Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

maya lau has been a crime reporter for a long time, but is now doing deeper dives on criminal justice more generally at the la times. this is a solid piece imo and (unusually for a US newpaper) doesn't suffer from "view from nowhere" both sidesism despite being in the news section. low bar! but in any case it's a good article.

The public relations machine within police departments -- paid for by taxpayers -- has wide influence in shaping the public narrative. Which videos get released by police, and which do not? My latest: https://t.co/yKIwnyQKUV

— Maya Lau 🦅 (@mayalau) August 30, 2020

there are so many good articles in the LA Times lately, ended up having to subscribe

cool good job

So the world knows, they just adjourned. Without mention of the bills that were introduced. Thirty seconds. They didn’t even try to fix the problems. They didn’t even give the people of Wisconsin the courtesy of a debate. https://t.co/zxWUnIR2B9

— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) August 31, 2020

in LA this afternoon

Started with a bike violation, ended with the deputies killing him. We could save so many lives if we took vehicle and pedestrian stops away from armed officers. Instead we pay them six figures each to do this all day long. https://t.co/Lw2cdfVJTv pic.twitter.com/xNQnDPXETS

— Hayes Davenport (@hayesdavenport) September 1, 2020

During the contact, a fight ensued between the suspect and deputies.  The suspect produced a handgun and a deputy-involved “hit” shooting occurred.  The suspect’s handgun was recovered.  The suspect was pronounced deceased at the scene.

— LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) September 1, 2020

why do they talk like this?
why did they pull over a guy on a bicycle for a vehicle code violation?
and "produced a handgun" has become this in the hours that followed

SOUTH LA UPDATE: LASD says fatal shooting occurred after man punched an officer and a handgun was spotted in clothing items he dropped to the ground https://t.co/heTlZ74IoQ

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 1, 2020

case study for the maya lau article i linked yesterday.

I wonder what cops think about "the bad ones are chokers under pressure" as a face-saving story.

They do choke, it is true

It was awkward with Engram interrupting to try to stop him from saying it, but it was such a bad analogy to compare an unarmed man getting shot 7 times in the back to missing a 3 foot putt, that the cops could easily take it as a Q-esque secret message that the real choking was that they didn't manage to kill Jacob Blake.

Another choke, technically an asphyxiation: https://apnews.com/5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c

https://gothamist.com/news/video-pro-trump-counterprotesters-received-nypd-escort-driving-through-black-lives-matter-march

Have we been talking about the outright coup in Portsmouth, Virginia?

that's a crazy story i was completely unaware of! all hell is breaking loose everywhere, it feels impossible to keep up.

https://www.pilotonline.com/government/local/vp-nw-portsmouth-lucas-history-20200822-theoupptlfh4pomdqhhc3loxnu-story.html

sounds like the police chief of portsmouth was just removed today.

Portland shooting suspect shot dead by US Marshals as he ran away from them
https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/crime/article245485220.html

^ not sure if mentioned in another thread. Impossible to keep up indeed.

https://www.statesman.com/news/20200810/austin-police-department-seeing-more-officers-leave?fbclid=IwAR2y7P9HjesrlqOM_-uSzbxGVaPUZc1LwH41ZkD6dmTGaQH02KHUKw-hW9g

Too bad it would take decades for them to abolish themselves.

shine the sicnal

fbclid
identity
Capital I
lower-case w
capital A R
Two!
lower y, seven P 9
Upper H
lower j e s r l q!
upper O M
underscore hyphen!
fuck i'm exhausted
sic! siiiiiiiiiiiic!

it was always burnin since the worlds been turnin

Police shoot, nearly killed 13 year old autistic boy having a mental health crisis. Mother says she explicitly told police he was unarmed. Somehow this gets relayed to police as he was “making threats ... with a weapon.”https://t.co/FVxNfOsAS0

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) September 8, 2020

no words. and the police will clear themselves, as always.

Sadly, one of our officers had a bad experience @AceHardware store in Allston today. While in the store, an employee stated, “I smell bacon.” When the officer asked for an apology, he was told there’d be none. In response, items purchased were returned and a customer lost. pic.twitter.com/ULodBWpiJy

— Boston Police Patrolmen's Association (BPPA) (@BostonPatrolmen) September 9, 2020

lol fried'um

I hope someone else said 'yeah I definitely smell a pork product of some type'

isn't that a scene in wayne's world?

haha xp

one of the most egregious product placement sequences in wayne's world, the cop in ace hardware bit

I was afraid it would turn out that they were actually having a stroke.

now you're using your third eye

Police officer in Pittsburgh arrests a man for asking about his "Thin Blue Line" face mask pic.twitter.com/EGRy4yeOj1

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) September 10, 2020

mask below nose too

also a lot of bootlicking in that thread.

In a show of some chutzpah, Houston PD fired four officers-who killed 'danger to themself' suspect during a standoff back in April-here on the same day as Gov. Abbott asked citizens to join him in signing a "Back The Blue" pledge and threatened to tack away property annexation powers of cities that defund their police.

"Take Away"

abbott has been just as shitty as youd expect handling covid and police brutality, the tx gop just hates us so much

Can someone talk more about the situation in Seattle?

I'm genuinely stunned. City council just stood up the mayor and overturned her veto. The defunding of the Seattle Police Department has begun. So much gratitude to the people who have been on the ground for more than 100 days, and those who have fought for decades. You did it. ❤️

— Spek (@spekulation) September 23, 2020

I believe the good Reverend is celebrating right now, for what it's worth.

Wasn't it like a less that 1% reduction in funding for the SPD? 3 mil in a 400 mil budget? Not really something worth celebrating, tbh.

Wasn't it like a less that 1% reduction in funding for the SPD? 3 mil in a 400 mil budget? Not really something worth celebrating, tbh.

5%-ish off the remaining budget for 2020. They can't do more for this year since most of it is spent already, but this lays the groundwork to cut the 2021 budget by 50% as demanded by the community. :)

— vpellis (@_yesellis) September 23, 2020

Not a revolution, but the city council is not a revolutionary body. The fact that they took the strongest action available to them seems noteworthy.

Grand jury indicts 1 officer on criminal charges 6 months after Breonna Taylor fatally shot by police in Kentucky.

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) September 23, 2020

jfc

wanton endangerment

Imagine, someone could have been hurt!

Attorney @Samaguiar1982 on the Hankison indictment: "Way to really rub it in. Three counts for the shots into the apartment of the white neighbors, but no counts for the shots into the apartment of the black neighbors upstairs..." pic.twitter.com/z57UGFmKNb

— Darcy Costello (@dctello) September 23, 2020

words fail me

I just don't know how to pull any more hope out of this irredeemably fucked country we live in. I'm glad there are stronger folks than me who find ways to do so, but I just don't have the reserves anymore.

if only Botham Jean's little brother had hugged Amber Guyger for just a few seconds longer, and also we banned handguns, maybe in twenty years this wouldn't have happened

you're not long for this world, burrito

if you're suggesting that I reverse my pro-hug, anti-gun stance to increase my life expectancy, I'm not sure I agree

why are no-knock warrants even issued? why is it a legal police practice to bust someone's door down in the middle of the night, anyway? especially when it's in an apartment complex. just because the suspect is most likely to be sleeping? in what circumstance is that preferable to surveilling and then approaching the suspect in the light of day when they come out to their car or something? wouldn't that reduce the likelihood of innocent bystanders being caught in the crossfire?

oh, and two police officers shot during the protests tonight. Love those guns

oh, and there's a good hour-long New York Times documentary about Breonna Taylor on Hulu right now. I watched a few weeks ago; would recommend. (The one about the 2020 Australian wildfires was pretty good too but there was practically no police brutality in it.)