Police Misconduct Catch All Thread

[TV and credit cards]

America's toughest Sheriff loses Republican primary for sheriff.

Pardoned by Mr. Despicable himself, loser of a 2018 Republican primary Senate seat, all around rotten individual, and now this, Sheriff Joe says this will be his last run for office.
Oh well, here's to hoping you die of exposure, Joe.

 

[Worldtraveller]

America's toughest Sheriff loses Republican primary for sheriff.

Pardoned by Mr. Despicable himself, loser of a 2018 Republican primary Senate seat, all around rotten individual, and now this, Sheriff Joe says this will be his last run for office.
Oh well, here's to hoping you die of exposure, Joe.

Even though he lost, he got a disturbingly high number of votes. That's Maricopa for you, though. I used to love that area, but the constant influx of right wing politics, mostly from out of state retirees that then go on to fuck over just about every aspect of the economy and social services that don't directly benefit them, has made it into a real shithole.

 

[lpetrich]

The Infuriating History of Why Police Unions Have So Much Power – Mother Jones

As other labor unions have shrunk in recent years, membership in police unions has remained high. While the Black Lives Matter movement encouraged people to document police brutality on camera and demand accountability, police unions, which now have hundreds of thousands of members, have pushed back in almost every way imaginable—by overturning firings, opposing the use of body cameras, and lobbying to keep their members’ disciplinary histories sealed.

All of which can make officers feel invincible when they commit acts of violence. A forthcoming research paper from the University of Victoria in Canada found that after police officers formed unions—generally between the 1950s and the 1980s—there was a “substantial” increase in police killings of Black and Brown people in the United States. Within a decade of gaining collective bargaining rights, officers killed an additional 60 to 70 civilians of all races per year collectively, compared with previous years, an increase that researchers say may be linked to officers’ belief that their unions would protect them from prosecution. A working paper from the University of Chicago found that complaints of violent misconduct by Florida sheriffs’ offices jumped 40 percent after deputies there won collective bargaining rights in 2003.

Police unions, like all unions, were designed to protect their own. But unlike other labor unions, they represent workers with the state-sanctioned power to use deadly force. And they have successfully bargained for more job security than what’s afforded to most workers, security they can often rely on even after committing acts of violence that would likely get anyone else fired or locked up.

They get support from (1) other labor unionists who don't want to desert fellow labor unionists and (2) Republican politicians who normally hate labor unions. About the first one, they know what happened to them after they deserted the air traffic controllers' union.

In the wake of Floyd’s death, some politicians are taking steps to sever their ties with police unions. By early July, more than a dozen House Democrats signed a pledge to reject campaign contributions from the Fraternal Order of Police, including representatives Alexandria Ocasio-*Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minne*sota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. And in May, more than 40 district attorneys wrote that prosecutors “should not seek or accept” support from police or their unions. But that leaves more than 2,000 head prosecutors who did not sign on.

There’s also growing pressure to kick cop unions out of labor councils like the AFL-CIO, the country’s biggest union coalition. Police unions are different from other unions anyway, since they’ve never been aligned with the larger labor movement and have often acted as adversaries. In Minneapolis in the early 1900s, the police department regularly broke up strikes after forming an alliance with a right-wing business group known as the Citizens Alliance. In 1968, Memphis police responded to a Martin Luther King Jr.–led march in support of striking sanitation workers by macing and clubbing demonstrators who had taken refuge in a church. “The police have a history of cracking heads on picket lines, and yet anytime you try to lean into a reform, they recede into this labor solidarity movement that they’ve never been a part of,” says Jeremiah Ellison, the Minneapolis Council member.

 

[lpetrich]

But there's the problem that attacking police unions may set a precedent for attacking other labor unions. That's what happened with Reagan vs. the air traffic controllers' union in the 1980's.

Reforming the police’s collective bargaining does not necessarily have to upend the rights of other workers. In an op-ed, Benjamin Sachs, a Harvard labor law expert, wrote that courts, including the Supreme Court, have stepped in to limit specific types of bargaining powers without threatening unions more generally. Lawmakers could limit the types of subjects that cops can bargain over—for instance, allowing them to negotiate their pay and benefits, but not disciplinary procedures. In June, the Washington, DC, Council voted to do just that. It’s “a best practice that other cities should look to,” says Sinyangwe, the data scientist.

...
It may also be possible to defang cop unions by returning to the main demands of Black organizers: Defund and dismantle the police. Reducing the size of the force, says Theresa Rocha Beardall, a sociologist who studies police unions at Virginia Tech, can do a lot to reduce the power of its union. “As you grow, your union dues increase, and as your union dues increase, so does your leverage over city hall,” she says. Cut membership, and mayors may take a harder line during negotiations.

 

[ZiprHead]

A sheriff's deputy filed a lawsuit after getting into an altercation with Raptors' president Masai Ujiri. He claimed Ujiri had a “violent predisposition” and acted with an “evil motive amounting to malice.”

New video clearly shows the deputy shoving first

https://www.ktvu.com/news/new-video-sheriffs-deputy-the-undeniably-initial-aggressor-in-toronto-raptors-shoving-match

 

[blastula]

A sheriff's deputy filed a lawsuit after getting into an altercation with Raptors' president Masai Ujiri. He claimed Ujiri had a “violent predisposition” and acted with an “evil motive amounting to malice.”

New video clearly shows the deputy shoving first

https://www.ktvu.com/news/new-video...al-aggressor-in-toronto-raptors-shoving-match

But in February, Strickland filed a federal lawsuit against Ujiri, the Raptors, Maple Leaf Entertainment at the NBA alleging Ujiri shoved him so hard on the court that he suffered physical injuries to his head, jaw, chin and teeth.

Strickland also filed a workers' compensation claim alleging Ujiri “circumvented” the security checkpoint and then tried to “storm” the court and “hit him in the face and chest with both fists.”

Strickland also claimed Ujiri had a “violent predisposition” and acted with an “evil motive amounting to malice,” according to his suit and workers' compensation claims.

Another big fat liar cop. And he gets paid mighty well for it.

According to Transparent California, Strickland earned $224,000 a year, not including benefits, in 2018.

I hope Ujiri takes the professional liar for all he can.

 

[ZiprHead]

Planned Parenthood details incident that led to West Seneca police officer's suspension

Planned Parenthood says an individual arrived to the West Seneca health center and demanded to speak to his partner who he believed was receiving treatment there. In the process, officials say the individual's behavior became a threat and he was asked to leave.

After leaving the individual attempted to enter again and kicked the door several times which caused the staff to call police.

According to Planned Parenthood, after the responding officer found out a Black Lives Matter sign in the window belonged to the organization the officer berated the staff for supporting the movement and left after refusing to respond to the call.

 

[southernhybrid]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned the state trooper in Georgia who was recently charged with murder.

https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-georgia-state-trooper-fired-charged-with-murder-in-drivers-shooting-death/HSIAXSQ5INAJBO6EMXLXE65DFI/

On Friday, Jacob Gordon Thompson, 27, was fired and charged in the Aug. 7 shooting that killed 60-year-old Julian Lewis last Friday in Screven County. Lewis family attorney Francys Johnson said he also learned Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice had approved his request for the civil rights investigation, which Johnson asked for because of other allegations against Thompson.

“We got lots of messages from people in the community that the habit of ex-trooper Thompson was to racially profile and harass Black and brown people on the highway,” Johnson, former head of the Georgia NAACP, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This was not shocking to them that this happened.”

 

[Worldtraveller]

Planned Parenthood details incident that led to West Seneca police officer's suspension

Planned Parenthood says an individual arrived to the West Seneca health center and demanded to speak to his partner who he believed was receiving treatment there. In the process, officials say the individual's behavior became a threat and he was asked to leave.

After leaving the individual attempted to enter again and kicked the door several times which caused the staff to call police.

According to Planned Parenthood, after the responding officer found out a Black Lives Matter sign in the window belonged to the organization the officer berated the staff for supporting the movement and left after refusing to respond to the call.

Just a few bad apples.....

Also, I'm sure the cops are ok with people not serving them, since they expect to not have to do their job when someone *checks notes* supports a group that wants social justice. I mean, I can see why cops would be against that.

 

[southernhybrid]

And there's more......

https://www.ajc.com/news/valdosta-officer-claims-slamming-black-man-to-ground-justified/ZNUMM6EEKRCXZDT2RCUYVSFJWE/

A white Georgia police officer accused of excessive force in a federal civil rights lawsuit claims he did nothing wrong during the February arrest of an innocent Black man whose wrist was broken after being slammed to the ground.


In a legal filing this week, attorneys for Valdosta police Lt. Billy Wheeler admit he misidentified Antonio Arnelo Smith as a wanted felon, but said excessive force was justified because the man resisted arrest, according to The Associated Press.

The violent take-down on February 8 prompted the 46-year-old Smith to retain his own lawyer, Nathaniel Haugabrook, who filed suit in June against the Valdosta Police Department, saying officers violated his client’s civil rights.

So, the White cop slams the man down, breaks his wrist, and shortly after the other cop tells him, he. has the wrong man. It does seem a bit weird that it's almost innocent Black people who are misidentified by the police. Not that I would ever believe that racism h as anything to do with their careless behavior. /s

 

[marc]

According to this, Portland police have decided to just give up and let the Proud Boys handle keeping protests civil. Top picture in the article is of a Proud Boy with a gun, and crosses on his body armor.

 

[TSwizzle]

According to this, Portland police have decided to just give up and let the Proud Boys handle keeping protests civil. Top picture in the article is of a Proud Boy with a gun, and crosses on his body armor.

From the article;

Another Proud Boy, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, was present, per the Post, in apparent violation of his parole over an attack at a similar demonstration in 2017 (he wasn’t apprehended on Saturday, but a judge on Monday issued a warrant for his arrest).

Tusitala was Robert Louis Stevenson Samoan name, "Teller of Tales". A strange name for a thug to be called.

 

[Worldtraveller]

Police staging a fucking coup in VA:

https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/1298244699334086657

 

[RVonse]

Hey Loren, I'm waiting for you to come defend all these police behaviors that I posted. Are you still going to go with the 'few bad apples' claim, the 'should have complied' claim, or are you going to invent some new and improved form of bootlicking?

Also, I've got a lot more examples once you're caught up.

Give Loren a break. He is only used to how the Chinese Communist Party runs the police in China and has lost reality how good police should act.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Hey Loren, I'm waiting for you to come defend all these police behaviors that I posted. Are you still going to go with the 'few bad apples' claim, the 'should have complied' claim, or are you going to invent some new and improved form of bootlicking?

Also, I've got a lot more examples once you're caught up.

Give Loren a break. He is only used to how the Chinese Communist Party runs the police in China and has lost reality how good police should act.

Says the guy who apparently supports the President who sent out unmarked Fed Agents on to the streets in Portland to cause problems to sell advertising for his fucking campaign!

 

[RVonse]

Hi everyone. Yet another reminder, cops are bastards. All of them.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R49P9TuFLOQ&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1EGnIdWPPZawoS6ufGYxYHUDxZEfpjpI2wK5-3h25tpfJq6JVpD-4u4l0[/YOUTUBE]

Here's an article:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/new...tal-police-shooting-ryan-whitaker/5459142002/

Nees, who is several feet away from Whitaker at this point, asks the officer if he could handcuff her so she could be near her boyfriend.

After the officer says no, she asks if Ferragamo could check if Whitaker was OK.

"I'm leaning toward the fact that he's not," Ferragamo responds.

According to the police report, Cooke later that night told detectives that he shot Whitaker because he feared for his life. Ferragamo later tells another officer at the scene that he would have done the same, but didn't because Cooke did, according to the video footage and the police report.

Bastards. Cowardly, cowardly bastards.

If I were on a jury, that one is really a tough one to call IMO. What is great about this particular video though, is that you can immediately take racism off the table. Finally, no fucking racism to blabber about!!!

I can understand why the police shot a guy with gun at the door. But I can also understand why a guy would show up at a door with a gun in a bad neighborhood.

Sometimes getting shot by a cop is simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

According to this, Portland police have decided to just give up and let the Proud Boys handle keeping protests civil. Top picture in the article is of a Proud Boy with a gun, and crosses on his body armor.

If it was truly willing participants I would agree with them. I strongly suspect the protesters were considered "willing" by simply being there, though.

 

[lpetrich]

Worldtraveller's link with title: A Black Vice Mayor In Virginia Urged A Police Chief's Firing. Now She Faces Charges. | HuffPost

A mounting political and racial controversy stemming from the destruction of a Confederate monument in Portsmouth, Virginia, intensified this week after a white city resident brought criminal charges against the city’s Black vice mayor.

The resident, Tommy Dubois, alleged that Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke’s public call for the firing of the city’s police chief constituted a misdemeanor crime under an obscure city statute. Dubois appears to have gotten the idea to press the charges from a Facebook group.

Portland police allow Proud Boys and antifascists to spar with guns in the crowd - The Washington Post -- this seems like the Weimar Republic all over again.

On Saturday afternoon, a large crowd of more than 100 far-right activists, including Proud Boys and armed militia members, descended on Portland, Ore., staging a “Back the Blue” rally in front of the Justice Center that houses the downtown police precinct. Hundreds of antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters gathered to oppose the far-right crowd.

People in the far-right crowd came armed with paintball guns, metal rods, aluminum bats, fireworks, pepper spray, rifles and handguns. Some people in the opposing left-leaning crowd brought rocks, fireworks and bottles filled with chemical solutions. Both crowds sported shields and helmets.

The two groups sparred for more than two hours, as people exchanged blows, fired paintballs at each other and blasted chemicals indiscriminately into the crowd. People lobbed fireworks back and forth. At least one person was hit in the abdomen with a device that flashed and exploded, causing bleeding.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Police staging a fucking coup in VA:

https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/1298244699334086657

More information is needed. Twitter doesn't tell the whole story. What is the alleged wrongdoing?

 

[Deepak]

You misspelled 'guillotine'.

I've heard a few people remark about guillotines and it seems to miss the point.

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin's advocacy for the device was prompted by a desire for a more humane means of execution.

I think the desire here, though, is to send a message rather than simply carry out an execution in a painless manner - in which case breaking upon the wheel or hanging by chains in a gibbet are probably more effective.