The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Valmy]

The Madison WI DA declined to press charges against a white cop who shot and killed a "biracial" young man.

Very fortunately for Madison, the DA is a also half black.

Everybody in authority was black in Baltimore, so it is not a fail-safe.

[DGuller]

I think that there is far too much focus on black/white here.  It's really about accountability, both on the police and the prosecution side.  It just so happens that lack of real accountability, and collusion between police and prosecutors, is usually made more apparent when black suspects are involved.  That said, white people suffer from that as well occasionally, just google Michael Bell (again in Wisconsin).

[Valmy]

I think that there is far too much focus on black/white here.  It's really about accountability, both on the police and the prosecution side.  It just so happens that lack of real accountability, and collusion between police and prosecutors, is usually made more apparent when black suspects are involved.  That said, white people suffer from that as well occasionally, just google Michael Bell (again in Wisconsin).

Yep. They are a good indicator since social ills that impact everybody typically fall on the black people the hardest.

[jimmy olsen]

I'm skeptical that this is as unprecedented as they make out.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/st-louis-policing-system-dangerous-study-finds-n353426

St. Louis Policing System Is 'Dangerous,' Study Finds
By Tracy Connor

Many of the police departments in St. Louis County, Missouri — where the death of Michael Brown sparked weeks of unrest — have adopted making money as a "grossly inappropriate" mission and abandoned community-oriented policing, a new study has concluded.

"It is a dysfunctional and dangerous situation that cannot be sustained," the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum wrote in the highly critical report issued Monday.

"We have never before encountered what we saw in parts of St. Louis County," Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the forum, said in a statement.

The group was retained by a non-profit called Better Together in the wake of the Aug. 9 shooting of Brown, an unarmed teen, in Ferguson.

It found the fragmented nature of policing — there are 58 separate departments, some covering territory that's less than one square mile — is ineffective and has led to a patchwork of standards and policies.

Just as disturbing, the report found, is that priorities are often not driven by public safety needs of local residents.

"Police departments are being pushed into the role of revenue generators for their cities and towns. They are being diverted away from their traditional roles of community guardians and protectors," it said.

"This situation is driving a wedge between police and citizens in far too many communities. It is undermining the legitimacy of the police in the eyes of residents, community leaders, and business owners—not just in the communities where policing is in crisis, but in the region as a whole, whose reputation continues to suffer."

The report's recommendations include a regional training center; consistent standards for hiring, training and use of force; consolidate clusters of police departments into single forces.

The study's findings are in line with the Department of Justice report that identified patterns of racial bias within the Ferguson police department, with officers using force, traffic stops and petty, money-making citations disproportionately against blacks. NBC News also reported on ticket blitzes in St. Louis' predominately black suburbs.

[Berkut]

It is likely an outlier in the extremity of the effect, but hardly an outlier in the fundamental problem that police forces have either lost or been diverted from their  primary mission.

[dps]

It is likely an outlier in the extremity of the effect, but hardly an outlier in the fundamental problem that police forces have either lost or been diverted from their  primary mission.

In some of the smaller jurisdictions, I doubt that the police ever had any mission other than to generate revenue.  Speed traps are hardly anything new (according to dictionary.com, the term originated in the first half of the 1920s) and some towns only founded police forces in order to give out-of-town motorists speeding tickets.

[garbon]

http://time.com/3857023/national-police-week-war-on-police/

War on Police Is Causing Violence To Increase

Eighteen people have been murdered, and dozens more shot in Baltimore since the riots in response to the death of Freddie Gray. There are now 22 more murders in Baltimore so far this year than during a comparable period last year. Even New York, the safest large city in America, has seen a material increase in homicides and shooting.

Most talking heads attribute the uptick in criminal violence to causes such as poverty, lack of family, racism, too many guns, and too much drug use. Society must work to counter these ills immediately and over the long term. But these are not problems that can be solved this year or next, and many lives will continue to be lost in the interim unless we do something. The best and only way to ensure a reduction of crime in real time—to prevent more people from dying today, tomorrow, next week and the following weeks—is to police professionally and effectively.

The number one civil right is to be free from harm. Police officers stand between civil society and chaos. This gives police no license to be brutal, overly aggressive or in violation of the law—the rare criminal who wears a blue uniform should be stripped of it and prosecuted. But the more than 99% of our officers who do their jobs with integrity and good intent must be empowered to do their jobs without overly burdensome laws, regulations,or administrative burdens that neuter them against murderers, drug peddlers, rapists, thieves, and others who disrespect the law and all it works to protect.

Police must fundamentally believe that the citizens and politicians whom they protect and answer to both value and respect what they do. When the president and attorney general of the United States say that we have a major problem with policing in this country, and when mayors of major cities declare that the police are brutal, our so-called leaders send a demoralizing message to the vast majority of committed and dedicated police officers that they are unappreciated and unprotected.

When the state's attorney in Baltimore publicly announces the indictment of six police officers while using the protestor's phrase "no justice, no peace," she tells police officers that they will not be held to the same standard of impartiality and presumption of innocence as enjoyed by every American. For what appears to be political expediency—and what can at best can be described as prosecutorial grandstanding—she communicates to the police officers that she has made up her mind about their guilt.

While the most dedicated police officers will continue to work hard, many officers and their unions will interpret the words and actions of politicians and prosecutors as an invitation to do the absolute minimum. Worse, they will fear that their jobs, families' livelihoods, and even their own liberty will be in jeopardy. The result is what we are beginning to see in Baltimore and other cities: a significant increase in violence.

A combination of assertive policing and community policing can turn this around. Rather then talk at each other, the community, the police, and our leaders need to talk to each other.

When I was police commissioner in New York, we had a program called "Model Block" that combined aggressive policing with committed community involvement, empowerment, and revitalization. We targeted the most violent and drug-infested neighborhoods. With the help of the community, we identified those who were committing crimes, and through aggressive police work, we made cases and arrested them.

We held community meetings and organized working groups of citizens and city workers from multiple agencies to take action on restoring these blighted neighborhoods into livable communities. We restored buildings, cleaned up streets, helped those who wanted to work gain job skills—essentially catalyzing and coordinating a better physical and economic environment from the danger and disrepair that had overtaken it. We stationed uniformed officers on foot patrol to ensure that the criminals did not return. In some cases—each with community buy-in and permission—we even set up checkpoints at the end of blocks to keep the criminals out. By taking back neighborhoods block-by-block and engaging the residents, we changed some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in New York City to some of the safest.

This is National Police Week. Police officers from all over the country will gather at the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington D.C. They will remember the officers killed in the line of duty last year. Fresh in their minds will be the three officers killed in the last two weeks—Officer Brian Moore in New York and Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They will think about the reasons they became police officers and rededicate their minds and lives to protecting us. It's vital that we convince them that we appreciate their sacrifice. To do less will endanger us all.

[jimmy olsen]

Wouldn't say this is cracking down, more like cutting off the spigot.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-cracking-down-militarization-local-police-n360381

Obama: U.S. Cracking Down on 'Militarization' of Local Police
By M. Alex Johnson

The federal government will no longer provide heavy military equipment like tanks and grenade launchers to local cops following weeks of backlash against officers who confronted protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, in armored vehicles and camouflage last year, President Barack Obama said Monday.

And if they want other, less-imposing military equipment, local law enforcement agencies will have to submit to stringent federal oversight and restrictions, according to the White House.

"We've seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people the feeling like there's an occupying force — as opposed to a force that's part of the community that's protecting them and serving them," the president said Monday, adding that such gear "can alienate and intimidate residents and make them feel scared."

Obama outlined the reforms during a visit to Camden, New Jersey, for years one of the most dangerous cities in America but a place the president highlighted as having made great strides in reducing violent crime and building trust between law enforcement and the community.

Camden accomplished this, the president said, by doubling the size of its police force, moving more officers out into the community to set up basketball games and visitING schools and businesses. The city is also participating in a police data initiative that, for example, could help localities track incidents of police force.

If such an effort can work in Camden, "it can work anywhere," the president said.

The president's remarks are part of a recent series of comments Obama has made underscoring the nation's need to do some "soul searching" on such issues as race, poverty and the strained relationship between law enforcement and the minority communities they serve.

The president said a community task force on policing that the White House convened suggested restricting providing military-style equipment to local law enforcement from the federal government. The recommendations also included enhanced officer training, improving the use of body cameras and other technologies.

A White House official told NBC News that the Justice Department is seeking to strike a balance by making only appropriate equipment available, and with clear operating standards, training and safety procedures.

The measures are the followup to an executive measure Obama issued in January to crack down on the intimidating image presented by local agencies patrolling the streets bristling with advanced military weaponry.

The controversy was fueled when Ferguson police took to the streets in camouflage with military gear after the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed. But complaints about paramilitary-style equipping of local police have been widespread at least since protests over the World Trade Organization exploded into riots in Seattle in 1999.

Local law enforcement agencies have been eligible to receive surplus military equipment through a Defense Department program enacted in 1997.

Some in Congress have been very reluctant to cut back on the equipment because of the program's popularity with many police departments, and previous legislation stalled.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, and Rep. Lacy Clay, a Democrat whose Missouri district includes Ferguson, applauded the White House's actions. The lawmakers have introduced a measure aimed at reducing excessive police force.

"Our bill directly addresses the excessive militarization of local police, which I witnessed first-hand in Ferguson," Clay said in a recent statement before the White House's announcement.

The equipment that's being banned Monday includes tanks and other tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, firearms and ammunition measuring .50-caliber and larger, grenade launchers and bayonets, the Justice Department said.

Restrictions and conditions will be put on other types of equipment — including armored tactical vehicles like those used in Ferguson, as well as many types of firearms, ammunition and explosives.

The conditions are likely to rankle some local agencies.

Besides having to give the feds a "clear and persuasive explanation of the need for the controlled equipment," local law enforcement agencies won't be eligible unless they've adopted what are known as General Policing Standards. Those include so-called community policing programs, with foot cops on the beat interacting with the public and regular consultation with community groups — a different approach from the "zero tolerance" policies adopted in recent years by many big-city police agencies.

Algonquin, Illinois, Police Chief Russell Laine, president of the International Association of Police Chiefs, said adopting community policing philosophies "allows law enforcement agencies to develop a partnership with their community to create a safer environment while combating traditional crimes, supporting homeland security and providing services to our community."

But their adoption has been slow in many police departments.

In December, a month after a Cleveland officer shot Tamir Rice, an unarmed 12-year-old African-American boy, a Justice Department report heavily criticized the city for having inadequately implemented community policing, resulting in what it called a "level of distrust between the police and the community [that] interferes with CDP's ability to work the various communities it serves."

And in its investigation of Ferguson police in March, the Justice Department said the abandonment of community policing principles had "resulted in practices that not only violate the Constitution and cause direct harm to the individuals whose rights are violated, but also undermine community trust, especially among many African Americans."

Agencies in more conservative communities suspicious of federal authority may have a particular problem with the new rules. Another primary condition of getting military equipment will be acceptance of close federal oversight and monitoring overseen by a new federal agency with the power to conduct local compliance reviews.

They'll also have to collect and retain data whenever such equipment is involved in a "significant incident" and make those data available to the federal government and, in some cases, the public.

One of the things the new agency will specifically be looking for, according to the White House: "protection of civil rights and civil liberties."

Halimah Abdullah of NBC News contributed to this report. 

[sbr]

Shutting off the spigot after the bathtub overflowed and ruined the entire house.

[jimmy olsen]

Photo clearly shows he was wearing head phones.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-sheriff-blames-jermaine-mcbean-own-death-court-papers-n368611

Florida Sheriff Blames Jermaine McBean for Own Death in Court Papers

by Tracy Connor

A Florida sheriff has responded to a lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed while walking with an unloaded air rifle, saying he caused his own death.

Jermaine McBean, 33, was fatally shot by police in 2013 as he walked home from the pawn shop where he bought the rifle — after three people called 911 in alarm.

Police said that McBean ignored their orders to drop the weapon and pointed it at them on the grounds of an Oakland Park apartment complex, giving them no choice but to shoot.

McBean's family has obtained a photograph showing that, contrary to statements by police, he was wearing headphones at the time of the shooting and, they say, explains why he may not have heard the orders.

One of the 911 callers has also come forward with a claim that McBean had the rifle perched on his shoulders, behind his neck, and was not pointing at police when he was shot.

The family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court last month, and this week, the Broward County Sheriff's Office filed its preliminary answer this week.

"Defendants allege and assert that any measure of force utilized againstJermaine McBean was reasonable, justified and/or necessary under the circumstances," it says.

"Defendants allege and assert that it was the Jermaine McBean's conduct that is the sole cause of his alleged injuries and damages, if any."

The family's lawyer, civil-rights attorney David Schoen, called the assertion "disappointing."

"Jermaine was a beloved young man with a brilliant future. He walked home to his apartment carrying an unloaded air rifle while wearing headphones. Nothing about that should have caused his death," Schoen said. "His death was a tragedy and must be recognized as such by all, but perhaps most especially the Sheriff."

In a statement Monday, Sheriff Scott Israel defended his office's handling of the case and denied the McBean family's allegation that the photo showed there was a coverup.

But his office said it is reviewing a decision to give the officer who killed McBean a bravery commendation for the shooting while it was still under investigation.

[Syt]

Thread renamed by request of Tabloid Tim.

[jimmy olsen]

Thread renamed by request of Tabloid Tim.

Not exactly the name I had in mind, but it's good enough!

[jimmy olsen]

I think this can certainly help restore trust that's been lost.

http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/0603/After-terror-shooting-Boston-police-choose-transparency-over-tradition

[11B4V]

I think this can certainly help restore trust that's been lost.

http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/0603/After-terror-shooting-Boston-police-choose-transparency-over-tradition

No they are worried about riots

[jimmy olsen]

I think this can certainly help restore trust that's been lost.

http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/0603/After-terror-shooting-Boston-police-choose-transparency-over-tradition

No they are worried about riots

If they restore trust, they won't have to worry about riots.