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Police abuse

SWAT Team Used To Attack Organic Farm In Texas

August 17, 2013 Quinn Eaker, www.intothegardenofeden.com , ,
At around seven thirty last Friday morning, inhabitants of The Garden of Eden, a small Intentional Community based on Sustainability, were awakened by a SWAT raid conducted by the City of Arlington for suspicion of being a full fledged marijuana growth and trafficking operation. Ultimately only a single arrest was made based on unrelated outstanding traffic violations, a handful of citations were given for city code violations, and zero drug related violations were found. The entire operation lasted about 10 hours and involved many dozens of city officials, SWAT team, police officers and code compliance employees, and numerous official vehicles including dozens of police cars and several specialized vehicular equipment that was involved in the “abatement” operation. Witnesses say that there were helicopters and unmanned flying drones circling the property in the days prior to the raid that are presumed to have been a part of the intelligence gathering. The combined expenses for the raid itself and the collection of information leading up to the fruitless raid are estimated in the tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

500 Tased To Death Since 2001

August 16, 2013 Winston Ross, www.thedailybeast.com
Amnesty International says that since 2001 more than 500 people have been killed in the U.S. after being shocked by a Taser. Of those, more than 60 were listed by medical examiners as being directly attributable to the device; others had a cause of death unknown. Amnesty says Tasers have become tools of the lazy cop who wants a suspect down in an instant, a tool that police have been told so often is “nonlethal” that they have come to use it without much regard for why they’re firing it or where they’re aiming. The problem, said Suzanne Trimel, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, is that police have come to rely on Tasers as a “weapon of first resort.” “They were introduced as a nonlethal equivalent of firearms, but more and more they’re used when firearms wouldn’t even be justified,” she said.

Protest Against The Taser Killing Of Israel Hernandez

August 16, 2013 Red Pill Philosophy, www.youtube.com ,
We Are Change covers the emotionally-intense protests for Israel Hernandez--the Miami teen who was killed when tased by cops, who reportedly laughed and "high-fived" each other after doing so. Friends, family, neighbors, and strangers arrived at the rally, amassing in an undeniably potent group that attracted the attention of onlookers, drivers, and Miami Beach Police, who watched cautiously the entire time behind shady sunglasses, or atop nearby rooftops.

Chalk The Police State–Sidewalk Chalk Could Land Four Protestors in Jail For A Year

August 15, 2013 Six, www.interoccupy.net ,
On August 10th, during a monthly chalking protest against police brutality in solidarity with the families of people killed by LVMPD officers, four Las Vegas activists were arrested by the LVMPD. Each was charged with two counts of “defacing property” and two were additionally charged with two counts each of “conspiracy to commit a non-felony crime.” For sidewalk chalk.

Videos: Dream Defenders End Vigil at Florida Capitol

August 15, 2013 Staff, www.youtube.com , , ,
After staging a sit-in outside Gov. Rick Scott's office at the Florida Capitol for the past 31 days, the Dream Defenders are ending their round-the-clock vigil. They say they've accomplished many of the goals that they set for themselves when they arrived here on July 16. They organized the sit-in because they were upset with the not guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman. The group called for a special legislative session focusing on Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground law, racial profiling by police, and zero-tolerance school policies. They convinced House Speaker Will Weather to schedule a hearing on Stand Your Ground this fall. They plan to meet with leaders at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to talk about racial profiling. And they say they have a commitment from state education leaders to talk about policy adjustments to juvenile justice rules.

America’s Disappeared

August 13, 2013 Chris Hedges, www.truth-out.org , , , ,
"In America, when you are poor, you can instantly disappear like this into the subterranean rabbit holes of our vast jail and prison complex. You crawl out weeks, months or years later. You try to pick up where you left off. You avoid the cops. You look for work. There is no work. It is a constant cat-and-mouse game the state plays with the poor. The hunters. The hunted. The poor, no matter what they do, are always potential prey, minnows in a sea of sharks."

NYPD Can No Longer Ignore Settled Law: Stop And Frisk Illegal

August 13, 2013 Kevin B. Zeese, greenshadowcabinet.us ,
In the 195 page decision by Judge Scheindlin finding the NYPD stop and frisk policy unconstitutional the judge stated well-settled Fourth Amendment law regarding searches that the NYPD should have been well aware of. Indeed, she described the training materials used by the NYPD to be “erroneous and misleading.” Judge Scheindlin was also critical of language that encourage stopping “the right people” as this had been code for stopping African American, Latino and other targeted groups. The judge made it clear that race is an inappropriate basis for stopping and searching someone. Judge Scheindlin described the program as “indirect racial profiling.”

Undercover Agents Infiltrated Tar Sands To Break Up Planned Protest

August 12, 2013 Adam Federman, www.counterpunch.org , , ,
According to documents obtained by Earth Island Journal, investigators from the Bryan County Sherriff’s Department had been spying on a Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance training camp that took place from March 18 to March 22 and which brought together local landowners, Indigenous communities, and environmental groups opposed to the pipeline. At least two law enforcement officers infiltrated the training camp and drafted a detailed report about the upcoming protest, internal strategy, and the character of the protesters themselves. The undercover investigator who wrote the report put the tar sands opponents into five different groups: eco-activists (who “truly wanted to live off the grid”); Occupy members; Native American activists (“who blamed all forms of government for the poor state of being that most American Indians are living in”); Anarchists (“many wore upside down American flags”); and locals from Oklahoma (who “had concerns about the pipeline harming the community”).

Why Have Police In America Turned Into Such Ruthless Thugs?

August 12, 2013 Michael Snyder, www.endoftheamericandream.com
Once upon a time, the police were one of the most respected institutions in America, but now most Americans fear them. Almost every single day there are multiple stories of police brutality or misconduct that make the national news. Just this week, there have been stories about police killing a baby deer at an animal shelter, about police killing a 95-year-old World War II veteran in a retirement home, and about police using legal technicalities to “legally” steal massive amounts of money from innocent citizens. Why are police acting like this? Why have police in America turned into such ruthless thugs? In the case of the baby deer that was killed, 13 armed agents stormed the animal shelter up in Wisconsin where it was being cared for. Is this really the kind of country that we want our children to grow up in? A country where Bambi is hunted down by armed thugs working for the government? Sadly, the story about that deer is not an isolated incident. The truth is that police all over the country kill animals every single day. In fact, police in Chicago have shot 488 animals since 2008.

New York’s Stop And Frisk Program Ruled Unconstitutional

August 12, 2013 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org ,
Judge Scheindlin described the program as "indirect racial profiling." Indeed, there were 4.4 million people between 2004 and 2008, and 80 percent of them black or Hispanic. She described a "deliberate indifference" on the part of New York City to these unconstitutional searches. In fact, more than indifferent Mayor Bloomberg was an advocate of the stop and frisk program who resisted any efforts by the city council or individual rights advocates to curtail the abusive program. Judge Scheindlin wrote: "As early as 1999, a report from New York’s Attorney General placed the City on notice that stops and frisks were being conducted in a racially skewed manner. Nothing was done in response."

Your Rights: If An Agent Knocks

August 12, 2013 Staff, www.ccrjustice.org ,
Federal agents have many tools at their disposal to target activists. While it is important to know and understand these tools and tactics, it is of critical importance that you resist any paranoia of government surveillance or fear of infiltration, which will only serve to paralyze you or your organization in your quest for social change. If fear of government repression prevents you from organizing, the agents of repression will have won without even trying. The Center for Constitutional Rights created If an Agent Knocks to provide advice to activists likely to be targeted by FBI agents or other federal investigators. Since its original release in 1989, If an Agent Knocks has been widely circulated in progressive activist communities across the country. This guide includes both the timeless advice included in the original version and extensive updates to reflect the current state of the law and law enforcement tools.

Photos: Hundreds Mourn Teen Artist Tasered To Death By Miami Cop

August 11, 2013
An emotionally-charged rally has been held at the site where 18-year-old Miami graffiti artist Israel Hernandez-Llach was shot with a Taser gun, dying shortly after. Hundreds of friends, supporters and relatives of the teenager gathered at the spot where the teenager was spray-painting a shuttered McDonald’s restaurant before being chased by police – an incident that resulted in his death shortly after being tasered by the officers after refusing to stop running. Hernandez-Llach’s female friend and former classmate, Lucy Rynka, had touching words to say about him: “he was a genius… He showed me how powerful art can be, how you can use color and design to relay a powerful message.”

Open a Federal Investigation into the Killing of Ramarley Graham

August 10, 2013 Ramarley's Parents, www.change.org
On February 2, 2012, NYPD Officer Richard Haste followed our son, Ramarley Graham, home, broke down the door, and killed him in front of his grandmother and six-year-old brother. Haste claims he believed Ramarley had a gun, yet no gun was found at the scene. The defense says Ramarley was running from NYPD officers into his house, but video footage from that day clearly shows he was NOT running. A Bronx grand jury has failed to indict NYPD Officer Richard Haste for killing Ramarley Graham, but we are not done fighting for justice for our son! Please sign our petition to the Department of Justice today!

Oregon Jury Denies Occupy Protesters’ Police Lawsuit

August 10, 2013 Nigel Duara, www.miamiherald.comm ,
A seven-person jury has found the city of Portland and two of its police officers not liable for an Occupy Portland protester's injuries. The Oregon jury took four hours to return a verdict saying that the officers did not use excessive force when one of them struck protester Liz Nichols in the throat with a baton and the other one sprayed her open mouth with pepper spray. The officers' defense team said in closing arguments that the police were doing their job in a difficult situation during the November 2011 protests. Despite the loss, Nichols' attorneys say they're happy that the issue has been aired publicly and that attention has been trained on the police reaction to demonstrations.

Miami Beach Police Tase Teenage Graffiti Artist to Death

August 9, 2013 Aviva Shen, www.thinkprogress.org
A celebrated 18-year-old graffiti artist died Tuesday after Miami police shot a taser into his chest, the Miami Herald reports. Israel Hernandez-Llach was something of a prodigy on the Miami art scene, who had won acclaim for his art and recently launched his own line of specially designed skateboards. By night, he was a graffiti artist known as “Reefa.” The Miami Police Department has undergone federal investigation for its misconduct twice in the past 7 years. The latest Department of Justice investigation found that officers routinely used excessive force when confronting suspects, leading to avoidable deaths.
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