Cops are so out of control these days!

[Herb Forester]

I suspect some folks will find this difficult to reconcile with the popular media narrative, but if you follow along to the conclusions, anger with the message might take a surprising turn elsewhere. It's a careful examination of the limited evidence, as the grand jury documents remain sealed (although likely to be released before the federal investigation).

For those not familiar with this sort of philosophical exercise, it's well worth your time to watch and consider how to apply the principles to other topics.

 

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Kansas police have cleared themselves of any wrongdoing in the death of Brenda Sewell. The 58-year-old woman died in a Lawrence jail cell after she and her sister were pulled over and arrested for possession of marijuana. From KMBC in Kansas City:

Relatives of Brenda Sewell of Kansas City, Missouri, contend that jailers in Sherman County in western Kansas refused to give her prescription medication and were slow to help after she collapsed in her cell. Sewell was 58 when she died Jan. 22.

Sherman County Attorney Charles Moser released the police investigative file exclusively to the Lawrence Journal-World this month, the newspaper reported. The report showed that Douglas County Attorney Charles Branson was brought in to review the case and found that the correctional officers overseeing Sewell didn’t commit a crime.

The file said Sewell vomited more than two dozen times over 15 hours. After being taken to a medical center and given intravenous fluids and anti-nausea medicine, she was returned to her cell. The next morning she was sick again, began having seizures and stopped breathing.

Sewell suffered abdominal hemorrhaging when her spleen ruptured, according to an autopsy report. Contributing factors to the rupture included vomiting and abdominal retching, the autopsy found.

Sewell’s family doesn’t understand why she wasn’t provided better, faster medical treatment. Sewell suffered from several autoimmune diseases including fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s syndrome, her family said. She also had thyroid disease, high blood pressure and Hepatitis C, the family said.

Among Sewell’s prescriptions were pain and muscle relaxant medications prescribed to deaden the pain that some of the diseases caused.

“I firmly believe she would be alive today if they had just listened instead of treating (her and his aunt) like hardened criminals,” said Sewell’s son, Aaron Ray. “Everything about this was absurd.”

Or better yet, stop putting people in cages for possessing a plant in the first place. Neither Sewell nor her sister had any prior criminal history. According to relatives, the two women had driven to Colorado to see whether marijuana might help treat some of Sewell’s symptoms, such as her nausea and loss of appetite. For the crime of trying to see whether pot could help treat her illnesses, Sewell was left to die of them.

It also took several months and a change to Kansas’s open-records laws for Sewell’s family to get any answers about her death. (Not surprisingly, Sewell’s sister’s account of their time in jail differs significantly from the account in the investigation.)

As I wrote in a post in July, Sewell is far from the first person to be neglected in a jail cell after an arrest for pot possession. She also isn’t the first person to die due to that neglect.

News Moderator: Shandar @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis
Author: Radley Balko
Contact:
Website: Another drug war tragedy - The Washington Post

 

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US Police Have Killed Over 5,000 Civilians Since 9/11

Statistically speaking, Americans should be more fearful of the local cops than “terrorists.”



Though Americans commonly believe law enforcement’s role in society is to protect them and ensure peace and stability within the community, the sad reality is that police departments are often more focused onenforcing laws, making arrests and issuing citations. As a result of this as well as an increase in militarized policing techniques, Americans are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist, estimates a Washington’s Blog report based on official statistical data.

Though the U.S. government does not have a database collecting information about the total number of police involved shootings each year, it’s estimated that between 500 and 1,000 Americans are killed by police officers each year. Since 9/11, about 5,000 Americans have been killed by U.S. police officers, which is almost equivalent to the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty in Iraq.

Because individual police departments are not required to submit information regarding the use of deadly force by its officers, some bloggers have taken it upon themselves to aggregate that data. Wikipedia also has a list of “justifiable homicides” in the U.S., which was created by documenting publicized deaths.

Mike Prysner, one of the local directors of the Los Angeles chapter for ANSWER — an advocacy group that asks the public to Act Now to Stop War and End Racism — told Mint Press News earlier this year that the “epidemic” of police harassment and violence is a nationwide issue.

He said groups like ANSWER are trying to hold officers accountable for abuse of power. “[Police brutality] has been an issue for a very long time,” Prysner said, explaining that in May, 13 people were killed in Southern California by police.

As Mint Press News previously reported, each year there are thousands of claims of police misconduct. According to the CATO Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, in 2010 there were 4,861 unique reports of police misconduct involving 6,613 sworn officers and 6,826 alleged victims.

Most of those allegations of police brutality involved officers who punched or hit victims with batons, but about one-quarter of the reported cases involved firearms or stun guns.



Racist policing
A big element in the police killings, Prysner says, is racism. “A big majority of those killed are Latinos and Black people,” while the police officers are mostly White, he said. “It’s a badge of honor to shoot gang members so [the police] go out and shoot people who look like gang members,” Prysner argued, giving the example of 34-year-old Rigoberto Arceo, who was killed by police on May 11.

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, Arceo, who was a biomedical technician at St. Francis Medical Center, was shot and killed after getting out of his sister’s van. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says Arceo “advanced on the deputy and attempted to take the deputy’s gun.” However, Arceo’s sister and 53-year-old Armando Garcia — who was barbecuing in his yard when the incident happened — say that Arceo had his hands above his head the entire time.

Prysner is not alone in his assertion that race is a major factor in officer-related violence. This past May, astudy from the the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, an anti-racist activist organization, found that police officers, security guards or self-appointed vigilantes killed at least 313 Black people in 2012 — meaning one Black person was killed in the U.S. by law enforcement roughly every 28 hours.

Prysner said the relationship between police departments and community members needs to change and that when police shoot an unarmed person with their arms in the air over their head, the officer should be punished.



A culture of misconduct
“You cannot have a police force that is investigating and punishing itself,” Prysner said, adding that taxpayer money should be invested into the community instead of given to police to buy more guns, assault rifles and body armor.

Dissatisfied with police departments’ internal review policies, some citizens have formed volunteer police watch groups to prevent the so-called “Blue Code of Silence” effect and encourage police officers to speak out against misconduct occurring within their department.

As Mint Press News previously reported, a report released earlier this year found that of the 439 cases of police misconduct that then had been brought before the Minneapolis’s year-old misconduct review board, not one of the police officers involved has been disciplined.

Although the city of Minneapolis spent $14 million in payouts for alleged police misconduct between 2006 and 2012, despite the fact that the Minneapolis Police Department often concluded that the officers involved in those cases did nothing wrong.

Other departments have begun banning equipment such as Tasers, but those decisions were likely more about protecting the individual departments from lawsuits than ensuring that officers are not equipped with weapons that cause serious and sometimes fatal injuries when used.

To ensure officers are properly educated on how to use their weapons and are aware of police ethics, conflict resolution and varying cultures within a community, police departments have historically heldtraining programs for all officers. But due to tighter budgets and a shift in priorities, many departments have not provided the proper continuing education training programs for their officers.

Charles Ramsey, president of both the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Police Executive Research Forum, called that a big mistake, explaining that it is essential officers are trained and prepared for high-stress situations:

“Not everybody is going to be able to make those kinds of good decisions under pressure, but I do think that the more reality-based training that we provide, the more we put people in stressful situations to make them respond and make them react.”



GI Joe replaces Carl Winslow
In order to help local police officers protect themselves while fighting the largely unsuccessful War on Drugs, the federal government passed legislation in 1994 allowing the Pentagon to donate surplus military equipment from the Cold War to local police departments. Meaning that “weaponry designed for use on a foreign battlefield has been handed over for use on American streets … against American citizens.”

So while the U.S. military fights the War on Terror abroad, local police departments are fighting another war at home with some of the same equipment as U.S. troops, and protocol that largely favors officers in such tactics as no-knock raids.

Radley Balko, author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” wrote in the Wall Street Journal in August:

“Since the 1960s, in response to a range of perceived threats, law-enforcement agencies across the U.S., at every level of government, have been blurring the line between police officer and soldier.

“Driven by martial rhetoric and the availability of military-style equipment—from bayonets and M-16 rifles to armored personnel carriers—American police forces have often adopted a mind-set previously reserved for the battlefield. The war on drugs and, more recently, post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts have created a new figure on the U.S. scene: the warrior cop—armed to the teeth, ready to deal harshly with targeted wrongdoers, and a growing threat to familiar American liberties.”

As Mint Press News previously reported, statistics from an FBI report released in September reveal that a person is arrested on marijuana-related charges in the U.S. every 48 seconds, on average — most were for simple possession charges.

According to the FBI’s report, there were more arrests for marijuana possession than for the violent crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault — 658,231 compared with 521,196 arrests.

While groups that advocate against police brutality recognize and believe that law enforcement officials should be protected while on duty, many say that local police officers do not need to wear body armor, Kevlar helmets and tactical equipment vests — all while carrying assault weapons.

“We want the police to keep up with the latest technology. That’s critical,” American Civil Liberties Union senior counsel Kara Dansky said. “But policing should be about protection, not combat.”

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, there are more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. In 2012, 120 officers were killed in the line of duty. The deadliest day in law enforcement history was reportedly Sept. 11, 2001, when 72 officers were killed.

Despite far fewer officers dying in the line of duty compared with American citizens, police departments are not only increasing their use of protective and highly volatile gear, but are increasingly setting aside a portion of their budget to invest in new technology such as drones, night vision goggles, remote robots, surveillance cameras, license plate readers and armored vehicles that amount to unarmed tanks.

Though some officers are on board with the increased militarization and attend conferences such as the annual Urban Shield event, others have expressed concern with the direction the profession is heading.

For example, former Arizona police officer Jon W. McBride said police concerns about being “outgunned” were likely a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” He added that “if not expressly prohibited, police managers will continually push the arms race,” because “their professional literature is predominately [sic] based on the acquiring and use of newer weapons and more aggressive techniques to physically overwhelm the public. In many cases, however, this is the opposite of smart policing.”

“Coupled with the paramilitary design of the police bureaucracy itself, the police give in to what is already a serious problem in the ranks: the belief that the increasing use of power against a citizen is always justified no matter the violation. The police don’t understand that in many instances they are the cause of the escalation and bear more responsibility during an adverse outcome.

“The suspects I encountered as a former police officer and federal agent in nearly all cases granted permission for me to search their property when asked, often despite unconcealed contraband. Now, instead of making a simple request of a violator, many in law enforcement seem to take a more difficult and confrontational path, fearing personal risk. In many circumstances they inflame the citizens they are engaging, thereby needlessly putting themselves in real and increased jeopardy.”

Another former police officer who wished to remain anonymous agreed with McBride and told Balko,

“American policing really needs to return to a more traditional role of cops keeping the peace; getting out of police cars, talking to people, and not being prone to overreaction with the use of firearms, tasers, or pepper spray. … Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in more than my share tussles and certainly appreciate the dangers of police work, but as Joseph Wambaugh famously said, the real danger is psychological, not physical.”

 

[suomynona]

@Herb Forester , good video. What do you mean or feel about applying principles elsewhere? Just not sure what you meant. I think most folks already feel that the pigs, who are the reason Garner died, were unjustified egotistical thugs with costumes and guns.

Some of the guys best statements in the video though:

"People in blue costumes given the capacity to initiate force against you until you comply or are incompacitated. .....The law is an opinion with a gun. .....Government is a place where people pull out guns and make other people do what they want or they shoot them."

 

[jumpincactus]

Was just listening to some news report the other day. Was Slobama talking about how concerned he is with all the civilian deaths and of course he was talking about having cops wear body cams. Like that is going to change anything.......... Well depending on who up on the Hill has/owns stock in whoever gets selected to supply the cams. Probably "Taser".......... Nothing will change until we stop letting the Fox guard the henhouse. And really start a system whereby all wrong full civilian deaths are reported and then the mentality that cops cant do no wrong needs to be changed at the judge and courtroom level. They act with impunity!!!!!

 

[diamond2.0]

Goon Thug Cops Murder At Will
By Paul Craig Roberts

December 05, 2014 "ICH" - Another goon thug gratuitous murderer has been let off by a grand jury and a prosecutor. Read the condolences offered by NY mayor Bill de Blasio, officer Pantaleo and the Obama Puppet:http://rt.com/usa/211203-garner-chokehold-grand-jury-decision/ They are so sorry about the collateral damage of protecting the public from criminals and terrorists. But our society would collapse if people are allowed to sell on the street untaxed individual cigarettes out of a pack.http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/03/the-policies-behind-eric-garner-s-death.html Without the death of innocents, none of us would be safe. Our safety depended on the NYPD murder of Eric Garner, a father of six who was a threat to no one.

Another police murder of a US citizen who was no threat to anyone–just more collateral damage–as the US military calls it when US forces blow up kids’ soccer games, weddings, funerals, and birthday parties. Any concentration of people, regardless of what they are doing, is considered to be an enemy force and legitimate target. This includes people picking their crops in fields.

Unfortunate perhaps, but soldiers and police and US presidents have the right to make mistakes. Only a dangerous “domestic extremist” would think that a goon thug should be held accountable for a murder. I mean, after all, the 21st century American courts have established that those in the executive branch are above the law. American judges are sworn to uphold the US Constitution, but this has not stopped them from subverting it in the interest of executive power in order to make us “safe.”

Accountability would prevent “our” government from protecting us. Law gets in the way by protecting innocents from fabricated charges and a citizenry from a tyrannical government. How can any American be safe unless the government has total power to protect the citizen by declaring him without any evidence to be a threat and thereby a subject for extermination?

Really, I mean, without the authoritative powerful and unrestrained government in Washington and in the police, how would any of us be safe? Threats would be everywhere, and we would all be murdered in our beds by domestic extremists if not by terrorists.

Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler have shown us the way, and Washington has taken it to heart as long as you understand that killing is what makes us safe.

You might be next, but it will just be collateral damage, an essential element of keeping Americans “safe.”

Police brutality is routine around the clock never ending activity. Here is a gang of Australian goon thug cops beating up a petite female model, claiming the tiny woman resisted arrest. http://rt.com/news/211287-police-brutality-australia-woman/

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.

 

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Military helicopters descend on Twin Cities, Minnesota in unannounced “urban warfare” exercises

On the evening of Monday, August 18, the US Army commenced unannounced military exercises in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. MH-60 variant Black Hawk helicopters buzzed through the downtown and residential areas of the two Midwestern cities.

The ominous exercises, which took place over three days, were led by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security in close collaboration with the local police. They were carried out without public warning, despite the fact that they included late-night low flyovers of residential districts by thunderous war equipment.

Hundreds of stunned residents placed emergency phone calls in the hours after exercises began as several black helicopters weaved in between skyscrapers of both cities and swept through areas at low altitudes and high speeds. It was only after the widespread response that the police and military acknowledged what was taking place. (Video of part of the exercises can be found here.)

“We understand the concern and confusion these activities may have created for the public,” said St. Paul Police Department spokesman Howie Padilla as he defended the exercises.

St. Paul Police Federation President Dave Titus responded to these safety concerns by proclaiming, “Controlled practices like these ultimately save lives and make a safer environment for everyone.” The helicopters that flew over the two Minnesota cities are designated for stealth operations ranging from support and reconnaissance to attack missions in various settings. They are generally armed with machine guns and can fly at speeds of up to 300 km/h.

The helicopters were piloted by teams from the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, whose combat nickname is the “Night Stalkers.” The regiment, based out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, has participated in a wide range of imperialist interventions, ranging from Mogadishu, Somalia to the war in Iraq.

Major Allen Hill, speaking for the regiment, claimed that the exercises were for “training” purposes. He attempted to downplay the significance of the exercises, noting that they take place “ten to 15 times a year throughout the country.” Hill said cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul “[provide] our pilots an unfamiliar environment—an area [the soldiers] are not accustomed to. Towns like Minneapolis, St. Paul, Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, they’re all great hosts. The cities invite us.”

Tonya Tennessen, spokesperson for St. Paul’s Democratic Party Mayor Chris Coleman, confirmed that Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges (also a Democrat) did invite the military to perform combat training over residential neighborhoods and refrained from notifying the public about the exercises.

“In a post-9/11 world, this is how homeland security happens,” Tennessen said. “These exercises are taking place in cities all over the country.”

Indeed, similar incidents have been reported in the previous two years around the US as part of “urban operations training” exercises. Minneapolis and St. Paul hosted similar military helicopter exercises in 2012, though on that occasion police notified the public of the exercises three days before they began.

The increasing regularity of urban warfare training involving military forces in the United States should be seen as a sharp warning to the working class. They are part of a number of steps directed at preparing for the use of these forces in operations within the country—directed at social and political opposition.

In April 2013, police placed the city of Boston, Massachusetts under de facto martial law after the city’s marathon race was bombed by Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

This month, the population of Ferguson, Missouri has also been placed under effective police rule. Peaceful protesters who sought to express their frustration with the police murder of an unarmed youth were met with tear gas and rubber bullets from police officers armed with combat equipment. Journalists reporting on the events in Ferguson faced similar treatment.

Police forces throughout the country are not only equipped with military gear, they have direct relationships with the military—as the Minneapolis warfare exercises make clear.

These preparations line up with the military plans put forward in the recently-released US Army Strategic Studies Group paper titled “Megacities and the United States Army: Preparing for a complex and uncertain future.”

The document makes the case for urban warfare against domestic opposition: “Failing to prepare for military operations in dangerous megacities could leave a future president without the means to do something that he or she considers to be in the national interest,” it reads. Among the cities cited in exercises for urban combat is New York City.

The training exercises in Minneapolis and St. Paul are not isolated events—they are part and parcel of preparations by the American ruling class for imperialist war abroad and for an intensified attack on the democratic rights of the population domestically.

The author also recommends:

Gaza, Ukraine and US preparations for urban warfare
[14 August 2014]

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/08/23/heli-a23.html

 

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“URBAN WARFARE TRAINING” AND THE MILITARIZATION OF AMERICA
SOURCE: BILL VAN AUKEN



This week’s deployment of Blackhawk helicopters in Chicago is only the latest in a series of “urban warfare training” exercises that have become a familiar feature of American life.

As elsewhere, this exercise was sprung unannounced on a startled civilian population. Conducted in secrecy, apparently with the collusion of local police agencies and elected officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, the ostensible purpose of these exercises is to give US troops experience in what Pentagon doctrine refers to as “Military Operations on Urban Terrain.”

Such operations are unquestionably of central importance to the US military. Over the past decade, its primary mission, as evidenced in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been the invasion and occupation of relatively powerless countries and the subjugation of their resisting populations, often in house-to-house fighting in urban centers.

The Army operates a 1,000 acre Urban Training Center in south-central Indiana that boasts over 1,500 “training structures” designed to simulate houses, schools, hospitals and factories. The center’s web site states that it “can be tailored to replicate both foreign and domestic scenarios.”

What does flying Blackhawks low over Chicago apartment buildings or rolling armored military convoys through the streets of St. Louis accomplish that cannot be achieved through the sprawling training center’s simulations? Last year alone, there were at least seven such exercises, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Tampa, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Creeds, Virginia.

The most obvious answer is that these exercises accustom troops to operating in US cities, while desensitizing the American people to the domestic deployment of US military might.

Preparations for such deployments are already far advanced. Over the past decade, under the pretext of prosecuting a “global war on terror,” Washington has enacted a raft of repressive legislation and created a vast new bureaucracy of state control under the Department of Homeland Security. Under the Obama administration, the White House has claimed the power to throw enemies of the state into indefinite military detention or even assassinate them on US soil by means of drone strikes, while radically expanding electronic spying on the American population.

Part of this process has been the ceaseless growth of the power of the US military and its increasing intervention into domestic affairs. In 2002, the creation of the US Northern Command for the first time dedicated a military command to operations within the US itself.

Just last May, the Pentagon announced the implementation of new rules of engagement for US military forces operating on American soil to provide “support” to “civilian law enforcement authorities, including responses to civil disturbances.”

The document declares sweeping and unprecedented military powers under a section entitled “Emergency Authority.” It asserts the authority of a “federal military commander” in “extraordinary White House and Congress in 2012, the governing party cuts off all funding that had been dedicated to boosting the economy or toward relief. The United States economy has flatlined, much like Japan’s in the 1990s, for the better part of a decade. By 2016, the economy shows signs of reawakening, but the middle and lower-middle classes have yet to experience much in the way of job growth or pay raises. Unemployment continues to hover perilously close to double digits …”

In other words, the Pentagon sees these conditions—which differ little from what exists in the US today—producing social upheavals that can be quelled only by means of military force.

What is being upended, behind the scenes and with virtually no media coverage, much less public debate, are constitutional principles dating back centuries that bar the use of the military in civilian law enforcement. In the Declaration of Independence itself, the indictment justifying revolution against King George included the charge that he had “affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil powemergency circumstances where prior authorization by the president is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances.” In other words, the Pentagon brass claims the unilateral authority to impose martial law.

These powers are not being asserted for the purpose of defending the US population against terrorism or to counter some hypothetical emergency. The US military command is quite conscious of where the danger lies.

In a recent article, a senior instructor at the Fort Leavenworth Command and General Staff College and former director of the Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies laid out a telling scenario for a situation in which the military could intervene.

“The Great Recession of the early twenty-first century lasts far longer than anyone anticipated. After a change in control of the er.”

Side by side with the rising domestic power of the military, the supposedly civilian police have been militarized. An article published by the Wall Street Journal last weekend entitled “The Rise of the Warrior Cop” graphically described this process:

“Driven by martial rhetoric and the availability of military-style equipment—from bayonets and M-16 rifles to armored personnel carriers—American police forces have often adopted a mind-set previously reserved for the battlefield. The war on drugs and, more recently, post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts have created a new figure on the US scene: the warrior cop—armed to the teeth, ready to deal harshly with targeted wrongdoers, and a growing threat to familiar American liberties.”

The article describes the vast proliferation of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) units to virtually every town in America, fueled by some $35 billion in grants from the Department of Homeland Security, “with much of the money going to purchase military gear such as armored personnel carriers.”

This armed force was on full display in April when what amounted to a state of siege was imposed on the city of Boston, ostensibly to capture one teenage suspect. The entire population of a major American city was locked in their homes as combat-equipped police, virtually indistinguishable from troops, occupied the streets and conducted warrantless house-to-house searches.

Underlying this unprecedented militarization of US society are two parallel processes. The immense widening of the social chasm separating the billionaires and multi-millionaires who control economic and political life from American working people, the great majority of the population, is fundamentally incompatible with democracy and requires other forms of rule. At the same time, the turn to militarism as the principal instrument of US foreign policy has vastly increased the power of the military within the US state apparatus.

Both America’s ruling oligarchy and the Pentagon command recognize that profound social polarization and deepening economic crisis must give rise to social upheavals. They are preparing accordingly.

 

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Respect you say?????

 

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Respect you say?????

At least in this case the guy did lose his job.......

 

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This one is great!!!! 1 for our side! Right on!!

Shows multiple stops and how the occupants handled protecting their civil rights!!!!!!!!

 

[suomynona]

Respect you say?????

I once had a sheriff grab me by my neck and hold me against a cement wall a couple feet off the ground for skateboarding on a basketball court where not one other person was, let alone anyone trying to play ball. He let me down just before i passed out. I was 14 years old.

 

[SeaF0ur]

Thats the problem... this is being spun as some racial issue... it is not, that is simply how it is being portrayed in this string of similar cases..
The real issue here is that police kill some citizens, and maim others.... its training.

DALLAS, February 28, 2013 — Minnesota-based Law Enforcement Targets, Inc (LET) has been awarded $5.5 million in contracts with the federal government, including $2 million with the Department of Homeland Security.

In light of this fact, it’s no wonder that the American people were outraged last week when it was uncovered that the firm had released a series of gun practice targets featuring a pregnant woman, a child, a young mother and grandparents.

This No More Hesitation series includes seven total targets, each subject armed: Pregnant Woman, seen in front of the backdrop of a nursery, Older Man 1, stands in his home, in front of a bookshelf and Older Man 2, Older Woman, is depicted in a bathrobe in her kitchen. The Young Mother, seen on a playground, is holding a toddler’s hand in one hand, gun in the other.

Then there is Young Girl standing in a driveway with a sack purse slung over her shoulder, and Little Brother, a very little person indeed, is depicted in a backyard with a privacy fence behind him. “Older man” stands in his home, in front of a bookshelf.

LET said that the targets were requested by law enforcement agencies and designed in order to “train police officers for unusually complex situations.”

A statement released to Reason’s Mike Riggs, states:

“The subjects in NMH targets were chosen in order to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training. I found while speaking with officers and trainers in the law enforcement community that there is a hesitation on the part of cops when deadly force is required on subjects with atypical age, frailty or condition (one officer explaining that he enlarged photos of his own kids to use as targets so that he would not be caught off guard with such a drastically new experience while on duty).

And just what are they shooting at on the police gun range these days you may ask...

They dont actually use those do they? ...

well...

This guy is clearly a threat...

Turnabout is fair play is it not?

 

[jumpincactus]

I once had a sheriff grab me by my neck and hold me against a cement wall a couple feet off the ground for skateboarding on a basketball court where not one other person was, let alone anyone trying to play ball. He let me down just before i passed out. I was 14 years old.

@soumynona .........you are lucky you made it. Glad you did!!!!

I was pepper sprayed and beaten with batons by multiple LEO's in 99 when I was marching at the WTO protest in Seattle. I had assumed the position as directed, was in a non threatening position per their ORDERS..... with my back to the police and when they got up on me I was doused with pepper spray and beaten for following their orders. I was arrested and detained and later released with no charges. However I was sore as F$$$ for a week after.

 

[jumpincactus]

Thats the problem... this is being spun as some racial issue... it is not, that is simply how it is being portrayed in this string of similar cases..
The real issue here is that police kill some citizens, and maim others.... its training.



And just what are they shooting at on the police gun range these days you may ask...

View attachment 464948

They dont actually use those do they? ...

well...

View attachment 464952

This guy is clearly a threat...

View attachment 464946

Turnabout is fair play is it not?

View attachment 464949 View attachment 464950 View attachment 464951

@SeaF0ur I could not agree with you more. Its the racial card that always gets played. White folks are subject to the same abuses by those in power as any others. There is no one that is safe from abuse anymore. No matter what your race.

 

[SeaF0ur]

How Killing Unarmed Civilians Is Protected By US Law

 

[SeaF0ur]

Radley Balko on the Militarization of America's Police Force

 

[jumpincactus]

I am of the belief that "they" and we know who "they" are,...... are in preparation for things to come. Call me a conspiracy nut if you will, however, if you really do pay attention to what is happening in this country it is hard to believe that things are going to get better and we are all gonna hug each other and sit round the camp fire toasting "Smores" and singin Kumbaya. My generation attempted to warn every day folks about the evils of war and corruption but the corporate elites and the gov called us communists, dope fiends, hippy fags and discredited anyone that spoke the truth to hide their true agenda's. We were beaten, shot, killed and smeared all while professing we lived in the Land of the Free and a nation built on democracy. Here is a classic example of how most are brainwashed by the media and just everyday life here in the USA, I was berated, belittled and called unpatriotic the other day by a gentleman(term used loosely) because I shared my personal opinion that Snowden was a hero. Controversial???? yes, but it is an opinion I hold to be my truth. His rant went on about how many people lives were put in jeopardy as a result of Snowden and Wikileaks, I really pissed him off when I said "Well if any one dies as a result of it, it will be sad to know that they died at the end of the gun barrels our gov sold to the people now turning them against us." My whole point in this is, if we don't stand up and fight to keep what rights we have we will some day be living in a reality none of is going to like very much. I love my country,that is my truth, I also love "Our" Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they were put in place to protect us all. What is happening in the streets today at the hands of those sworn to serve and protect, is another ongoing attempt to squelch those rights.

Ask your self this very deep profound question........ Do you really believe that what has happened to other great empires and Nations cannot happen here on our own soil???? Do you, really deep down in your inner most places, really feel safe and confident that those in power have your best interest at heart. Is the world a better safer place as a result of all of our failed foriegn policy affairs. Are you really willing to continue to allow your rights to be eroded? so you can be given the "Illusion" that you are somehow a tad bit safer.
Do you really fell safer knowing that our domestic police forces are armed to the nines and look like the Stasi when they come a calling.

Know your world history well, and don't ever forget that if nothing changes history WILL repeat itself. And beware of the terrorist within........

Bad Boys Bad Boys,,,,,,,,,, whatcha gonna do when they come for you....

 

[diamond2.0]

So telling !

CA Cop is Being Fired for NOT Using Violence to Resolve a Situation
By Matt Agorist

Seaside, CA — A 20 year veteran of the CSU Monterey Bay police force, was given a notice of termination this week for choosing NOT to immediately resort to violent escalation during a confrontation with a suicidal student.

The unidentified officer was the first one on the scene when responding to an incident involving a suicidal college student in his CSUMB dorm room in February of this year. The officer showed a heartening level of restraint when dealing with a student, who was in his room with a knife and hammer, and was also threatening to light himself on fire.

"He was clearly a danger to himself and he was in crisis," Marina Police Chief Edmundo Rodriguez said. "We were trying to keep him from accessing the weapons or leave, to get him medical attention."

Instead of immediately resorting to violence, this officer was talking the student down and de-escalating the situation. The officer was successful in calming the student down and was going to get him a glass of water when the Marina police department showed up, and immediately began tasering the student.

The campus officer refused to taser the student, as he did not perceive a threat. Subsequently Rodriguez's department later issued a "failure to act" complaint against the campus officer, accusing him of not engaging in a "highly agitated situation."

"It defies logic and is extremely disappointing that, at a time when law enforcement is under fire for using more force than necessary, an officer is being terminated for attempting to use civilized methods to resolve a situation," the student's father said.

"Our officer did not believe he was any threat at all," said Jeff Solomon, the union's president.

"The other officers started yelling and screaming to get down, Tased him multiple times, and from what we understand (told the university officer) to Tase him again," Solomon said.

The officer has been on paid leave since April according to his attorney who said she will now file a lawsuit against the university.

"We believe the officer in this case exercised restraint and good judgment in not tasing a student that was suffering from mental health issues," said the officer’s attorney Kathleen Storm.

This incident highlights the sick and twisted state of today’s police force. Darren Wilson shot and killed an unarmed teenager, and was not fired. Officer Daniel Pantaleo of the NYPD, placed Eric Garner in a chokehold, a maneuver which has been prohibited by the department since 1993, eventually killing the man. The entire incident was caught on video and Pantaleo was not fired.

This campus officer chose to use non-violence to try and resolve a situation, instead of killing or maiming a person, and he is being firedfor it.

Precedent set: Killing a person – all is well. Not using violence to resolve a situation – fired. Let that sink in.

“The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence.” - Mahatma Gandhi

 

[diamond2.0]

another braindead terrorizing piece of shit .

Police Officer Sees Graffiti Artist "Tag" a Building, So He Runs Him Over With His Car
By John Vibes

Miami, Florida – 21-year-old street artist Delbert Rodriguez Gutierrez is now in critical condition and facing death after a police officer in a patrol car ran him over during a chase. Delbert’s artist name is “Demz,” and police claim that they caught him tagging a building around 2am on Friday morning, near the intersection of NW 5th Avenue and 24th Street, in Wynwood.

Wynwood is an art district in Miami where graffiti is extremely common, and sometimes artists have agreements set up where they are allowed to tag on buildings. However, it is not clear whether or not Gutierrez had permission to be where he was, and police claim that he fled as soon as he saw the flashing red and blue lights of the police car.

Detective Michael Cadavid chased after the young artist in his unmarked patrol car, eventually running him over. After the incident, Cadavid claimed that Demz jumped out in front of the car and could not be avoided.

He was quickly rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where shortly after he was listed under critical condition with a severe brain injury.

“He shouldn’t be in the hospital with a brain injury right now, he should be out here doing graffiti with me. He probably shouldn’t have ran, you know, considering that it is Wynwood and it’s an art district and everyone is basically doing graffiti, the cops might have just given him a chance,” Rodriguez’s friend Neo told NBC 6.

The police will surely say that this attack is justified because Demz ran, or “resisted arrest”, but is this truly a justification for running a man over with a car? Is being non-compliant, and running away from people who are known to be violent actually a justifiable reason to kill someone?

Coincidentally, the incident happened just hours before a protest against police brutality was scheduled in Miami, in remembrance of Israel “Reefa” Hernandez, the young man who was killed by a Miami Beach Police officer last year when he was shocked with a taser.

Naturally, the police are callously blaming Gutierrez for his own death. "I understand she is extremely upset, and rightfully so, and that her son is in the hospital," Miami police union President Javier Ortiz said by text. "However, for every action there's a reaction. If he would have not been committing a crime and then running from law enforcement, this could have been avoided. Her son is in our prayers."

Rodriguez's mother, Nannette Kaniaris, and other family members sat in at vigil at his hospital bedside Friday night. Kaniaris said doctors told her it would take a miracle for her son to recover.

"I don't know that he's going to be here tomorrow," she said.


We see how things work.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/texas-judge-stumbles-dui-sobriety-test-article-1.2035975
Police release dashcam video of Texas judge stumbling through sobriety test month after court drops her DUI charges
Court of Appeals Judge Nora Longoria was allegedly begged for leniency during her DUI arrest in July. Last month, the District Attorney’s office said it lacked enough evidence to prosecute and another judge threw out the case. The DA said it never got the dashcam video, which showed Longoria stumble through her failed sobriety test.
BY MEG WAGNER
Could this be the evidence they never got?

A month after a Texas court threw out a DUI case against a judge because it lacked strong evidence, police released dashcam video of her arrest that showed her stumble through a sobriety test.

The new video, recorded during a July traffic stop in McAllen, showed Nora Longoria struggling to walk a straight line, Action 4 News reported. She teetered and lost her balance several times during her failed sobriety test, the video showed.

But Hidalgo County Court at Law No. 8 Judge Rolando Cantu threw out the case last month, marking "other" for the reasoning.

Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said her office never received the dashcam tape from McAllen police.

Dashcam video showed Texas Judge Nora Longoria struggling to walk a straight line.
PreviousNext
MCALLEN POLICE
Instead, she saw video recorded at the police station, which showed a more put together Longoria. With that video alone, the case wasn’t strong enough to take to court, she said.

"When looking at the video it doesn't sound to me like she had slurred speech," Guerra told the Monitor earlier this week.

The police officer who stopped Logoria for driving 69 mph in a 55 mph zone said she begged him not to arrest her.

“You are going to ruin my life,” she allegedly told him. The dashcam video does not have audio from their interaction.

Video: Texas judge performs sobriety test after DWI arrest
San Antonio Express-News

The officer also said the judge admitted to having five beers the night she was pulled over.

The 49-year-old refused to take a breath test and was charged with driving while intoxicated.

McAllen police said they are not sure why the Attorney’s office never received the dashcam footage.

Longoria was elected to the 13th Court of Appeals in 2012.

Texas Cop Tries to Delete Footage of Unlawful Detainment
by Carlos Miller

Houston police tried to delete footage from a man who video recorded himself getting handcuffed after he was detained for open carrying a firearm Friday.

But the cop failed to do so, obviously not familiar with modern technology nor with long-established Texas law that states a person does not have to identify themselves unless they have been lawfully arrested.

Considering open carrying firearms is completely legal in Texas, the entire detainment was illegal along with the cop boldly insisting on deleting the video. It was only last week where a Texas cop was disciplined for doing the same thing.
“You’re going to jail for failure to ID because you can’t tell me who you are, you can’t prove who you are,” the cop said. “I’m tired of you idiots coming out here. We’ll take the phone off now, we’re going to erase it cause that’s what you’re doing, you’re recording everything.”The man was handcuffed and placed in the back of the car a police were unable to delete the video. The man posted the video to his Youtube Channel, Common Sense, where it is the only video on the channel.

This is how he explained it on Youtube:
This happened December 6th, 2014 at about 12:30. I was standing on the corner for about 45 minutes and I specifically did it in Houston because they have always been really good about this. This is the first time I have posted an encounter with police during one of my travels… This one threw me over the edge, I was absolutely livid on the inside… I saw two different officers go through my phone while I was in the back of the patrol car. I was willing to work with the Houston Officers because they have always been really good about this, but they didn’t even give me a chance to work with them…

I am not seeking an attorney. I will open my court.

I actually created this YouTube channel to start educating people about common law and I was attempting to educate people about common law juries on this particular day.Contact Chief C.A. McClelland at (713) 308-1600. Or leave a comment on their Facebook page.