Police the Police

90-Year-Old And Ministers Arrested For Feeding The Hungry

November 5, 2014 Mike Clary, www.sun-sentinel.com Resist! Food and Agriculture, Homeless, Law, Police the Police, Religion

Uniformed police shut down an effort to provide lunch to scores of homeless in Stranahan Park on Sunday, enforcing a law passed recently that puts new limits on outdoor feeding sites. At least three people were cited for violating the new ordinance, including two members of the clergy and a 90-year-old advocate who has handed out food to the homeless for more than 20 years. Arnold Abbott, who heads the group Love Thy Neighbor, said he had served only three or four of about 300 meals he had prepared when police ordered him to stop. Abbott, the Rev. Mark Sims, of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Coral Springs, and the Rev. Dwayne Black, pastor of The Sanctuary Church in Fort Lauderdale, were each cited for willfully violating a city ordinance. Police issued them notices to appear in court, where they could be asked to explain their actions.

AP Exclusive: Ferguson No-Fly Zone Aimed At Media

November 4, 2014 Jack Gillum and Joan Lowy, www.bigstory.ap.org Educate! Ferguson, Freedom of Press, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Media, Police the Police

The U.S. government agreed to a police request to restrict more than 37 square miles of airspace surrounding Ferguson, Missouri, for 12 days in August for safety, but audio recordings show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters during violent street protests. On Aug. 12, the morning after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed the first flight restriction, FAA air traffic managers struggled to redefine the flight ban to let commercial flights operate at nearby Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and police helicopters fly through the area — but ban others. "They finally admitted it really was to keep the media out," said one FAA manager about the St. Louis County Police in a series of recorded telephone conversations obtained by The Associated Press.

Investigation: Chicago Police Continue Culture Of Impunity

November 3, 2014 Sarah Macaraeg and Alison Flowers, www.truth-out.org Educate! Chicago, police brutality, Police the Police

A two-month investigation by Truthout delved into police shootings and misconduct complaints in Chicago, uncovering several key facts that raise questions about deadly force and police impunity. The investigation matched and analyzed data of officers with a high volume of historic misconduct complaints with police unit designations and current City of Chicago employee and budgetary public data. The investigation found: -At least 21 Chicago police officers are currently serving on the force, some with honors, after shooting citizens under highly questionable circumstances, resulting in at least $30.2 million in taxpayer-funded City of Chicago settlements thus far. -Six officers who have shot and killed civilians also have a large volume of unpenalized complaints of misconduct. . .

The Stories Of Eighty-Nine People Killed By Chicago Police

November 1, 2014 Kevin Gosztola, www.dissenter.firedoglake.com Educate! Chicago, Mass Incarceration, police brutality, Police the Police

The Chicago Police Department shot over three hundred people in the past five years. In that same time span, 89 people were killed, and a grassroots organization led by youth of color in Chicago is calling attention to the stories of eleven of the individuals who were killed and also one who survived. The organization, We Charge Genocide (WCG), started in June to document human rights abuses by Chicago police. They prepared a report that would be presented to the UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva as part of a periodic review process of which signatories to the Convention Against Torture (CAT) participate. The name of the organization comes from a petition submitted by the Civil Rights Congress in 1951. The petition documented 153 racial killings and other human rights abuses that had been mostly committed by police.

In Protests, Who Owns The Highways?

October 29, 2014 Sarah Goodyear, www.citylab.com Strategize! Civil Disobedience, Police the Police, Protest

The typical American highway is no place for a person on foot. It is really not a place at all. These roads exist entirely outside of the human context, designed for the accommodation of cars and trucks that carry men, women, and children inside at high speed, and yet have their own brutal mechanical needs, wholly incompatible with flesh and blood. That was what made the images of last week’s protest on the road known as the Atlanta Downtown Connector so jarring. A few dozen individuals, including members of the group Southerners on New Ground, walked out onto that roadway and laid down a banner reading "#BlackLivesMatter." This was one of several actions around the country protesting police violence and mass incarceration, and expressing solidarity with those who have been demonstrating in Ferguson, Missouri, over the killing of black teenager Michael Brown by white policeman Darren Wilson. “These are just some ordinary folks who are sick and tired of being criminalized, overpoliced, the mass incarceration,” organizer Mary Hooks told WSB-TV. “Ordinary people get fed up. Ordinary people need to be heard.”

Ferguson Police Prepare For Protests

October 29, 2014 John Swaine, www.theguardian.com Educate! Ferguson, police brutality, Police the Police, Wars and Militarism

The police department overseeing the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the killing of an unarmed 18-year-old has spent tens of thousands of dollars replenishing their stocks of teargas, “less lethal” ammunition and riot gear in advance of a potential revival in demonstrations. St Louis County police made the purchases amid concerns that hundreds of demonstrators will return to the streets if Darren Wilson, the officer who shot dead Michael Brown in August, is not indicted on criminal charges by a grand jury currently considering the case. A breakdown of the department’s spending since August on equipment intended for the policing of crowds and civil disobedience, which totals $172,669, was obtained by the Guardian from the county force.

St. Louis Businesses Warned Of Unrest After Grand Jury Verdict

October 29, 2014 Curtis Kalin, www.cnsnews.com Organize! Business, Ferguson, Law, police brutality, Police the Police

A St. Louis property manager is warning businesses near the St. Louis County courthouse to prepare for “civil unrest” in the wake of the imminent grand jury decision in the Michael Brown shooting. Public demonstrations and random acts of violence have plagued the St. Louis area since August, when a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed, black teenager in the North St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO. The warning to businesses came by way of a letter, dated October 21, addressed to “all tenants” in The Boulevard shopping center in Richmond Heights, MO. The shopping center is less than a mile and a half from the site of the grand jury proceeding in Clayton, MO.

Activists Demand Comprehensive Data On Police Killings

October 25, 2014 Renee Lewis, www.aljazeera.com Organize! Ferguson, Law, police brutality, Police the Police

Activists who mobilized after the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown said Wednesday they have collected 200,000 signatures backing their demand that federal agencies address a nationwide trend of police violence with major reforms — including the collection and release of comprehensive data on how many Americans are killed by law enforcement officers each year. In the aftermath of Brown’s Aug. 9 death following what police say was an altercation with an officer in Ferguson, Missouri, rights groups and researchers have complained of a startling lack of official national figures on police killings.

Amnesty Int’l: Ferguson Police Abused Human Rights

October 25, 2014 Carey Gillam, www.reuters.com Resist! Ferguson, Human Rights, police brutality, Police the Police

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Police in Ferguson, Missouri, committed human rights abuses as they sought to quell mostly peaceful protests that erupted after an officer killed an unarmed black teenager, an international human rights organization said in a report released on Friday. The Amnesty International report said law enforcement officers should be investigated by U.S. authorities for the abuses, which occurred during weeks of racially charged protests that erupted after white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, 18, on Aug. 9. The use by law enforcement of rubber bullets, tear gas and heavy military equipment and restrictions placed on peaceful protesters all violated international standards, the group said.

NY Releases List Of Military Gear & Equipment

October 25, 2014 Shawn Musgrave, www.muckrock.com Educate! NYPD, Police the Police, Wars and Militarism

Over the past several years, more than 120 law enforcement agencies across the state, from the NYPD to Tuckahoe, have obtained military-grade equipment through the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which transfers excess military equipment to state and local police across the country. Late last week, for the first time, state officials released a detailed inventory of the equipment obtained by individual agencies. A review of the data revealed: Since enrolling in 1995, the NYPD has obtained four armored trucks valued at $65,000 each and two former artillery vehicles known as mortar carriers valued at more than $200,000 each. The NYPD received one such heavily armored vehicle in June 2012.

Camming The Fuzz: Why Not?

October 25, 2014 Peter Spagnuolo, www.defendingdissent.org Educate! police brutality, Police the Police, Wars and Militarism

This week, both houses of New Jersey’s legislature considered bills to make wireless, body-mounted video cameras part of the standard equipment for every state police officer. (The lower-house sponsor is Assemblymember Paul Moriarty, a liberal Democrat who famously pushed through dashboard cameras for all state troopers after one helped him beat a DWI ticket.) The Garden State is one of numerous states and municipalities considering such legislation, including Florida; DeKalb County, Illinois; Denver; Orange County, California; and Spokane and Bremerton, Washington. Most of these measures are proposed by liberal Democrats, and enjoy support on both sides of the aisle. This follows a broader pattern of progressives nationwide calling for wiring up the constabulary as a tool to keep police accountable.

Philadelphia Police: 600 Lawsuits, $40 Million In Damages

October 24, 2014 Todd Feathers, www.muckrock.com Educate! Philadelphia, police brutality, Police the Police

The city of Philadelphia has paid out more than $40 million in damages and settlements as a result of nearly 600 misconduct lawsuits brought against the police department since 2009, according to data provided by the cities under public records requests. The numbers dwarf comparable statistics in other major cities for which MuckRock obtained the same data. For example, the cities of Indianapolis, San Francisco, San Jose, and Austin settled or lost a combined 122 police misconduct cases - compared to 586 cases in Philadelphia. As of the 2010 census, those four cities had a combined population more than double Philadelphia’s estimated 1,526,006 residents.

NYPD Has Paid Over $400 Million In Settlements

October 24, 2014 JPat Brown, www.muckrock.com Educate! NYPD, police brutality, Police the Police

As part of an ongoing investigation, MuckRock's Todd Feathers asked the NYPD for a list of all civil rights lawsuits brought against the department. To his surprise, what he got was every case brought against the NYPD since 2009, and how much those cases cost them. To all of MuckRock's surprise, that amount is almost half a billion dollars. We've only just begun to look through the data, but already there's a couple interesting take-aways: one, the sheervolume of capital that is being spent on settlements, and two, that the overwhelming majority of these cases end with the NYPD at fault. While's there a handful of Zero Disposition and Administrative Closing statuses, the Settlement category outnumbers them three to one.

Slave Patrols Alive & Well Across America, Part II

October 23, 2014 Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! Ferguson, police brutality, Police the Police, Vonderrit Myers

There has long been a playbook for police departments across America—after police officers, predominantly white, kill unarmed citizens who are predominantly black. We can trace this to its origins in the Deep South, during the early days of human trafficking in America when it was called "slavery." Today's iteration of African human trafficking in America goes by various MOs, all with politely toned down labeling: "racial profiling," "gentrification," "the prison-industrial complex." Yet, if we were honest with ourselves we would call this systemic lethality what is it – the renewal of the slave posse’s license to kill black people. After Michael Brown, 18 was profiled and executed on August 9th as he walked in the street with a companion, the Ferguson police department was happy to release a video that on casual viewing appeared to show Brown just minutes before his execution manhandling the much smaller clerk in a local market where Michael appeared to be shoplifting cigars.

We Charge Genocide.

October 23, 2014 We Charge Genocide, www.report.wechargegenocide.org Educate! Genocide, police brutality, Police the Police, Racial Justice

We Charge Genocide is a grassroots, inter-generational, volunteer effort to center the voices and experiences of the young people most targeted by police and most impacted by police violence in Chicago. We offer a vehicle for needed organizing and social transformation to resist police violence in Chicago. The name, We Charge Genocide, comes from a petition filed to the United Nations in 1951 that documented 153 racial killings and other human rights abuses across the United States, mostly by the local police. Today, police violence in Chicago continues to violate human rights principles as seen in the daily harassment, abuse, and targeting of youth of color by CPD officers. Following the legacy of our name, We Charge Genocide has submitted a report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture: Police Violence Against Chicago’s Youth of Color. The report reveals the disturbing and intolerable truth that police officers regularly engage torture. Specifically, the Chicago Police Department is in violation of Articles 2, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 14 of the Convention of Torture through the cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of youth of color in Chicago

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