigated or "investigated" privately and no outright lie about what happened should go unpunished. The police are, of course, fighting independent oversight tooth and nail across the country.

[goldenvalley]

May 20, 2021 19:59:38 GMT LFC said:

Another murder of a black man by police that was covered up.

Louisiana state troopers were captured on body camera video stunning, punching and dragging a Black man as he apologized for leading them on a high-speed chase -- footage of the man’s last moments alive that The Associated Press obtained after authorities refused to release it for two years.

“I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!” Ronald Greene can be heard telling the white troopers as the unarmed man is jolted repeatedly with a stun gun before he even gets out of his car along a dark, rural road.

The 2019 arrest outside Monroe, Louisiana, is the subject of a federal civil rights investigation. But unlike other in-custody deaths across the nation where body camera video was released almost immediately, Greene’s case has been shrouded in secrecy and accusations of a cover-up.

Louisiana officials have rebuffed repeated calls to release footage and details about what caused the 49-year-old’s death. Troopers initially told Greene’s family he died on impact after crashing into a tree during the chase. Later, State Police released a one-page statement acknowledging only that Greene struggled with troopers and died on his way to the hospital.

That lie alone should have instantly triggered firing of the officers and prosecution for murder. No killing of a suspect by police should ever go uninvestigated or "investigated" privately and no outright lie about what happened should go unpunished. The police are, of course, fighting independent oversight tooth and nail across the country.

I saw the video AP released from the cop's cameras.  It was so brutal. Those cops are sick, sick people.  And they got away with it for 2 years.

[AnBr]

May 20, 2021 19:59:38 GMT LFC said:

Another murder of a black man by police that was covered up.

That lie alone should have instantly triggered firing of the officers and prosecution for murder. No killing of a suspect by police should ever go uninvestigated or "investigated" privately and no outright lie about what happened should go unpunished. The police are, of course, fighting independent oversight tooth and nail across the country.

I would have probably fled, too. Given the behavior of police it is likely he would have been in danger if he had pulled over from the start. Remember the man (Kentucky?) a few years back that got shot for simply reaching for his wallet when asked to show his driver's license? Never take the intention of police in good faith, especially if you are a black man. They have done nothing to earn that trust.

[LFC]

Some cities have been pushing to reform their police departments but it's a slow, hard slog with massive resistance from police and the judicial system who are fine with the way things are.

A year after George Floyd’s murder and the worldwide protests it sparked, more than half of US states have passed reform bills, altering policies like use of force, creating new rules about tracking misconduct, and mandating officer interventions during aggressive encounters. Major cities even made moves to aggressively reimagine policing.

Some of these changes have been tentative; some have been reversed; others have run up against lawsuits and backlash and red tape; some have been far less than what local protesters have called for. Changing policing, it has become apparent, will not be instantaneous or easy.

“I tell people, this is long, hard work,” said Jo Ann Hardesty, the city commissioner of Portland, Oregon, and a longtime activist.

Although the protests are no longer as large as they were last summer, the will to continue that work seems to still be present: An Associated Press/NORC poll conducted April 29 to May 3 found that 45 percent of Americans see police violence against the public as a serious problem. While that number is down 3 percentage points from the height of 2020’s protests, it is up 13 points from July 2015. The same poll found that 95 percent of Americans believe the criminal justice system needs to be changed, with 68 percent saying the system needs a complete or major overhaul.

As cities have begun enacting these sorts of major reforms, they have broadly fallen into three categories: reallocation of police funds into social services and community programs; citizen-based oversight initiatives; and plans to rethink how police departments look and function. Vox looked at three cities’ journeys toward making radical changes to how policing is done.

“We have to stop being afraid of going against the grain and do something new,” Austin Justice Coalition founder and executive director Chas Moore told me. And now, one year after Floyd’s death, some cities are trying to do just that.

[Deleted]

May 25, 2021 21:24:51 GMT LFC said:

Some cities have been pushing to reform their police departments but it's a slow, hard slog with massive resistance from police and the judicial system who are fine with the way things are.

Yep. We want American bobbies on the street, outfitted with a whistle and a stick, beside loads of derring-do. Oh and let's call them Mr. Goon. (Yes, it's a reference to a character from children's book series who was remarkably short on derring-do.)

[LFC]

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio once called for a solution in better oversight with real teeth. Then he became mayor.

Years ago, before he was mayor, Bill de Blasio laid out the essence of any effort to reform the country's largest police department. New York City needed true civilian oversight.

Describing the city agency tasked with investigating police misconduct as “more of a lapdog than a watchdog," he proposed in 2009 to give it more independence, authority, and guaranteed funding. A few months later, he again pledged change, saying in a statement, “the NYPD cannot oversee itself."

Then, in 2013, he was elected mayor. And rather than create more independence for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, he ended up asserting ever-more control over the agency, intent on avoiding conflict with the Police Department, according to internal communications obtained by ProPublica and interviews with more than two dozen current and former officials.

The mayor's office edited reports and testimony to soften criticism of the NYPD and roll back proposals for more effective oversight. It maneuvered to block some of the same policies de Blasio had advocated for years before. And when the civilian officials were faced with obstruction by the NYPD, the mayor's office ignored their pleas for support.

When the CCRB in a draft report two years ago noted that police were withholding footage from body-worn cameras, an aide to the mayor ordered the CCRB to take out the direct reference to the department: “Let's simplify and remove the acronym 'NYPD.'"

New Yorkers and others have seen de Blasio's deference to the police play out on the public stage, perhaps most infamously when he defended NYPD's response to last summer's racial justice protests. But the internal accounts show how City Hall worked behind the scenes to protect the NYPD from scrutiny.