Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

(I mean yes, it was equally false reporter's fault and he should see heavy jail time as they've done this like ten+ times apparently)

i'm sure more details will come out but.. did this SWAT cop just see an unarmed man open the door and shoot him? really?

the claim is that he thought he saw the unarmed man's hand "moving towards his waistband" bleagh

I'm honestly surprised that you (or anyone) is surprised that yet another murdering pig scumbag has murdered someone for no fucking reason yet again and will no doubt get away with it yet again

i am not surprised fwiw.

yeah shame on me i guess

but bear in mind swatting has happened many many times in the last decade, this is (as far as I know) the first time it finally ended up with someone getting killed

John Cole:

Obviously, this does not excuse the evil behavior of those who called in the hoax, but jesus fucking christ, maybe we have a policing problem when they show up and start shooting before they even know what the hell is going on? What if that had been a hostage coming to the door (as it was, it was already a completely innocent person)? Why bother calling the cops in a hostage crisis if they are just going to open fire, kill ’em all, and let god sort it out.

Just thinking outside the fucking box, here, but maybe decades of pretending the police are infallible and deserve our complete unflinching support and that we bow down at their feet for people who have a job less dangerous than a lumberjack combined with shitty pay, long hours, no chance of punishment for fuckups, and arming them to the teeth with weapons they do not need is also a problem here?

idk gamers still suck for sounding like they're just realizing all of this in 2017

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/black-man-says-tulsa-cops-arrested-him-for-over-obeying-during-traffic-stop-no-matter-what-i-did-i-was-going-to-lose/?utm_content=buffer0b2d9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

motherfucker!

https://nypost.com/2018/01/21/police-union-slashes-number-of-get-out-of-jail-free-cards-issued/

fucking fucks
https://www.theroot.com/baltimore-cops-kept-toy-guns-to-plant-just-in-case-they-1822546984

When Anna said she was raped by two on-duty cops, she thought it would be a simple case. She had no idea she lived in one of 35 states where officers can claim a detainee consented.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/06/tennessee-sheriff-caught-on-tape-killing-suspect-lawsuit

Blood is fucking boiling rn

jesus. i live in NY and hadn't heard about that Anna Chambers thing

i think someone bumped another thread about this a couple weeks ago but is there any non-local news coverage (other than one nyt article) about the baltimore police trial? is it that boring and common to have cops rob people now?

maybe?

it's kind of in the mass shootings of 5 people or less category. definitely noteworthy, but no longer national news

kind of fucked up

i just assume most cops are doing some kind of dirt now

yeah, it's true, what karl said. i just have so much to say about how sublimely bad these cops were. and how many other, un-charged cops they have testified about, and how people are still on this "but most cops are still heroes who keep my family safe" tip.

not really "police brutality" but consider it a cousin:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/07/barbarism-texas-judge-ordered-electric-shocks-to-man-during-trial-conviction-thrown-out/?utm_term=.805a5f29de17

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/01/police-officer-woman-beach-punched-new-jersey-emily-weinman

This video of police entering Chelsea Manning's home with guns drawn for a "wellness check" is extremely disturbing. This is how people with mental health issues end up dead. https://t.co/cr0m6drHnr by @micahflee @alicesperi

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) June 5, 2018

"rogue"

The leader of a rogue Baltimore police unit has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Ex-police sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins, 37, led the elite Gun Trace Task Force until his arrest along with almost every member of the unit in March 2017.

He admitted robbing Baltimore citizens, planting drugs on innocent people and re-selling seized drugs such as heroin, cocaine and prescription painkillers.

Prosecutors depicted him as the rogue officers' once untouchable chief....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44402948

After A White Cop Shot A Black Man, He Sued The City For Racial Discrimination

After fatal shootings, police officers may lose their jobs, but they rarely get prison time. This cop walked away with a settlement.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/ricky-ball-canyon-boykin-police-shooting-racial

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2018/07/10/an-arkansas-man-complained-about-police-abuse-then-town-officials-ruined-his-life/

This is very common in policing. Looking back on my career, I realize just how often I acted similarly and didn’t even realize it. It was subconscious. I was trained and subtly incentivized to do so. You intentionally create conflict and manufacture noncompliance in order to build your stop into an arrest situation. Because that’s what generations of law enforcers who have been steeped in a fear-based, comply or else, us-vs.-them mind-set do. They arrest people. Arrests are a primary measure of productivity and gives the appearance your department has solved a problem.

Most aggressive cops have honed this to an art. They are savvy, know exactly how to weaponize numerous petty laws, ordinances, use-of-force policy and procedure against citizens. This cop was off his game and clumsily went through the motions like a desperate door-to-door perfume salesman. Except when cops manufacture a “sale” like this, the “customer” ends up arrested, criminalized, emotionally and financially devastated, not to mention possibly physically beaten or worse. And the justice system will deem it legal, even when it isn’t.

As far as the police leadership and prosecutors, they knew exactly what they were doing. If someone makes a complaint, you find something, anything to charge them with.

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/BLM-protesters-crash-wedding-Sacramento-police-13138483.php

Wow, those are some brave and brilliant people.

So hey the police in NYC want to give average Joes $500 for helping them beat people up.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/08/help-boys-making-noise

wtf an actual murder conviction for a cop murdering an unarmed black teen what country is this
https://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/The-Latest-Ex-cop-guilty-of-murder-for-killing-13188610.php

FORMER cop.

He was a cop when he killed the kid

key info in there struck me as But his partner told jurors he didn't fear for his life

Xpost yea what is the point of that distinction?

Just wondering if current cops have more of a quid pro quo relationship with prosecutors than former cops.

goddamn, and here i was just joking today about hell freezing over

A new threshold of police brutality has been passed: Dallas Police Officer Kills Her Neighbor in His Apartment, Saying She Mistook It for Her Own

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/us/dallas-police-shooting-botham-shem-jean.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

we’d be here for days if i listed all the questions i have about this one

just... seriously wtf

Oh i guarantee this explanation will give way to something more sinister soon. Esp since the cops are looking to arrest her and not defending her with some bullshit defense

another one off to jail: https://myhoustonmajic.com/3323342/terry-thompson-found-guilty-of-murdering-man-outside-dennys-restaraunt/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/from-defendant-to-top-prosecutor-this-tattooed-texas-da-represents-a-new-wave-in-criminal-justice-reform/2018/11/19/e1dca7cc-d300-11e8-83d6-291fcead2ab1_story.html

By 2015, business was thriving, but Matt Manning, Gonzalez’s then-law partner and now chief deputy in the district attorney’s office, said he found Gonzalez in a mood for change one day: “He said, ‘Bro, the way it’s working, it’s not working.’ ”

Gonzalez thought defendants were routinely overcharged by authorities who wanted leverage to obtain plea deals. The then-district attorney’s office also faced accusations of hiding exculpatory evidence.

Gonzalez launched a long-shot bid to unseat a fellow Democrat in the 2016 primary. To many people’s surprise, Gonzalez won and then squeaked by a Republican in the general election that November.

Gonzalez’s opponents highlighted his tattoos and rugged image, but some supporters say the moves backfired.

“The problem with a lot of politicians is they play bigger than what they are,” said Bryan Gomez, a member of the Calaveras. “Mark didn’t roll his sleeves down over his tattoos — he rolled them up. He wasn’t ashamed of what he was.”

Suddenly, a man who once was arrested was running a 75-person prosecutor’s office with a budget of more than $4 million and promising major changes. He was sworn in while wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey.

thank you for that bright spot

LA sheriff's department (i.e. county jails and local policing in unincorporated areas) is having a real banner year. e.g. this is from one journalist in the past 2 months

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-deputy-svu-rape-20181119-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-villanueva-campaign-finance-20181116-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sheriff-freeway-stops-20181115-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-deputy-pot-arrest-20181107-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-sheriff-tattoo-secret-societies-20181024-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-sheriff-deputies-on-leave-20181004-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/nyregion/body-cameras-police-marijuana-arrest.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/11/nieves-v-bartlett-court-rules-police-confrontation/576595/

As one can imagine, Arctic Man revelers sometimes attract the attention of law enforcement. One such meeting led to a case called Nieves v. Bartlett that will be argued before the Supreme Court on Monday, and that may finally resolve the question of whether a citizen can ignore or even talk back to police officers without fear of consequences.

In theory, the First Amendment protects a citizen’s right to talk back. But anyone who has ever been around citizen-police confrontations knows that, on occasion, officers (who are as human as anybody else) decide they’ve had enough and place the loudmouth under arrest.

When can the citizen sue for “retaliatory arrest”? More properly, what if the citizen has done, or seems to have done, something that gives the officer “probable cause,” but that offense might have gone unnoticed except for a “retaliatory motive”—the desire to shut the citizen up?

also, http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2016/04/in-defense-of-defensive-violence-against-government-agents/ , why not

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/30/former-dallas-police-officer-indicted-murder-charge-after-killing-man-his-apartment/