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Police abuse

NYPD Discipline Review Panel Found Dozens Of Cops Deserved More Serious Punishment

June 9, 2020 By Yoav Gonen, Peter Senzamici, and Carson Kessler, The City. , , ,
These were among the 45 cases of disciplinary action taken by the NYPD over a 12-month period in which a little-known anti-corruption panel determined the punishments should have been more severe. In 11 instances, the panel found the cops should have been fired. The annual reports by the city’s Commission to Combat Police Corruption offer a rare peek into an opaque disciplinary system that critics say for years has protected bad cops — and whose outcomes Mayor Bill de Blasio asserts city government is prohibited from sharing publicly under state law. State legislative leaders say they’re moving to repeal or amend that law, known as 50-a, as early as next week. In all 45 cases — none of which identifies the officer by name — the commission found the actions were too egregious or the officer’s employment history too checkered to warrant the modest level of punishment meted out by the NYPD.

Joe Biden Is A Racist Who Loves Police Brutality

June 8, 2020 By  Rebecca Margolies, Left Voice. , , ,
Biden’s history of enthusiastic racism stretches back decades. From the moment he entered the U.S. Senate in the early 1970s, he vocally opposed busing to achieve school desegregation. “Opposing busing” has long been racist code for opposing Black and brown children going to school with white children. At a time when “separate but equal” was beginning to become politically unpalatable, Biden’s leadership against busing, in the most generous possible interpretation, provided cover for segregationists to continue their work. He has spent his life fighting for policies that make life worse for Black, Indigenous, and white working-class Americans. Why should anyone believe he will do anything different as president?

Photo Of Police Officer With Armed Men Prompts Outrage And Investigation

June 8, 2020 Sara Gentzler, The Olympian.   , ,
A photo circulating on social media Friday showing an Olympia Police officer posing with a group of armed men in front of Baskin Robbins on Olympia’s west side has prompted outrage from many, a response from Mayor Cheryl Selby, and an investigation by the police department. A Facebook post featuring the photo that was shared on Twitter Friday is captioned “this is us the 3% with a OPD at 140am when she came to that k (sic) us for being there and her partner on duty came and thanked us to.” The hand gesture is associated with the Three Percenters movement also mentioned in the photo’s caption. The gesture represented “wp” for “white power,” and eventually it was sincerely adopted by some white supremacists. In a statement Friday night, Interim Police Chief Aaron Jelcick described the men as “a group of armed individuals dressed in fatigue or militia like clothing.”

Journalists Demand End To Harassment After Over 100 Attacks On The Press

June 8, 2020 Charles Davis, Business Insider. , ,
US police launched over 100 attacks on credential members of the press over the weekend, according to a count by the investigative news organization Bellingcat. In a June 1 open letter, leading press organizations pleaded with law enforcement to “halt the deliberate and devastating targeting of journalists in the field.” Aaron Miguel Cantú, a freelance journalist in Los Angeles who was arrested over the weekend, told Business Insider that reporters are now learning that “police have grown so powerful that there is nobody left to meaningfully hold them accountable for their actions.”

The System Was Built To Break Black People…

June 8, 2020 By Rodney Foxworth, Medium. , , ,
While we like to believe that the system is merely “broken,” now is the time we finally acknowledge that the system was purposely designed to break black people. But we refuse to break, and here we stand, unbroken and undeterred. Like many black people in this country, I live each day with anger and pain, but also joy and optimism. Our strength keeps us from breaking under the weight of racism and economic injustice. Instead, we build.

Unmarked Security Forces In DC Spark Fear

June 5, 2020 By Katie Bo Williams, Defense One.   , , ,
The presence of unmarked federal law enforcement officers, dressed in paramilitary uniforms and wearing no identifying insignia, quickly spread among protesters marching through Washington, D.C.’s streets on Tuesday and Wednesday, causing concerned protesters and officials to ask: Who are they? In some locations, security personnel refused to identify themselves to journalists and protesters who asked which agency sent them, answering only that they worked for the federal government. In other places, they identified themselves as working for the Department of Justice. Some carried rifles, or were equipped with body armor, riot shields, and pepper spray canisters. Two such clad security members in Washington on Tuesday night identified themselves to Defense One as part of a specialized emergency response force run by the Bureau of Prisons — part of the Justice Department — to help maintain security at correctional facilities. They and others are part of what’s known as the bureau’s Special Operations Response Teams, or SORTs. 

Washington State Patrol Instructed Officers To Assault Protesters

June 5, 2020 Michael Stone, Patheos. , , ,
In an alarming report the Washington State Patrol (WSP) has issued an apology after a command officer was caught on video telling fellow officers to assault protesters. The officer said:  Don’t kill them, but hit them hard. Seattle Times reports: The Washington State Patrol has apologized after video surfaced of an officer telling his team, “Don’t kill them, but hit them hard,” while preparing to clear protesters from the streets in Seattle’s Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening. Newsweek reports: A Washington State Patrol officer was recorded telling his officers to hit protestors hard ahead of a night on patrol in the Seattle area Tuesday. The officer, who has not been identified, was filmed speaking to others in the patrol group, telling them, “Don’t kill them, but hit them hard.” The video was later shared to social media. The video, taken shortly before 7:45 p.m. Tuesday by Krystal Marx, executive director of Seattle Pride, and a Burien City Council member and deputy mayor, is alarming.

California DAs Call For Ban On Police Union Money In Prosecutor Elections

June 5, 2020 By Eliyahu Kamisher, The Appeal. , , ,
A coalition of four current and former district attorneys called on the State Bar of California on Monday to ban law enforcement unions from funding district attorney campaigns, saying the contributions represent a conflict of interest that must be urgently addressed in the wake of recent police killings of Black men and women.  In a letter to the state bar association, the reform-minded district attorneys said their colleagues cannot ethically prosecute police officers if they are receiving funds and endorsements from unions that finance those officers’ legal expenses.  “District Attorneys will undoubtedly review use of force incidents involving police officers,” San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said in a statement. “When they do, the financial and political support of these unions should not be allowed to influence that decision making.”

The Murder Of George Floyd Is Normal In An Abnormal Society

June 4, 2020 By Vijay Prashad,  Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. , , ,
The recent murder of George Floyd in the US is sadly unsurprising in a country that upholds capitalist exploitation through white supremacy There is no need to wonder why George Floyd (age 46) was murdered in broad daylight in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020. The script of his death is written deep in the ugly drama of US history. As you read this, somewhere in the United States, another person will be killed—another poor person whom the police deem to be a threat. Tomorrow another will be killed; and then another. These deaths are normal for the system. Outrage against this system is a logical, and moral, response.

As Protests Rage Over George Floyd’s Death, Climate Activists Embrace Racial Justice

June 4, 2020 Ilana Cohen, Evelyn Nieves, Judy Fahys, Marianne LaVelle, James Bruggers, Inside Climate News. , , ,
Friends of the Earth tweeted #BlackLivesMatter, and the head of the NRDC promised: “to be fully and visibly committed to the fight against systemic racism.” When New York Communities for Change helped lead a demonstration of 500 on Monday in Brooklyn to protest George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis, the grassroots group's activism spoke to a long-standing link between police violence against African Americans and environmental justice. Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization, said she considers showing up to fight police brutality and racial violence integral to her climate change activism.  These community organizations in New York have been joined in protest by the nation's most prominent climate change activist groups, including the Sierra Club, 350.org, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion.

Minnesota Cops Trained By Israeli Police, Who Often Use Knee-On-Neck Restraint

June 4, 2020 Alison Weir, Israeli-Palestinian News. , , ,
Officers from the US police force responsible for the killing of George Floyd received training in restraint techniques and anti-terror tactics from Israeli law-enforcement officers. At least 100 Minnesota police officers attended a 2012 conference hosted by the Israeli consulate in Chicago, the second time such an event had been held. There they learned the violent techniques used by Israeli forces as they terrorize the occupied Palestinian territories under the guise of security operations. The so-called counterterrorism training conference in Minneapolis was jointly hosted by the FBI. The training of US police officials by Israeli forces is widespread. Even Amnesty was compelled to report that hundreds of police from Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington state, and Washington DC had been flown to Israeli for training. Thousands more have been trained by Israeli forces who have come to the US to host similar events to the one held in Minneapolis. According to the somewhat selective rights organization, many of these trips are taxpayer-funded, while others are privately funded. Since 2002 the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs have paid for police chiefs, assistant chiefs, and captains to train in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Trump Sends Unambiguous Message To Police And Vigilantes

June 4, 2020 By Adam Weinstein, The New Republic. , , ,
It is time to embrace the parallels, to be unafraid to speak a clear truth: Whether by design or lack of it, Donald Trump and the Republican Party operate an American state that they have increasingly organized on fascist principles. It is also time to consider what else the fascists may yet do, during an unprecedented pandemic, amid unprecedented unemployment, faced with unprecedented resistance ahead of an unprecedented election. The Republican Party wants to make “antifascist” a category of terrorist; whether or not it actually uses active-duty soldiers to round up this new class of undesirables in the “national emergency,” it has at its disposal every police officer who flies a Punisher or Blue Lives Matter flag above the U.S. flag, every armed vigilante and Oathkeeper and Proud Boy who craves the boogaloo.

Another Police Killing During COVID-19

June 4, 2020 Jamal Rich, People's World. , ,
Silver Spring, MD - On May 7, 2020, a 30-year old Black man was killed by police in the White Oak suburb of Silver Spring, Md., outside his home. His name was Finan Berhe, a member of the local Eritrean community. Berhe was only armed with a knife and likely under distress, but his life was tragically ended by what some are claiming could have been a trigger-friendly cop. The shooting involved Sgt. David Cohen, a 17-year veteran of the Montgomery County Police Department, who has been placed on paid administrative leave during pending an inquiry, according to a press release from the department. After a preliminary investigation, authorities learned that officers were called to Hadden Manor Court, where Finan lived, following the report of a knife-wielding man in a neighborhood parking lot causing a disturbance.

As Attacks On Protesters and Journalists Increase, Coverage Of Communities And Police Need To Change

June 3, 2020 Timothy Karr, Free Press. , , ,
The weekend saw escalating police violence against protesters and reporters at nationwide demonstrations against the police killing of George Floyd and systemic racial injustices. There has been an unprecedented number of attacks against journalists at many of these protests as law-enforcement officers have specifically targeted those engaged in First-Amendment protected newsgathering and reporting. This mirrors the ways police are targeting those engaged in First-Amendment protected protest. President Trump has egged on the police crackdown in a series of recent tweets, including one that labels news outlets covering the protests as the “Enemy of the People.” Reporters and researchers at the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker are investigating more than 100 separate incidents in which officers attacked reporters, permanently blinding a photojournalist in one eye and causing other grave injuries.

ACLU Demands Congressional Probe Into ‘Politically-Motivated’ Attack On Peaceful Protest

June 3, 2020 By Jon Queally, Commondreams. , , ,
Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU's Human Rights Project, denounced both the nature and the timing of the assault on the unsuspecting demonstrators, given that it happened just as Trump delivered a speech from the Rose Garden in which he threatened tougher police tactics—including use of U.S. military forces—to quell protests in cities nationwide. "This appears to be grossly unjustified use of a dangerous chemical weapon on protesters and raises serious human rights concerns under international law," Dakwar said of what transpired in Lafayette Square. "Health experts warned that the use of tear gas can have long-term effects on respiratory function. Elected officials, including Congress, must investigate this politically-motivated and life-threatening use of indiscriminate weapons."
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