Police Brutality

Crime, Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct

5 Dead Since 2008

Iberia Parish Jail

Iberia Parish (La.) Sheriff Louis Ackal was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy and deprivation of civil rights in relation to multiple alleged beatings of detainees in the parish jail’s chapel.

Several deputies who pleaded guilty to charges related to the abuse of prisoners testified that Ackal and one of his most senior officers, Lt. Col. Gerald Savoy (who was also indicted), ordered a number of men to be taken to the chapel, where there were no security cameras, and “take care” of them.

Via Louisiana Sheriff Indicted Over Jailhouse Chapel Beatings of Detainees @ Hit & Run : Reason.com

Lawsuits, Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct

Police Misconduct Worst of February

“So for February we have selected the reported misconduct of Officer Matt Rush from Champaign, Illinois. Last month Precious Jackson filed a lawsuit against Rush and his employer for excessive force when Rush arrested her.  According to the lawsuit, Rush’s actions caused Jackson to lose her unborn baby.  Jackson also says that she begged to…

Crime, Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct

LAPD Officers Charged With Repeatedly Raping Women While on Duty 

“Two veteran Los Angeles Police Department officers who worked as partners assigned to the Hollywood Division have been charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting four women, often while the pair was on duty, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced today. James Nichols (dob 2/4/72) and Luis Valenzuela (5/11/72) are scheduled to be arraigned on…

Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct

Cops Ask for Help to Stop Killing People

Last year, American police killed between 1,200 and 1,300 people, depending on which database one looks at. Compare that to two people shot in the last decade by Scottish police.

There are some obvious differences between the United States and the Scotland. For instance, the U.S. has a far larger population of more than 300 million people — and nearly as many guns in circulation, Sky News points out. While police in the United Kingdom are generally unarmed, American police are.

Still, many of the people killed by police last year were unarmed, Sky News reports, while some were armed with objects like knifes or rocks. In an effort to seek a resolution to the issue of lethal force, American police visited Scottish officers to see what they could learn.

Chuck Wexler, a former hostage negotiator for the Boston Police Department, explained how American police would likely respond when dealing with someone holding a rock.

“You’re going to kill someone for throwing a rock. That’s what you’re gonna do,” Wexler explained. “How would society over here think about you shooting someone with a rock? They would not accept it.”

Via American police ask Scottish cops to teach them how to stop killing people @ Raw Story.

Conservatives, Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct

The Right’s selective views on gov’t efficiency and integrity

Kevin Williamson over at National Review has an article that asks a lot of good questions about how conservatives seem to have a double-standard when it comes to government corruption when it comes to the police:

Is it really so difficult to believe that there is widespread wrongdoing, and widespread lying about it, among U.S. law-enforcement agencies, particularly those in big, Democrat-run cities infamous for the corruption of their other municipal institutions? Why do conservatives find it so plausible — obvious, even — that the IRS and the EPA and the Atlanta public schools are corrupt and self-serving, but somehow believe that the Baltimore police department isn’t?

Via National Review: The Right is deluding itself about law enforcement @ Campaign for Liberty.

Police, Police Brutality

Uncooperative from the Top

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Police Chief Greg Suhr refuse to fully cooperate with the district attorney’s efforts to investigate police misconduct and bias, even as they claim to be committed to transparency and accountability in the wake of the killing of Mario Woods, according to a scathing letter written to the mayor by District Attorney George Gascón.

Via S.F. D.A. says mayor, chief uncooperative in police misconduct probe @ SFGate.

Chicago, Local Government, Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct, Politics

THEY KNEW

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said he didn’t understand the gravity of Laquan McDonald’s shooting death at the hands of a Chicago police officer until just before the city settled with the teen’s family last spring, and that he wasn’t aware other officers may have falsified reports about the shooting until just after the video was released to the public.

But interviews, official city calendars and emails show in both cases the mayor’s closest aides and City Hall attorneys knew much earlier than that.

Emanuel’s top staffers became keenly aware the McDonald shooting could become a legal and political quagmire in December 2014 — more than three months before the mayor has said he was fully briefed on the issue. And lawyers for McDonald’s family informed Emanuel’s Law Department in March that police officers’ version of what happened differed dramatically from the infamous shooting video — more than eight months before the mayor said he found out….

Via Top Emanuel aides aware of key Laquan McDonald details months before mayor says he knew @ Chicago Tribune.

Deadly Force, Law, Lawsuits, Local Government, Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct

Rahm Emanuel’s sought to control supposedly independent agency’s communications with press

A day after the settlement was approved, Emanuel’s deputy communications director complained to his staff that an IPRA spokesperson did not report to him before speaking to a New York Times reporter.

“I found out a bit ago that IPRA’s PIO talked to Monica [Davey] about the structure of IPRA and how they operate without checking in with me (and despite the fact I had already reached out to coordinate earlier in the day),” Collins wrote on April 15.

The email is important because it shows that Emanuel’s office was not just suppressing information about McDonald’s death, but also controlling how the agency responsible for investigating police killings speaks to the press about its own processes.

Via Exclusive: Lawyers Went to Rahm Emanuel, Then Quashed the Laquan McDonald Video @ The Daily Beast.

Deadly Force, Law, Lawsuits, Open Government, Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct, Politics

Exclusive: Lawyers Went to Rahm Emanuel, Then Quashed the Laquan McDonald Video @ The Daily Beast

Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the city’s Law Department also said, “since April of last year the administration has said publicly that the city always intended to release the video as soon as the investigation was complete.”

But the settlement agreement never required the McDonald family’s attorneys to hold the video until an investigation was completed. Instead, over the objections of the McDonald estate, Platt and the city pressed for language that would keep the video hidden far beyond the end of investigations and until as long as a criminal trial was concluded.

Not only do the emails show the effort to cover up what really happened to Laquan McDonald went to the top of the Emanuel administration, they also show the mayor’s office was pulling strings at the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), which, as its name indicates, should be independent….

Via Exclusive: Lawyers Went to Rahm Emanuel, Then Quashed the Laquan McDonald Video @ The Daily Beast.

Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct

Police Misconduct — The Worst Case in November

Here’s what reportedly happened.  SAPD police were hunting for a suspect on drugs and weapons charges.  In a case of mistaken identity, officers swarmed on poor Roger Carlos.  Mr. Carlos had done nothing wrong.  He was apparently just standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And even though Mr. Carlos complied with the police commands, to get on the ground and to not resist arrest, they just kept hitting him over and over again.

Mr. Carlos’s wife, Ronnie, still can’t believe what has happened to her husband.  The couple has three boys under the age of ten–but their father is now paralyzed from the chest down.  Doctors are also concerned that Mr. Carlos may have difficulty breathing down the road.  The medical bills for multiple surgeries are enormous.

After reviewing the case, a police discipline board recommended 15-day suspensions for three officers involved.  The Police Chief, William McManus, thought that recommendation was wrong.  He shortened each of the suspensions to five days.

Via Police Misconduct — The Worst Case in November | Cato @ Liberty

Police, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct, Race

Culture of Misconduct

CHICAGO — A South Side police commander and his officers tortured black suspects into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit. Another rogue unit shook down drug dealers on the West Side for drugs and money. A different group of officers accepted payments from drug dealers to warn them of police raids.And for years, whenever Chicago officers did something wrong, their colleagues covered for them.

Via Chicago police misconduct has frayed relations with blacks @ WRAL.com