Police abuse

Portland: Getting Out of Jail Requires Relinquishing Constitutional Rights

July 30, 2020 By Dara Lind, ProPublica. Educate! Legal System, Police abuse, Portland, Rebellion2020

Federal authorities are using a new tactic in their battle against protesters in Portland, Oregon: arrest them on offenses as minor as “failing to obey” an order to get off a sidewalk on federal property — and then tell them they can’t protest anymore as a condition for release from jail. Legal experts describe the move as a blatant violation of the constitutional right to free assembly, but at least 12 protesters arrested in recent weeks have been specifically barred from attending protests or demonstrations as they await trials on federal misdemeanor charges. “Defendant may not attend any other protests, rallies, assemblies or public gathering in the state of Oregon,” states one “Order Setting Conditions of Release” for an accused protester, alongside other conditions such as appearing for court dates. The orders are signed by federal magistrate judges.

Current NYPD Officers With The Most Substantiated Misconduct Complaints

July 30, 2020 By George Joseph, Christopher Robbins, Jake Offenhartz and Jake Dobkin, Gothamist. Educate! Accountability, NYPD, Police abuse, Police violence

Approximately four thousand of the NYPD’s 36,000 active officers have at least one substantiated complaint of police misconduct, according to data from the Civilian Complaint Review Board published by ProPublica on Sunday. Gothamist/WNYC has identified seven officers in the CCRB’s data set with substantiated allegations in at least six separate complaints—the most of all current NYPD officers. All enjoyed high-ranking positions as of last month, according to the dataset. All are white men. Some have been the subject of extensive news coverage. We have reached out to each officer named here individually and through their unions. Some did not reply and others referred us to the NYPD or their union.

Fossil Fuel Industry Pollutes Black And Brown Communities

July 28, 2020 By Gin Armstrong and Derek Seidman, Eyes on the Ties. Educate! Oil and Gas Industry, Police abuse, pollution, Racism

Many of the most powerful oil and gas companies, private utilities, and financial institutions that drive environmental injustice are also backers of the same police departments – through their funding, sponsoring, and governing of police foundations – that tyrannize the very communities these corporate actors pollute. As demands continue to rise to defund the police and reinvest in Black and Brown communities, as well as to divest from the fossil fuel industry and reinvest in environmental justice and a just transition, the fossil fuel industry power structure presents a common foe for these interconnected fights.

Portland’s Mayor Tear-Gassed By Militarized US Police

July 23, 2020 Gillian Flaccus, AP. Resist! Police abuse, Portland, Tear Gas, Ted Wheeler

The mayor of Portland, Oregon was tear-gassed by U.S. government agents as he stood outside a federal courthouse during another night of protests against the presence of federal police sent by President Donald Trump to quell the city’s ongoing unrest. Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, appeared slightly dazed and coughed and said Wednesday night it was the first time he’d been tear-gassed. He put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front of the protest and continued to take tear gas as the demonstration raged — with protesters lighting a large fire between protective fencing and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse amid the pop-pop-pop sounds of the federal agents deploying tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.

Federal Agents Retreat To Portland Base As Protesters Control Streets

July 23, 2020 By Chris McGreal , The Guardian. Resist! Donald Trump, Police abuse, Portland, Rebellion2020

The DHS officers dispatched by the president to put down the demonstrations have instead become prisoners of the building they are ostensibly there to defend. “The feds don’t have control of the streets,” said a woman holding a sign “100% not a terrorist”, who gave her name only as Shannon. “I think they’re more scared than us. They’re hiding in there. They don’t know what they’re doing.” If the intent was to intimidate the protesters into abandoning the few square blocks of downtown Portland under their control, it backfired spectacularly. Residents of a city with a long history of radical street protest were outraged at the tactics which suddenly revitalized a protest movement that was waning after more than 50 nights of demonstrations. It is now the federal agents who appear under siege, reduced to defending the courthouse from attempts to break in or set it on fire. In a visible surrender of ground, the DHS taskforce has even abandoned bothering to re-erect a fence around the federal building torn down on Saturday night.

What Are Trump And His Goons Up To?

July 23, 2020 Ann Garrison, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Donald Trump, federal law enforcement, Oregon, Police abuse

First and foremost, it is a political stunt to capture the law and order crowd and press on divides between the coastal cities and inland voters. But it’s also more sinister than that. The use of federal forces is designed to weaken local accountability by freezing out local government that constituents can reach. Portland's mayor might not even have opposed some "help" from the feds, but he wasn't asked. In other words, this wasn't mutual aid. This was indeed an invasion. An alphabet soup of federal agencies have been employed to crack down on police brutality protests, including the National Guard, the US Marshals, and the Secret Service (the National Guard being the only one of these organizations whose mission even arguably includes civil unrest). But the highly publicized Portland kidnappings or detentions, depending on which you want to call them, were carried out by Customs and Border Patrol, specifically the Border Patrol tactical squad which is called BORTAC .

New Civil Rights Lawsuit Filed Against Federal Law Enforcement

July 23, 2020 By Jonathan Levinson, Oregon Public Broadcasting. Resist! Federalism, Legal System, Police abuse, Portland

The Western States Center, the First Unitarian Church of Portland, two state representatives and an ACLU legal observer are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges the federal government has violated protesters’ 10th Amendment rights. It was filed Tuesday in federal court. The 10th Amendment delineates the separation of powers between federal and state governments. “The power to engage in ordinary law enforcement is one of the long-recognized powers that belong to the states and to their municipalities,” said Cliff Davidson, an attorney with Snell & Wilmer, the firm filing the lawsuit. The Western States Center, an Oregon-based activism group, alleges that the arrival of federal law enforcement reversed progress the organization had made in de-escalating conflict between the Portland Police Bureau and protesters.

Portland’s Wall Of Moms Joined By Dads With Leaf Blowers

July 22, 2020 Chris Walker, Truthout. Resist! federal law enforcement, Nonviolent Action, Oregon, Police abuse

In response to the use of tear gas being utilized by federal officers against demonstrators, including a group of moms, in an uprising in Portland, Oregon, this week, a like-minded dads’ group encouraged others to show up to the event with leaf blowers in order to dissipate the chemical agents. Uprisings in Portland have happened nightly since the end of May, in response to police violence against Black Americans, including renewed attention to Jason Washington, a Black resident of the city who was shot and killed by police in 2018. Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as federal officers began appearing at the events. Last week, there were reports of agents in unmarked vans stopping next to protesters, whisking them away in the vehicles without stated justification and without identifying who they were.

150 Federal Agents Set To Deploy In Chicago

July 22, 2020 Associated Press. Educate! Chicago, Donald Trump, federal law enforcement, Militarization, Police abuse

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is crafting plans to deploy about 150 federal agents to Chicago this week, the Chicago Tribune has learned, a move that would come amid growing controversy nationally about federal force being used in American cities. One Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in Chicago, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, confirmed the deployment was expected to take place. The official noted that the HSI agents, who are part of ICE, would not be involved in immigration or deportation matters. "We’re not going to leave New York and Chicago and Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore, and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We’re not going to let this happen in our country, all run by liberal Democrats,” Trump said. Atty. Gen. William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf would roll out a plan this week for tamping down crime in various U.S. cities.

Protesters Attacked By Police Are Suing To Vindicate Their Constitutional Rights

July 21, 2020 By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. Resist! Constitutional Rights, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

Protesters demonstrating against white supremacy and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s public lynching have been met with illegal repression by law enforcement. Police have utilized toxic chemical and sonic weapons, dangerous projectiles, intrusive surveillance, physical violence and “kettling” to trap demonstrators after dispersal orders are given. People are suing to protect their constitutional rights.Plaintiffs allege that police misconduct resulted in the violation of their First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. They charge that the LAPD used “indiscriminate and unreasonable force against thousands of protesters” and used unreasonable and excessive force by hitting “at least close to a thousand protesters with batons and/or ‘rubbers bullets.’” Plaintiffs attest to being restrained with tight handcuffs, denied bathroom access and access to food or water, and provided insufficient ventilation during transport, making them vulnerable to COVID-19.

Portland: A Harbinger Of Things To Come?

July 21, 2020 the Black Alliance for Peace. Educate! Militarization, Police abuse, Police violence, Racism

Militarized federal agents deployed by the president to Portland, fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as the city’s mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP) Masked men in unrecognizable police uniforms jump out of unmarked vans and grab an activist who has been involved in demonstrations against a repressive state. That person is disappeared. Is this Pinochet’s Chile, apartheid South Africa or a scene from a John Clancy novel? No, this is happening in Portland, Oregon, a major U.S. city. The culprits apparently are agents of the federal government who have essentially invaded the streets of that city over the objections of the mayor and the governor.

Secret Police On The Streets Of PDX

July 21, 2020 Members of Black Rose Anarchist Federation, Black Rose. Resist! Anarchism, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

Portland has now become a proving ground for the Trump administration to demonstrate its ‘law and order’ bona fides in the run-up to the 2020 election. Federal police, with little information available as to which agencies they specifically work for, have become more active in the repression of demonstrations in the city. A number of recent videos have captured this secret police force, members of which wear military fatigues, grabbing demonstrators off the street and shuttling them away in unmarked vehicles. We caught up with a member of our Portland local to find out more about what’s been happening on the ground.

Portland Protester, Navy Veteran, Describes Beating By Federal Officers

July 21, 2020 By Zane Sparling, Portland Tribune. Resist! federal law enforcement, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

David stood as solidly as a rock while federal officers pepper-sprayed him twice and struck him at least five times with a baton during a rally outside the Hatfield Courthouse on Saturday, July 18. "I knew I was never going to react. I was never going to fight back," he said. "I'm a little too old to be beaten by a bunch of young guys." David, 53, of Portland, is hardly an anti-establishment type. He says he attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, after high school, later serving with the Navy Seabees while becoming a commissioned officer and aeronautical engineer. David is hoping life will return to normal soon. While he never did speak with the camouflaged feds, he said he hopes they hear his message: "That oath of office is essentially swearing loyalty to the Constitution of the United States, and what they're doing is not constitutional anymore."

Oregon Officials Decry Federal Agents After Protest Clashes

July 19, 2020 Andrew Selsky and Gillian Flaccus, AP News. Educate! Donald Trump, Oregon, Police abuse, Portland

Militarized federal agents deployed by the president to Portland, Oregon, fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as the city’s mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum also sued Homeland Security and the Marshals Service in federal court Friday night. The complaint alleges that unidentified federal agents have grabbed people off Portland’s streets “without warning or explanation, without a warrant, and without providing any way to determine who is directing this action.” Rosenblum said she was seeking a temporary restraining order to “immediately stop federal authorities from unlawfully detaining Oregonians.” Federal agents, some wearing camouflage and some wearing dark Homeland Security uniforms used tear gas at least twice to break up crowds late Friday night, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Scheer Intelligence: The Cartoonist The Cops Didn’t Let Get Away

July 17, 2020 Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. Educate! Los Angeles, Podcast, Police abuse, Press Freedom

Ted Rall, the Pulitzer Prize finalist, columnist and cartoonist joins Robert Scheer on in this week’s episode of “Scheer Intelligence” to talk about his firing by the Los Angeles Times and and his latest book, “Political Suicide: The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party.” The host commends the journalist for his “courageous” and “gutsy” reporting on the Afghanistan War and a long, noteworthy career. Yet, it is precisely his candid storytelling through words and visual arts that earned him a place in the Los Angeles Police Department’s crosshairs. The story of Ted Rall’s firing as a cartoonist by Los Angeles Times in 2015 reveals the historically cozy relationship that existed between the media and the police. Writing a blog for the LA Times, in which he detailed an encounter with an LAPD officer who’d detained and handcuffed him for allegedly jaywalking years earlier, ultimately led to Rall’s very public firing and a legal case that now threatens to bankrupt him.

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