Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

Timothy McGinty, who bungled the Tamir Rice case, is in trouble also, but narrowly leading.

on the prosecutor defeats

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adamserwer/paying-the-price#.itqN9Nb2k

Was so happy to vote against McGinty yesterday.

Ferguson agrees to the DoJ consent decree: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/15/470598733/ferguson-city-council-accepts-deal-with-justice-department

http://gawker.com/black-maryland-cop-killed-by-fellow-officer-who-thought-1765358994

life imitates wire

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/nyregion/prosecutor-wont-seek-prison-for-peter-liang-ex-officer-convicted-in-killing.html?_r=0

In a statement, the district attorney, Ken Thompson, said the case was about “justice and not about revenge,” and urged that the former officer, Peter Liang, receive five years of probation, including six months of home confinement, when he is sentenced next month.

Mr. Liang, 28, who was convicted of second-degree manslaughter, could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

“Mr. Liang has no prior criminal history and poses no future threat to public safety,” Mr. Thompson said. “Because his incarceration is not necessary to protect the public, and due to the unique circumstances of this case, a prison sentence is not warranted.”

Not sure what to think about that. I'm definitely on the side that he deserved to lose his job and be prosecuted to show that this is not acceptable. If a private citizen did something similar, they would almost certainly do prison time. But the argument is true that now that he is not a police officer, it's unlikely he poses a threat or a likelihood of further incident.

i'm not a big jail fan for anyone and would think it is reasonable if he treats others the same way (which i doubt but there is likely no analogous situation) because manslaughter doesn't always need a prison sentence imo. to hear a prosecutor raise the idea that incarceration is meant to protect the public is ummm i don't know...lol? like you don't do that moral calculus when you put a drug offender in jail, you just suddenly have empathy for this guy and his horrible mistake. obviously if a normal person would get like 5 years for something similar, incarceration is not imposed to protect the public in that situation, he'd be getting out pretty soon. it's a punishment.

but it's messed up & sends a message that this person he killed doesn't matter as much as other innocent people who die, idk

that's why i don't believe in "justice"!

This could go in a bunch of threads, I'm aware.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/21/death-by-gentrification-the-killing-that-shamed-san-francisco

Very sad, very thought-provoking; thanks.

i'm not a big jail fan for anyone and would think it is reasonable if he treats others the same way (which i doubt but there is likely no analogous situation) because manslaughter doesn't always need a prison sentence imo. to hear a prosecutor raise the idea that incarceration is meant to protect the public is ummm i don't know...lol? like you don't do that moral calculus when you put a drug offender in jail, you just suddenly have empathy for this guy and his horrible mistake. obviously if a normal person would get like 5 years for something similar, incarceration is not imposed to protect the public in that situation, he'd be getting out pretty soon. it's a punishment.

― #amazing #babies #touching (harbl), Thursday, March 24, 2016 6:27 AM (5 hours ago

iirc ken thompson, the brooklyn DA, is doing some pretty progressive stuff with nonviolent drug crimes and trying to get people's outstanding warrants off the books, but i can't find the links right now. i'm pretty sure it's the same guy

but yeah, one wonders what the recommendation would be had a civilian accidentally killed a police officer

http://gawker.com/please-dont-shoot-me-man-begged-before-cop-shot-and-1767973196

1) this clearly seems like an incident that should result in an indictment
2) I expect this will result in an indictment because the victim was a white man
3) I continue to be enraged by previous incidents involving black people that have not resulted in indictments

there was body camera footage, which seems likely to have played a role. he's been charged with 2nd degree murder

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/nyregion/bratton-has-strong-concerns-about-arrest-of-a-mailman-in-brooklyn.html?_r=0

Over the past six years at least three of the officers involved have been named in federal civil rights suits alleging false arrest, among other claims. Most of the cases remain active, and such suits are not uncommon.

http://www.hennepinattorney.org/news/news/2016/March/jamar-clark-decision

Well this is fucking bullshit

yup. fucking bullshit.

to my point

btw I was reading the earlier part of this thread to remind myself of everything that has been piling up over the past few years and can we all agree that if Vic Perry was one of the worst posters we've ever had

yes

lol @ my rogue "if", I should edit better

sexual abuse trigger warning on this one. i didn't watch the video.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/04/01/video-shows-white-cops-performing-roadside-cavity-search-of-black-man/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

jesus fucking christ

yeah headline's enough for me

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/albuquerque-police-release-video-showing-officer-shooting-undercover-cop-n549461

this happened well over a year ago, but i guess this sort of wacky mixup was inevitable the way the police are shooting everyone lately.

Jarring videos showing the moments when an Albuquerque police officer was shot several times by his own lieutenant during an undercover operation were released Thursday, following the settlement of a lawsuit that awarded the wounded officer $6.5 million.

"I didn't know it was you!" says Albuquerque Police Department Lt. Greg Brachle moments after putting at least eight bullets into APD Officer Jacob Grant in January 2015.

Video from Brachle's lapel shows him running up to a vehicle that Grant was sitting in with suspects and yelling "gun," then promptly firing his weapon.

"Oh s---, that was Jacob! F--- me!" Brachle is heard saying. "Are you OK?" Brachle asks Grant. "No," Grant answers.

Anyone think this school-district officer used a bit more force than is needed to restrain a 12-year-old schoolgirl?

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-shows-san-antonio-school-officer-body-slamming-girl/

this middle school is a stone's throw from the HS where i teach. fucking awful. get cops out of schools.

http://www.questionthepremise.org/new-blog/2016/4/7/an-official-narrative-built-on-sand

Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

^^^so this was a justifiable shooting according to an investigation. a "suicide by cop" situation. i'm not calling bullshit on that, but i'm remaining skeptical...

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-police-commission-lapd-shooting-20160419-story.html

Baltimore at it again: http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2016/04/27/city-police-investigating-officer-involved-shooting/

Chicago PD really learning from its past mistakes I see:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/04/28/2-investigators-pastor-says-chicago-cops-beat-her-during-road-rage-incident/

good washington post piece

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/05/06/south-carolinas-poisonous-police-culture-the-death-of-lori-jean-ellis/?postshare=481462560758840

James Comey is an embarrassing idiot: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/us/comey-ferguson-effect-police-videos-fbi.html

"I have no evidence for this assertion, but I do know that cops can't do their jobs unless they feel like they can kill whoever they want"

damn kinda wish i didn't watch the Sterling video. fucking horrible

If I have my way, I will never see the Sterling video.

If you're not an idiot who has a pollyannaish view of the police there's no good reason for you to ever watch videos of them murdering people

it feels so hopeless that this shit will ever change

I only see two ways that things can change:

1. Police are regularly handed indictments when someone is killed under questionable circumstances. I am not saying that all of these cases will or should result in guilty verdicts but the officers involved should be brought before a court of law and the evidence should be examined as part of a trial. Without this, there is not even the faint hope of justice for the victims.

2. There is a violent uprising against municipal and state police forces, incurring large casualties on both sides and triggering a response from the state/federal level that fundamentally changes the way policing works in this country. I do not predict that any changes from this admittedly unlikely scenario would go well for victims.

I realize how melodramatic that post is but... what else is going to change things?

seems like 1) is really the only viable option. 2) is sort of too horrifying and unlikely to contemplate, nothing good would come of it.

yeah I'm not sure why everyone wants to watch videos of people getting murdered. some people on my fb feed are like 'watch it. sit with it.'

no dude. I know what happened.

yeah I don't watch these

when I was kid 'faces of death' on vhs was like the holy grail of illicit materials.. and nowadays they show people getting killed on tv every couple weeks..

#getoffmylawn?

def can remember when even the idea of someone (in a non-combat zone, at least) being murdered on camera was unfathomable

not even as a kid, for me. My first exposure to shit like FoD was early P2P filesharing era stuff, after people moved on from mp3s and on to videos, but before BitTorrent became the universal client. I watched Mondo Video type shit in high school and that freaked me out enough, when folks fired up FoD I just left the room or found something else to stare at until the creepy contingent decided to move on to something else.

Anyway Dan I see 1 as being absolutely necessary - it will take longer to manifest in most jurisdictions where the problems are most severe, of course - and I still believe in whatever I said upthread (was it this thread?) about changing the attitude we generally have about police work, i.e. that cops are there to clean up every little problem while simultaneously being armed to the teeth and trained extensively in using deadly force as if Heat-style bank heists were the norm everywhere in America.

this one's a few days old.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/off-duty-shoots-man-dead-road-rage-incident-brooklyn-article-1.2698074