Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

more soldiery crazy cops

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/methods-that-cops-use-with-the-mentally-ill-are-madness/388610/

murder charges: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/us/south-carolina-officer-is-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Whoa- that video. Probably shouldn't have watched it for reasons of my mental equilibrium.

Yeah, I'm not watching the video, but having read the description of it in three different articles, there seems to be very little ambiguity about what took place. Of course, the same could be said about the video evidence in the death of Tamir Rice and Eric Garner and we know what happened in those cases. At least this fucker has murder charges and has been denied bail.

Does anyone doubt at this point that he will get off?

it's a disturbing video, although it's not gruesome (no blood or screaming). what's amazing about the footage is the 4 minutes after the shooting. the cop glances at whoever is taking the video, then walks over to the victim, and realizes he just murdered him. then he jogs back to where he was standing when he was shooting, and picks up something off the ground. soon, after his backup arrives, he drops the object onto the ground besides the guy he shot. the NYT video highlights this in detail.

anyway, obviously trigger warnings apply (although it's much, much less violent than the kennedy assassination video), but the video is going to be important beyond just the footage of him shooting an unarmed man who is running away during the first few seconds of it.

has there ever been publicly viewed video of a cop planting evidence on someone he just killed before this?

I don't think the cop saw that there was someone shooting video--otherwise that guy would be dead too

really hoping the blatant planting of the taser (to backup his official story that the guy stole it) helps convict this bastard

the object in the video hasn't been 100% identified as the taser, i don't think. but yeah, certainly looks like it, and it makes sense.

can we post this at the top of the thread or what:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCBy2hWWAAIgh7O.jpg

the cop glances at whoever is taking the video, then walks over to the victim, and realizes he just murdered him

And yet still screams "Put your hands behind your back."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/04/north_charleston_shooting_how_investigatory_traffic_stops_unfairly_affect.html

http://gawker.com/walter-scott-and-the-american-slaughter-1696507544

That Gawker piece describes my current level of fatigue very well.

I very carefully avoided watching the Walter Scott execution video online, which makes me even more furious that network news keeps showing it multiple times during every teaser. It's fucking disgusting.

I've been avoiding it too, but I watched the NBC news last night, and I swear they showed the video at least 10 times during the newscast (and without any kind of "what you're about to see is graphic and shocking" warning).

"Fucking disgusting" is otm.

I'm waiting to see how long it takes for someone to dredge up any possible minor infraction in the cameraman's past and try to shift the focus to that in order to discredit him.

Napolitano on FOX said, "This is what people said Ferguson was."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/10/us/north-charleston-police-shooting-not-justified-experts-say.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

The court case at the center of the issue of shooting a fleeing suspect, Tennessee v. Garner, a Supreme Court ruling from 1985, held that the police in Memphis had acted unreasonably in shooting an unarmed suspect in the back and killing him as he fled from a house he was suspected of burglarizing. The ruling effectively set a national requirement that officers shoot only when life is endangered and established that they cannot shoot unarmed, nondangerous suspects solely out of concern that they might escape.

yeesh

Also I dont think cameras everywhere on police is going to solve much, mostly because this

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/apr/07/local/la-me-lapd-tamper-20140408

Los Angeles police officers tampered with voice recording equipment in dozens of patrol cars in an effort to avoid being monitored while on duty, according to records and interviews.

An inspection by Los Angeles Police Department investigators found about half of the estimated 80 cars in one South L.A. patrol division were missing antennas, which help capture what officers say in the field. The antennas in at least 10 more cars in nearby divisions had also been removed.

Dan, I agree, and I empathize with you as well - it's violence pornography and although I wouldn't begrudge somebody for watching the video to understand what happened, the way the networks are using the video is inappropriate (and as noted above, viewers are getting sandbagged into watching it).

I'm waiting to see how long it takes for someone to dredge up any possible minor infraction in the cameraman's past and try to shift the focus to that in order to discredit him.

― joygoat, Friday, April 10, 2015 1:27 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that or the narrative that will emerge is "if he had not fled his vehicle and followed instructions, he would still be alive". though being that the officer's own employer fired him and condemned the shooting, I am hoping this doesn't turn into another Ferguson, he's convicted, and it's a small victory, a move in the right direction.

I've learned not to get too optimistic about these things though.

xpost yeah the Onion joked today that one Pro in regards to body cameras is that you would know exactly the cop's exact location at the moment he disabled his body cam

serious question here, but these internal investigations that investigate all officer-related shootings, is it overseen by any third party or is it typically all done in-house in states? Because it would seem to me this is the type of thing that really requires an outside source to investigate but it feels very insular in all cases.

Wisconsin passed a law to require independent investigation of police custody deaths last year. They're the only state to mandate it. Should be everywhere.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/23463-wisconsin-passes-first-state-law-requiring-independent-investigations-of-police-custody-deaths#

like the woman looking over Walker's shoulder to make sure he actually signs it

"We researched the state of Wisconsin and we could not find an 'unjustified' ruling of a police-involved shooting in 129 years since the police and fire departments were first formed in 1885, and we knew that was an impossible record of perfection. Either the police officers were perfect, or there was something wrong with the system," Bell said.

so shocked

Hey if you want to read a truly depressing article that makes it clear why even one of the worst humans governing a state was forced to sign this into law, here you go:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/what-i-did-after-police-killed-my-son-110038.html#.VSc5RoY8KnM

http://justice.gawker.com/white-americas-silence-on-police-brutality-is-consent-1696780967

Whites rate the nation's police force among the three institutions in our country that inspire the most confidence, behind only the military and small business, according to a survey by Gallup.

lol I have zero faith in these institutions

that article very otm

the wisconsin thing is one of the very, very few political bright spots in this state from the past five years

x-posts There's a lot of discussion in Nixonland of how conservatives successfully turned New York's Civilian Complaint Review Board into a wedge issue. And they've continued to do so for four decades all over the country by positioning outside oversight as interfering with police ability to do their jobs, being soft on crime, allowing those people to hamstring the cops, etc.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/newshomepage1/sheriff-s-office-reserve-deputy-who-fired-fatal-shot-was/article_3d1f3fe7-43cd-5fa1-9e8c-d8b3aefe2504.html

I didn't realize that this guy literally paid the department to let him be a cop

there have got to be involuntary manslaughter charges pursued against the reservist, right? I mean, he did the right thing in acknowledging the mistake (and he shouldn't have been there with a service weapon to begin with), but Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for exactly the same thing (and many on the force were critical of how he couldn't tell the difference in the weight of the weapon). Different state and different circumstances obviously (they were pursuing murder/voluntary manslaughter against Mehserle and the jury only opted to choose involuntary due to lack of evidence of intent), but it's reckless and appropriate in this case.

The fucking cops who said "fuck your breath" should be suspended just for being callous assholes.

the average person has literally no power over how police forces operate t/f

in our town it seems the city government doesn't even have all that great power over that, because of course aside from the statutory/institutional power over appointments, hiring/firing of leadership, a lot of it is internal, and the police themselves often push back w/ support from their political allies whenever some assertion of power over operations is made

idk the answer to that really but during a snowstorm recently two black boys were shoveling ppl's sidewalks in my neighborhood when the police came and started hassling them. the woman whose walk was being shoveled wrote a post about the experience on a neighborhood fb group accusing the local police of profiling. it got over 100 comments and forced the local department to hold a review of their practices. you can read about it here and the police report on the incident here. will that make a difference in the long run? the police report in part reads:

In the report, officials say they will re-examine community policing principles that are already in place and explore ways to make better direct connections with neighborhoods and residents. That will include police examining how to utilize patrol officers’ time during shifts to improve communication and engagement in the township’s neighborhoods. That would also include revised operating procedures with more foot and bike patrols.

Along the same ideas, Lower Merion police will also reinstitute a police citizen’s academy later this year. Township officials say they plan on reinvigorating the Police and Community Relations Committee in the hopes of serving as a bridge between the department and the community.

“The overriding priority of our actions moving forward is to do the best we can to ensure that all citizens feel they are given equal police protection and service regardless of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, age or any other criteria,” according to the report.

if it does end up making any positive impact on this issue in my community, i'd guess it's bc it happened on a very local level in a blue suburban township w/ a lot of - well, I wouldn't say protest but active engagement in the issue on the part of citizens of this neighborhood.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/13/michael-slager-laughing_n_7052618.html

seems like a nervous laugh /attempt to get pageviews to me, the guy is a murderous asshole who needs to be locked up but no need to put the image in our heads of him laughing maniacally

Out of everything involved in this, the inappropriate laughter reaction is the most understandable.

Seriously. Adrenaline rushes are weird and normal, and inappropriate laughter happens. I hope his adrenaline comedown was a nasty, unpleasant hellride,

the reservist who accidentally Eric Harris charged with second-degree manslaughter

http://news.yahoo.com/deputy-charged-manslaughter-shooting-death-061439114.html

*shot

that seems about right

i have so little hope at this point that any of these assholes will be convicted of anything, though.

i mean ever since the rodney king verdict it's been clear that even incontrovertible video evidence is often not enough to convict a cop (or in this case, a cop-wannabe) of heinous shit.

relevant: http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150414/downtown/rahm-agrees-55-million-reparations-for-burge-torture-victims

http://www.wset.com/story/28792211/judge-finds-lynchburg-middle-schooler-with-autism-guilty-on-criminal-charges

11 year old autistic kid convicted with felony

What the fuck

i've mentioned this on the board before but my gf teaches music predominantly in schools with heavily autistic populations and she's told me that the principals and teachers will visit the local NYPD precincts to explain at length to NEVER send people to deal with disturbances as some of the kids lash out violently with no provocation and it's completely outside of their control... cops are always assigned to work schools though so the staff has to decide just how bad things have to get before they involve the on-site police and the general take by everyone working there is "never", specifically to avoid that kind of situation. it's just the most fucked up thing and really heartbreaking.