Police abuse thread

[ksen]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/06/23/68943.htm

Suburban Chicago police shot a 95-year-old WWII veteran to death with bean bag rounds at short range because he refused to go to the hospital, his stepdaughter claims in court.

 

[Perspicuo]

There is no way such behavior could exist if the perp was not stimulated by his social environment to do so. This would not happen in a culture that doesn't glorify bullying.

 

[bilby]

To springboard off the 1%, if it bleeds it leads, media mentality- I'd be curious to hear from those across the pond or Australia if the reporting of police abuse is as rampant as it is here in The 'Murica.

We sometimes hear about it, but not really on the media. Occasionally something will come up on Facebook, but not often. I don't know if that means it doesn't happen or what.

On FB I do subscribe to the QPS pages (Queensland Police Service), and we see stories of Police officers being stood down for immoral or illegal actions than we do for abuse. The Police here do have high standards of behaviour required of all their officers, and I am not saying the American's dont, however, here, an officer will be stood down for acting inappropriately, even in his private life.

Out of curiosity, what are Aussie policemen paid?

According to the Queensland Police recruitment webpage:

Police Officer salary bands

Constable
$52,823 – $64,135
Senior Constable
$65,962 – $79,118
Sergeant
$79,486 – $88,797
Senior Sergeant
$92,667 – $98,401

In addition to the above, officers are paid a 21% additional loading if they work shifts other than night shift (this would apply to most officers; only those in support roles who work strict office hours would not qualify); and 21% + 15% of the base rate when they work night shift.

From this pay, they have income tax and medicare levy deducted at the usual ATO rates, and 6% of their gross is contributed to a superannuation fund, to which the police service also contributes at the rate of 18% (ie $3 for every $1 deducted).

Other benefits include:

6 weeks holidays per year
13 weeks long service leave, accessible after 10 years service
a 38 hour working week, that’s 9 days off in every 28 day roster
overtime paid for work beyond rostered hours
114 hours sick leave per year, additional sick leave may be available
access to paid parental and maternity leave
access to leave for carers, bereavement or emergency reasons, Australian Defence Force Reserves, study and sporting commitments
free supply of uniform
access to a wide variety of training opportunities
additional travel allowances and financial incentives for officers working in remote areas

From what I can see online, this is fairly comparable with the NYPD pay rates.

 

[gmbteach]

To springboard off the 1%, if it bleeds it leads, media mentality- I'd be curious to hear from those across the pond or Australia if the reporting of police abuse is as rampant as it is here in The 'Murica.

We sometimes hear about it, but not really on the media. Occasionally something will come up on Facebook, but not often. I don't know if that means it doesn't happen or what.

On FB I do subscribe to the QPS pages (Queensland Police Service), and we see stories of Police officers being stood down for immoral or illegal actions than we do for abuse. The Police here do have high standards of behaviour required of all their officers, and I am not saying the American's dont, however, here, an officer will be stood down for acting inappropriately, even in his private life.

Out of curiosity, what are Aussie policemen paid?

According to the Queensland Police recruitment webpage:

Police Officer salary bands

Constable
$52,823 – $64,135
Senior Constable
$65,962 – $79,118
Sergeant
$79,486 – $88,797
Senior Sergeant
$92,667 – $98,401

In addition to the above, officers are paid a 21% additional loading if they work shifts other than night shift (this would apply to most officers; only those in support roles who work strict office hours would not qualify); and 21% + 15% of the base rate when they work night shift.

From this pay, they have income tax and medicare levy deducted at the usual ATO rates, and 6% of their gross is contributed to a superannuation fund, to which the police service also contributes at the rate of 18% (ie $3 for every $1 deducted).

Other benefits include:

6 weeks holidays per year
13 weeks long service leave, accessible after 10 years service
a 38 hour working week, that’s 9 days off in every 28 day roster
overtime paid for work beyond rostered hours
114 hours sick leave per year, additional sick leave may be available
access to paid parental and maternity leave
access to leave for carers, bereavement or emergency reasons, Australian Defence Force Reserves, study and sporting commitments
free supply of uniform
access to a wide variety of training opportunities
additional travel allowances and financial incentives for officers working in remote areas

From what I can see online, this is fairly comparable with the NYPD pay rates.

Oh look, they do get paid Money.. Thought they may have been.

 

[Nexus]

Officers threw a flashbang grenade in my son's crib -- and left a hole in his chest.

My husband’s nephew, the one they were looking for, wasn’t there. He doesn’t even live in that house. After breaking down the door, throwing my husband to the ground, and screaming at my children, the officers – armed with M16s – filed through the house like they were playing war. They searched for drugs and never found any.

I heard my baby wailing and asked one of the officers to let me hold him. He screamed at me to sit down and shut up and blocked my view, so I couldn’t see my son. I could see a singed crib. And I could see a pool of blood. The officers yelled at me to calm down and told me my son was fine, that he’d just lost a tooth. It was only hours later when they finally let us drive to the hospital that we found out Bou Bou was in the intensive burn unit and that he’d been placed into a medically induced coma.

link

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Every time I read about that story I feel sick to my stomach. And yet, the DA refuses to press charges against the officers involved.

At least there is one tiny bit of good news.

Update: As of the afternoon of 6/24/2014, Baby Bou Bou has been taken out of the medically induced coma and transferred to a new hospital to begin rehabilitation. The hole in his chest has yet to heal, and doctors are still not able to fully assess lasting brain damage.

I guess the officers can try again to brutally murder this baby.

The part of this story that the Sheriff's department is most concerned about is how people calling them "baby killers" makes them so very sad. It's awful that they're making the sheriff deputies sad. Nobody should ever make a deputy sad.

 

[gmbteach]

Just to confirm what I was saying about code of conduct for our police officers. This was on my Facebook feed just now.

http://mypolice.qld.gov.au/blog/2014/06/26/police-officer-suspended-misconduct-allegations/

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

What If They Passed a Law to Reform Police Misconduct and the DOJ Ignored It?

What if, a long time ago, the federal government noticed many of the problematic and abusive police practices about which we complain today—practices including excessive force, discriminatory harassment, false arrest, coercive sexual conduct, and unlawful stops. In response, the federal government passed a law to rein in such abuses, and assigned the Justice Department to keep police departments around the country on the straight and narrow. Then everybody patted themselves on the back and...business as usual.

That's what Stephen Rushin, a law professor at the University of Illinois, says happened with Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute 42 U.S.C. § 14141, passed in 1994. This law, according to the Department of Justice:

allows us to review the practices of law enforcement agencies that may be violating people's federal rights. If a law enforcement agency receives federal funding, we can also use the anti-discrimination provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,,,

The problems addressed in our cases include use of excessive force; unlawful stops, searches, or arrests; and discriminatory policing. We have looked at bias based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and sexual-orientation. We have also addressed unlawful responses to individuals who observe, record, or object to police actions.

But a funny thing happened on the way to enforcing the law—basically, it wasn't. In "Federal Enforcement of Police Reform" a paper published in the Fordham Law Review few weeks ago, Rushin argues that the law has been used in some high-profile cases in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Washington, D.C., but that's just a tiny subset of possible applications.

They already did.

 

[NobleSavage]

I think the main purpose of cops is to bring in money for the municipality. The average cop brings in $300k a year in just speeding tickets. http://www.statisticbrain.com/driving-citation-statistics/ The protect and serve shit is ancillary.

Which bring up a problem: the Google self-driving cars put in a million miles and got no tickets. If they become ubiquitous then municipalities will have to find a new source of revenue. Not to mention cops will have it invent some new bullshit for probable cause.

If all these cars are electric there goes the highway funds supported by gas tax. I guess they could use GPS in the car to track your miles and then send you a tax bill.

 

[ksen]

EMTs who stopped NYPD cops from beating handcuffed, emotionally disturbed patient turn officers in

Two FDNY EMTs who had to intervene to stop four police officers beating a handcuffed patient on a stretcher have turned the cops in to authorities, the Daily News has learned.

The emotionally disturbed patient was punched multiple times in the face by the cops on July 20, according to FDNY documents obtained by The News. The cops only stopped when the EMTs bodily intervened, the report said.

Guy is probably lucky to be alive.

 

[Togo]

We get cop abuse stories over here. We don't get nearly as many. My understanding is that cops over here commit fewer abuses, what abuses they do commit are often less serious because gun use is more strictly controlled. Cops are also trained more, paid more, and face lower crime rates than their equivalents in the US. They're also more respected, and more often trusted by the public, and compare favourably to their counterparts in the rest of Europe.

However, that's an impression. I believe it to be accurate, but I've not been collecting hard data.

 

[The Paul]

Police burst into wrong apartment, shoot innocent woman hiding in closet

HEMPSTEAD, NY — An innocent woman hid in a closet when armed strangers unexpectedly broke into her apartment. While cowering in fear, she was discovered by one of the intruders — actually a police officer raiding the wrong address — who promptly shot her in the chest after opening the closet door.

Whilst I can see Jarhyn's point. I think we need to ask ourselves why do we have Police breaking into peoples homes and shooting people who are trying to hide or protect themselves.

i think a starting point would be to end the ridiculous failure known as the "war on drugs". It's a failure. Then we won't have so many heavily armed police breaking into innocent peoples homes and shooting them.

Well of course the powers that be have to insist there was no wrong doing here. If there was wrong doing then maybe it's not in society's best interest for a bunch of armed men under the impression they are entering a kill-or-be-killed situation to be violently invading homes.

And that can not be considered.

 

[NobleSavage]

http://www.policestateusa.com/ All the cop abuse stories you can handle.

I think the solution is cameras on cops.

The Los Angeles Police Department is currently testing body-mounted cameras that record officers' interactions with citizens. The New York Police Department says it's reviewing the technology......

Rialto, with a population of 100,000 and a police force of 115 officers, began experimenting with wearable cameras in 2012. The results, Farrar says, were stunning: a plunge in incidents involving use of force, from 60 in 2011 to 25 the following year. Complaints from citizens dropped from 28 to three, with just four in the past twelve months.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/14/technology/security/cameras-on-cops/

 

[Loren Pechtel]

We get cop abuse stories over here. We don't get nearly as many. My understanding is that cops over here commit fewer abuses, what abuses they do commit are often less serious because gun use is more strictly controlled. Cops are also trained more, paid more, and face lower crime rates than their equivalents in the US. They're also more respected, and more often trusted by the public, and compare favourably to their counterparts in the rest of Europe.

However, that's an impression. I believe it to be accurate, but I've not been collecting hard data.

The abuse reports here rarely involve guns.

Mostly they amount to cases where the guy was violent with the cops and the cops were legitimately violent back, but then continue to be violent after the reason for the violence is over.

 

[Nexus]

Mostly they amount to cases where the guy was violent with the cops and the cops were legitimately violent back, but then continue to be violent after the reason for the violence is over.

The facts in the post above yours completely contradict your assertion.

Rialto, with a population of 100,000 and a police force of 115 officers, began experimenting with wearable cameras in 2012. The results, Farrar says, were stunning: a plunge in incidents involving use of force, from 60 in 2011 to 25 the following year. Complaints from citizens dropped from 28 to three, with just four in the past twelve months.

A better hypothesis is that the police were the cause of the problem and cameras curtailed their bad behavior. Hence the dramatic drop incidents and complaints.

 

[NobleSavage]

^^^^ Yes. The ACLU has a good write up: https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/police-body-mounted-cameras-right-policies-place-win-all

 

[ksen]

http://www.kcra.com/news/woman-punc...ike-he-was-trying-to-kill-me/27402334#!bCefeN

Marlene Pinnock said she thought she was going to die as a California Highway Patrol officer straddled her, repeatedly punching her head, on the side of a Los Angeles freeway.

During an hour-long interview with The Associated Press on Sunday -- her first public comments since the July 1 incident was caught on now-viral video by a passing driver -- Pinnock spoke haltingly or in a whisper, occasionally putting her hands to her temples and grimacing.

Her attorney, Caree Harper, frequently interrupted her and limited her responses to a reporter's questions.

"He grabbed me, he threw me down, he started beating me, he beat me. I felt like he was trying to kill me, beat me to death," Pinnock said. Pinnock, 51, was released from the hospital last week after several weeks of treatment for head injuries and now slurs her speech, Harper said.

Pinnock is suing CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow and Officer Daniel L. Andrew in federal court for civil rights violations. The suit claims excessive force, assault, battery and a violation of Pinnock's due process rights. The CHP hasn't identified the officer but said he had been on the job for 1 1/2 years and is on desk duty pending completion of the internal investigation.

 

[ksen]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...-sexual-assault-molestation-charges/13501041/

A Mesa police officer has been indicted on charges of sexual assault and child molestation for acts that allegedly occurred on the job, authorities said.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office released a statement late Friday saying that Justin Cherry, 34, self-surrendered Friday afternoon and was booked into jail on two counts of sexual assault and one count of molestation of a child. He is being held without bond, according to the statement.

Cherry is accused of engaging in sexual contact with two women without their consent and molesting a child under the age of 15 while conducting investigations, the statement said. Mesa police say the accusers allege that Cherry touched them during searches while they were detained.

 

[ZiprHead]

Indiana Police Officer Shoves Man Out Of His Wheelchair

http://heavy.com/news/2014/07/police-cop-shoves-dumps-man-wheelchair-tom-davidson-nicholas-kincade-video/

"An Indiana police department finally released the brutality video that got one of its senior officers suspended and almost fired."

 

[Loren Pechtel]

http://heavy.com/news/2014/07/police-cop-shoves-dumps-man-wheelchair-tom-davidson-nicholas-kincade-video/

"An Indiana police department finally released the brutality video that got one of its senior officers suspended and almost fired."

While the cop is out of line I don't have much sympathy for the guy. It's apparently uncontested that the guy ran over the cop. That's inexcusable. If you can't control your chair well enough to avoid doing it you don't belong in public in the first place. Besides, the one I've encountered that ran people over could control her chair well enough, she just didn't bother to. Bouncing off things, hitting people and running them over caused her no problem, everyone made excuses.

When she learned that I would set my shoe to block her chair without getting hurt in the process she very quickly was able to steer around me--at least unless she thought I wasn't looking.