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Police abuse

Black Lives Matter DC Responds To Brutal Beating Of Black Man By Officer

August 14, 2021 Black Lives Matter DC, Popular Resistance. , , ,
On Sunday August 1, 2021 we were alerted to a video of a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer brutally punching Kimon Johnson in the head in Southeast D.C. This kind of brutality is not new for MPD, in the District of Columbia, and certainly not near Good Hope Rd. and 16th St. Southeast, but it is always unacceptable. It mirrors the experience of Derrick “Quan” Johnson at almost the same location on December 26, 2019. Quan was also not charged for the original stop or the second retaliatory one. Like Quan, we are so very glad he is still alive. As we predicted, his response to this brutal incident Chief Contee did little more than give a measured response at the August 9, 2021 press conference. As we explained when he was confirmed and have since learned about his complicity in the misconduct by the Gun Recovery Unit (Jumpouts) against almost only Black people, we could hardly expect more from him.

Americans Are Calling For Freedom In The US

July 19, 2021 RT. , , ,
The hashtag #SOSUSA became one of Twitter’s top political trends this weekend, as thousands of Americans posted calling for freedom in the United States and protesting poverty, police brutality, and a lack of free healthcare. Many of the posts were in response to videos of a Los Angeles Police officer shooting a protester in the face at close range with a rubber bullet and attacking other protesters with clubs. Several tweets from self-described American communists called on foreign leaders, including Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, to condemn US police brutality or even “liberate” the country.

Oregon Bill Bans Police From Lying To Youth During Interrogations

July 17, 2021 Innocence Project. , , ,
Portland, OR –  On Wednesday, Governor Kate Brown signed legislation into law prohibiting law enforcement officers from using deception while interrogating people under the age of 18. The law bans commonly used deceptive interrogation tactics, including false promises of leniency and false claims about the existence of incriminating evidence. Both of these tactics have long been identified as significantly increasing the risk of false confessions, which have played a role in about 30% of all wrongful convictions overturned by DNA. False confessions are also the most frequent contributing factor in wrongful conviction cases involving homicides. And recent studies suggest that children under 18 are between two and three times more likely to falsely confess than adults.

Career Cop Admits Police Are Trained To Lie In Reports

July 11, 2021 Jack Burns, The Freethought Project. , , ,
Before the age of computers and body cameras, citizens were forced into court proceedings with an attitude of, “It was my side of the story against the cops. Who do you think the jury is going to believe?” In the age of technology in which we are presently, however, the word of police officers can be called into question. But it is not enough, according to one ex-cop, who says cops are taught precisely how to manipulate police reports for deceptive purposes. Thomas Nolan spent 27 years on the force as a cop and says he was not a very good beat cop but could write police reports bar none. He was so good at craftily wording police reports other officers inside the Boston Police Department would seek out his assistance in their own reporting.

Class Action Alleging RCMP Abuse Of Indigenous People In Northern Canada

June 24, 2021 The Canadian Press, Peace Arch News. , , ,
A lawsuit alleging RCMP systematically brutalized Indigenous people in Northern Canada can proceed as a class action despite objections from the government, Federal Court ruled on Wednesday. In her decision, Judge Glennys McVeigh rejected the government’s arguments that the proposed suit failed to meet the legal grounds for certification although individuals could sue on their own, and that the claim had no prospect of success. “I disagree with Canada’s characterization of these claims as individual,” McVeigh wrote. “The claims do not ask if an RCMP officer illegally assaulted a class member, but rather whether the operations of the RCMP create a system where illegal assaults happen.” The untested claim, initially filed in 2018, seeks $600 million in various damages.

Unanswered Questions Fuel Protests Against Police In Minnesota

June 18, 2021 Sam Richards, Unicorn Riot. , , ,
Minneapolis, MN – Since Winston Smith was killed nearly two weeks ago in a secretive federal raid, no video evidence or any names of officers involved have been released. Minneapolis has seen another wave of protests not only because Smith was denied due process and executed while he sat in his car, but also due to the complete lack of accountability surrounding his death. Smith’s death, coupled with the murky narratives offered by authorities, has further eroded residents’ confidence in state and local police and their federal partners. This report covers new developments in Twin Cities surveillance, recent task forces like Operation Safety Net, FOIA stonewalling and the latest turns in law enforcement drone policy making.

Lying Cops Still On Duty Despite Brady List

June 11, 2021 Marlanna Bullock, Liberation News. , , ,
Almost 200 Washington state law enforcement officers have been placed on the Brady list, a list of officers who may not be considered trustworthy in a court of law. USA Today in an extensive investigation found that “thousands of people have faced criminal charges or have gone to prison based in part on testimony from law enforcement officers deemed to have credibility problems by their bosses or by prosecutors.” Although these officers have proven themselves unsafe for the public, law enforcement agencies continue to employ and rehire untrustworthy officers and take no real accountability for the abhorrent and violent behavior committed by officers. “The lists are not designed to track people who should not be officers. Rather they are a tool prosecutors use to identify those whose past conduct might raise questions about their fairness or truthfulness as a witness in a trial – and require disclosure to defendants.” - USA Today

Illinois Set To Become First State To Bar Police From Lying To Minors

June 3, 2021 Zack Linly, The Root. , , ,
The state of Illinois is on its way to becoming the first in the nation to bar police officers from lying to minors during interrogations. In an effort to prohibit the manipulative tactics cops often use to coerce confessions that often turn out to be false confessions—to which people under the age of 18 are especially vulnerable—the Illinois General Assembly passed in a near-unanimous vote a bill that would make incriminating statements from minors inadmissible in court if investigating officers provided “false information about evidence or leniency” while interrogating their underage suspect. USA Today reports that Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign the bill into law in the coming weeks.

Urgent Situation Developing At Oil Field In Putamayo, Colombia

June 1, 2021 Brent Patterson, Peace Brigades International - Canada. , , ,
Corporación Viso Mutop has just tweeted this video noting: “This is the situation inside the oil well of the Canadian multinational Gran Tierra. Peasants, tired of waiting for the attention of the final government, entered that Well in Villagarzón #Putumayo.” Pueblerina en Paro has also tweeted: “In PUTUMAYO SOS, the Anti-narcotics police and the National Army shoot firearms at protesters. One seriously injured. Costayaco well of Gran Tierra. Villagarzon PUTUMAYO.”

Groups Condemn Police Actions At Fairy Creek

May 24, 2021 British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. , , ,
Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – May 21, 2021: The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) has written to the provincial government and RCMP Commissioner condemning the arbitrary and unlawful RCMP Exclusion Zone in unceded Ditidaht territory. The RCMP have established two checkpoints and roadblocks along the McClure Main and Caycuse Main roads near the Fairy Creek blockade against old-growth logging. In an open letter to Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Jennifer Strachan, the BCCLA notes that the RCMP’s actions are overbroad in scope and constitute an inconsistent, arbitrary, and illegal exercise of police discretion to block members of the public, including legal observers and the media, from accessing the area.

Leaks Show DC Cops Justify ‘Aggressive’ Protest Tactics

May 24, 2021 Creede Newton, Al Jazeera. , , ,
Documents obtained by Al Jazeera appear to show Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) used a training document to justify “an aggressive police response” to left-wing demonstrations and legal observers, according to experts. Ransomware group Babuk stole the documents from MPD several weeks ago and asked a bounty of $1m for their return. MPD did not pay, resulting in their leak. The documents include a January 2019 PowerPoint training presentation hacked from an MPD intelligence officer entitled “First Amendment Training Presentation”. The majority of the presentation features images of myriad left-wing groups, causes and demonstrations, including Antifa, environmentalists, the Women’s March and more.

Police Not Allowed to Participate in Denver PrideFest

May 19, 2021 Blayke Roznowski, The Denver Channel , , ,
Denver — The Center on Colax confirmed Tuesday police will not be allowed to participate in the 2021 Denver PrideFest parade or as exhibitors. The Center, who hosts PrideFest, released the following statement regarding their decision: “The Center was founded 45 years ago in response to police violence and harassment of the LGBTQ community. The entire history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement is rooted in a history of opposing police harassment and violence aimed at our community. There are numerous examples of police violence going back beyond the famous Stonewall Riots of 1969. For all these decades, The Center has worked to address these issues and improve the relationship between the LGBTQ community and the police and we have made great strides. However we cannot in good conscience, as an organization that speaks up for justice, look the other way when it comes to police violence aimed at the Black community—a history of violence that goes back even further in American history.

Judge Says Columbus Police Ran ‘Amok’; Restricts Use Of Force

May 3, 2021 Catherine Whelan, NPR. , , ,
A federal judge has ordered police in Columbus, Ohio, to stop using force including tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets against nonviolent protesters, ruling that officers ran "amok" during last summer's protests of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Judge Algenon Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio described the actions of the Columbus police as "the sad tale of officers, clothed with the awesome power of the state, run amok." He opened his 88-page opinion with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: "But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights."

On Contact: Police Abuse And Torture

May 2, 2021 Chris Hedges, RT. , , ,
Chris Hedges discusses police abuse and torture with civil rights attorney Flint Taylor. Taylor’s new book is ‘The Torture Machine: Racism and Police Violence in Chicago’. With his colleagues at the People's Law Office, Taylor has argued landmark civil rights cases exposing the corruption and cover-ups within the Chicago Police Department and throughout the city’s political machine, from the alderman to the mayor's office. The book takes the reader from the 1969 murder of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and Panther Mark Clark – and the historic 13-year trial that followed – to the pursuit of chief detective Jon Burge, the leader of a torture ring within the Chicago Police Department that used barbaric methods including electric shock and suffocation to elicit false confessions...

Battleground Baltimore: The Path To Police Accountability

April 26, 2021 Lisa Snowden-McCray, The Real News. , , ,
Baltimore, MD - The battle to keep Black, brown, and other marginalized people safe from police violence is like a fire that has burned for as long as this country has existed. Hot spots flare up when this country’s hatred for Black and Brown people becomes more apparent, making the heat more intense and the pain more unbearable. It feels like we are in one of those moments where the fire is burning especially strong right now.  This week, a jury found former officer Derek Chauvin guilty of the murder of George Floyd. In May of last year, Chauvin was caught on tape kneeling on Floyd’s neck as Floyd begged for his life. We reached out to State Sen. Jill Carter and Del. Gabriel Acevero, two Maryland lawmakers who were instrumental in getting comprehensive policing legislation passed here in Maryland just a few weeks ago.
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