Police Misconduct Catch All Thread

[Derec]

The antivax truckers blocked traffic for days and honked their horns incessantly. #BLM/Antifas did not block traffic for as long.

#BLMers have been blockading streets for 8 years on and off. And in 2020, they had weekslong occupations of entire city blocks in Seattle, Portland, Atlanta etc. The occupation of the so-called "George Floyd Square" in Minneapolis lasted for many months.
Minneapolis residents are still occupying George Floyd Square as the city vows to reopen the intersection
#BLM nonsense is hardly comparable to the truckers. And hardly anybody was prosecuted for it.

 

[Derec]

"
The two sentences are not logically linked.

You need to have your logic circuits replaced.

You sound like a bigot. with your obsession with #BLM.

It's neither bigotry nor obsession. They are in the news because they always occupy things or "burn this bitch down" (to quote Michael Brown's mother's boyfriend)

 

[laughing dog]

The antivax truckers blocked traffic for days and honked their horns incessantly. #BLM/Antifas did not block traffic for as long.

#BLMers have been blockading streets for 8 years on and off. And in 2020, they had weekslong occupations of entire city blocks in Seattle, Portland, Atlanta etc. The occupation of the so-called "George Floyd Square" in Minneapolis lasted for many months.
Minneapolis residents are still occupying George Floyd Square as the city vows to reopen the intersection
#BLM nonsense is hardly comparable to the truckers. And hardly anybody was prosecuted for it.

Right, none of the truckers were shot or assaulted.

"
The two sentences are not logically linked.

You need to have your logic circuits replaced.

You sound like a bigot. with your obsession with #BLM.

It's neither bigotry nor obsession. They are in the news because they always occupy things or "burn this bitch down" (to quote Michael Brown's mother's boyfriend)

#BLM lives in your head rent free. And #BLM does not always do anything. The fear and bigotry in your posts is blatantly obvious.

 

[ZiprHead]

Las Vegas officer accused of robbing casino with department-issued gun

Caleb Rogers, 33, was detained at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino after allegedly robbing it at gunpoint. Federal prosecutors say he also robbed two other casinos.

www.nbcnews.com

An off-duty Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer accused of robbing a casino with his department-issued gun and suspected in two other robberies has been charged with federal crimes, officials announced Thursday.

Caleb Rogers, 33, has been charged with interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence in connection with a robbery last month, prosecutors with the Justice Department’s Las Vegas office said.


He was arrested Feb. 27 after reportedly robbing the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino at gunpoint and attempting to abscond with $78,898 just before 7 a.m., according to federal prosecutors.

“Get away from the money,” he said to two employees and climbed over a counter, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada. “I’ve got a gun. I will shoot you!”

Rogers grabbed the loot, and after an alarm was triggered, made for the parking garage, prosecutors said. But at least one hotel security employee tackled him.

They'll give him a three day paid desk suspension, I'm sure.

 

[Angry Floof]

I'll start with this one.:

NYPD Officer Still Has A Job Even Though He Was Caught Planting Weed On Two Innocent Men In Separate Incidents

A New York Police Department officer is still roaming the streets after his own body camera captured him apparently planting drugs on innocent people twice.

The Intercept acquired bodycam footage reportedly showing Officer Kyle Erickson planting weed in a car during a traffic stop on March 13, 2018.

In the video, Erickson and his partner Elmer Pastran, pulled over a Staten Island driver who supposedly had a broken taillight. Jason Serrano was sitting in the passenger seat during the stop. Serrano, who was recovering from a stab wound, and his female friend were ordered out of the car after the cops claimed they smelled weed.

“I can barely move,” Serrano said while lifting his shirt to show the wound on his abdomen.

“I don’t want to see that,” Erickson replied. When the officers demanded to search Serrano’s jacket he kept protesting — “There’s nothing in there. … I’m not getting searched for no reason” — and was eventually thrown to the ground despite the severity of his injuries.

“They said I was resisting arrest, but I just didn’t want to hit the floor, the only thing I was thinking about was [the injury],” Serrano told The Intercept. “I still had staples in me. … I couldn’t even stand up straight.”

Erickson searched the car while Pastran searched Serrano’s jacket, but they didn’t find anything.

“We gotta find something,” Erickson can be heard telling Pastran.

Erickson goes back to the car for another search. His body camera shows him fiddling with a small nugget of weed before he dropped it in a cup holder. The officers exchange a look and asked each other if they were “good,” as if they were confirming Erickson’s plant.

I was wondering what happened with this case, or rather, two cases, of the guy who was arrested and of the cop who planted evidence.

D.A. drops charges in controversial NYC arrest involving allegations of police misconduct​

Serrano pleaded guilty so he wouldn't have to go to Riker's Island and he felt it was a losing battle to fight for his innocence.

Then NYPD released the body cam that showed the officer planting the weed and now a judge has vacated his guilty plea and the DA dropped all charges.

But Officer Erickson was not charged or fired or disciplined at all unless you count a "committee conclusion" that he didn't follow NYPD guidelines on using body cams. And he was required to go through additional training on using body cams. Not on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights or on how to not be a corrupt piece of shit who abuses his badge and ruins people's lives.

Unbelievably fucked up. But I'm glad to see Serrano finally won and I hope he sues the ever loving fuck out of NYPD.

 

[blastula]

 

[ZiprHead]

New bodycam video shows Chicago cop slugging social justice activist in the face

A Chicago police officer with a history of violent interactions with the public is facing renewed calls for his firing in light of newly released video imagery showing him punching a social justice activist and knocking out one of her front teeth in 2020.Miracle Boyd says she was using her...

www.rawstory.com

A Chicago police officer with a history of violent interactions with the public is facing renewed calls for his firing in light of newly released video imagery showing him punching a social justice activist and knocking out one of her front teeth in 2020.

Miracle Boyd says she was using her mobile phone to record video of police officers arresting Black Lives Matter protestors in the city's Grant Park when Officer Nicholas Jovanovich, a 17-year veteran of the force, suddenly rushed toward her. Police reports and body-cam images obtained by the Chicago Reader and South Side Weekly - although highly redacted - show Jovanovich rushing toward Boyd and punching her in the face with a balled-up fist as she attempts to back away from him.

As the Reader reports, "When the blow lands, her cell phone flies to the pavement and she stumbles away, bent double." She was reportedly bleeding heavily from her mouth. Boyd, who was 18 at the time of the protest and assault, is an activist with the anti-gun-violence organization Good Kids Mad City.

 

[repoman]

This is about a nurse given 6 years in prison as a comparison to police

 

[Derec]

This is about a nurse given 6 years in prison as a comparison to police

What does a nurse screwing up (possibly due to nurses given too much freedom to act independently, aka "midlevel creep") and killing a patient has to do with police?
Quite a non-sequitur.

 

[Derec]

Update on the Amir Locke case:

No charges will be filed in fatal police shooting of Amir Locke, killed during no-knock warrant service

Ultimately, that was the only lawful choice for the prosecutors.

I wonder if there will be riots. The weather is not nearly as cold as in February, which helped keep destructive impulses in check.

 

[lpetrich]

Minnesota prosecutor says no charges in police raid that killed Amir Locke | Reuters

April 6 (Reuters) - A Minneapolis police officer will not face criminal charges for fatally shooting a 22-year-old Black man during a no-knock raid on an apartment in February, state and local prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Even though the dead man, Amir Locke, was a victim, there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against Mark Hanneman, the member of the Minneapolis SWAT team who fired the shot, according to a statement from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman.

The state also lacked evidence to prove criminal wrongdoing by any of the officers involved in the planning and execution of the Feb. 2 raid, it said.

However, Keith Ellison has called on lawmakers to consider banning no-knock warrants because of their risks. He wasn't saying "More! More! More!" and saying that we should have a pogrom against young black men because of what evil monsters they are.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey temporarily ended no-knock warrants in February, though the practice will soon resume, but with strict limits.

 

[ZiprHead]

St. Louis DA REFUSES to charge suspect who tried to CARJACK cop car

The DA's office reportedly is short-staffed and cannot handle the amount of casework it has, angering police who want more cases taken on.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Woke St. Louis DA refuses to charge armed robbery suspect who tried to CARJACK marked police car and pointed gun at officers inside​

• Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office refused to file charges against a 27-year-old man who held police at gunpoint and attempted to carjack a police car
• The 27-year-old, who was not identified by police, ran out in front of the car on Saturday while it was moving before holding the officers at gunpoint
• Once he realized he was attempting to carjack a police car, he reportedly took off running and was apprehended a block away
• The man has prior charges for domestic violence and and property damages

But wait, there's more!

Prosecutor says new video proves St. Louis cops lied about carjacking attempt

The officers said they were nearly carjacked on March 19 in the city's LaSalle Park neighborhood. On Tuesday, the prosecutor's office said the officers are under investigation for lying in

www.stltoday.com

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis circuit attorney’s office has contradicted a highly publicized police account that two officers were nearly carjacked last month. Prosecutors on Tuesday called the police summary false and said the officers are now under investigation for lying in a sworn statement.
The officers were coached on what to say by a lieutenant, prosecutors allege. And video, they say, reveals nothing criminal — no gun pointed at an officer’s head, no attempted holdup.

Six days after the March 19 incident, the circuit attorney’s office got tired of waiting for police to turn over videos of the attempted carjacking, said chief warrant officer Chris Hinckley. So a prosecutor’s office employee called a local business directly to see if there was footage of the incident.
That video, segments of which were released to reporters in an unusual move Tuesday, disproves the police account, Hinckley said.

This is why you don't use the Daily Mail for a source.

 

[ZiprHead]

Police rightly understand that the general public would be disgusted by their practices if they were exposed to it in their own communities, so you find that they reserve their most piggish behavior for populations who are largely powerless to effect change.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

St. Louis DA REFUSES to charge suspect who tried to CARJACK cop car

The DA's office reportedly is short-staffed and cannot handle the amount of casework it has, angering police who want more cases taken on.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Woke St. Louis DA refuses to charge armed robbery suspect who tried to CARJACK marked police car and pointed gun at officers inside​

• Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office refused to file charges against a 27-year-old man who held police at gunpoint and attempted to carjack a police car
• The 27-year-old, who was not identified by police, ran out in front of the car on Saturday while it was moving before holding the officers at gunpoint
• Once he realized he was attempting to carjack a police car, he reportedly took off running and was apprehended a block away
• The man has prior charges for domestic violence and and property damages

But wait, there's more!

Prosecutor says new video proves St. Louis cops lied about carjacking attempt

The officers said they were nearly carjacked on March 19 in the city's LaSalle Park neighborhood. On Tuesday, the prosecutor's office said the officers are under investigation for lying in

www.stltoday.com

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis circuit attorney’s office has contradicted a highly publicized police account that two officers were nearly carjacked last month. Prosecutors on Tuesday called the police summary false and said the officers are now under investigation for lying in a sworn statement.
The officers were coached on what to say by a lieutenant, prosecutors allege. And video, they say, reveals nothing criminal — no gun pointed at an officer’s head, no attempted holdup.

Six days after the March 19 incident, the circuit attorney’s office got tired of waiting for police to turn over videos of the attempted carjacking, said chief warrant officer Chris Hinckley. So a prosecutor’s office employee called a local business directly to see if there was footage of the incident.
That video, segments of which were released to reporters in an unusual move Tuesday, disproves the police account, Hinckley said.

This is why you don't use the Daily Mail for a source.

And why didn't the DA file charges against the officers?

 

[lpetrich]

Thanx to Swammerdami in another thread for finding this link.

U.S. police trainers with far-right ties are teaching hundreds of cops

One police instructor who has taught 560 officers in recent years has joined one extremist group and supported other far-right movements. Others have echoed QAnon and other fringe conspiracy theories on social media, a Reuters examination found.

In social media, Richard Whitehead is a warrior for the American right. He has praised extremist groups. He has called for public executions of government officials he sees as disloyal to former President Donald Trump. In a post in 2020, he urged law enforcement officers to disobey COVID-19 public-health orders from “tyrannical governors,” adding: “We are on the brink of civil war.”

Whitehead also has a day job. He trains police officers around the United States.

... A Washington state training commission in 2015 temporarily banned Whitehead from advertising courses on its website because of instructional materials that referred to a turban-wearing police officer as a “towel head” and contained cartoons of women in bikinis, according to emails from the commission to Whitehead that were reviewed by Reuters. Other marketing literature touted Whitehead’s “deception detection” technique that, among other things, teaches officers not to trust sexual-assault claimants if they use the word “we” in referring to themselves and their assailant.

Sexual assault: a crime that he wants to be soft on.

The commission was responding to a student complaint citing “offensive slurs” and “blatant misogyny.” Whitehead said in an interview that the commission had given too much credence to one student’s opinion and caused him to lose business.

So typical of the right wing, being unwilling to take responsibility for his actions.

Since then, he said, he has expanded the section of his course that caused that controversy, adding more “pot-stirring” material, including a slide that ridicules transgender people: “Suspect is a gender-fluid assigned-male-at-birth wearing non-gender-specific clothing born Caucasian but identifies as a mountain panda.” Whitehead said such barbs are intended to push back against pressures on law enforcement to espouse left-wing views on gender or race.

Whitehead is part of a trend in pushing a radical-right political agenda to American police forces. He’s one of five police trainers identified by Reuters whose political commentary on social media has echoed extremist opinions or who have public ties to far-right figures. ...

The five trainers have aired views including the belief in a vote-rigging conspiracy to unseat Trump in the 2020 election. One trainer attended Trump’s January 6, 2021, rally at the U.S. Capitol that devolved into a riot, injuring more than 100 police officers.

He was not alone in supporting attacks on his fellow cops -- and attacking them.

Two of the trainers have falsely asserted that prominent Democrats including President Joe Biden are pedophiles, a core tenet of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Four have endorsed or posted records of their past interactions with far-right extremist figures, including prominent “constitutional sheriff” leader David Clarke Jr. and Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs, who is being prosecuted for his involvement in the Capitol riots.

Whitehead adheres to the constitutional sheriff philosophy, which holds that county sheriffs should ignore any law they find unconstitutional. The growing movement claims sheriffs are the supreme law enforcement authority in their jurisdictions – more powerful even than the U.S. president.

Sort of like Posse Comitatus, which supportedly rejects any government higher than county governments.

Whitehead was listed in a database of members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government group, that was leaked in September ... The members list included some 15 other people who identified themselves as law enforcement trainers and dozens more who said they were retired officers or trainers, or firearms instructors.

 

[lpetrich]

Trainers like those identified by Reuters, a half dozen police-training specialists say, highlight a lack of standards and oversight that allows instruction that can often exaggerate the threats that officers face, making them more likely to respond with excessive force in stressful situations.

U.S. law enforcement officers receive far less initial training at police academies than their counterparts in comparable countries, said Arjun Sethi, a Georgetown University adjunct law professor and policing specialist. That opens “immense commercial opportunities” for private trainers to fill the void with ongoing training of active-duty officers, often “in a politicized manner” that normalizes biased policing against Black people and other communities, he said.

...
President Joe Biden is a “puppet and a pedophile.” Protestors decrying racial bias in policing are “pawns” in a “scheme to destroy this nation.”
Social media posts from police instructor Adam Davis

Then rebutting claims that cops are under siege.

Over the long term, police deaths per 100,000 officers, from both felonies and accidents, plunged from 81 to 20 between 1970 and 2016, a decline of 75%, according to a 2019 analysis of historical Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data in the journal Criminology & Public Policy. Deaths from crimes fell even faster than accidental deaths over the period.

“The number of line-of-duty deaths has declined dramatically over the last five decades,” the study concluded. “The ‘war on cops’ thesis is not supported by any evidence.”

...
In light of such data showing declining dangers to officers, many training agencies long ago abandoned training that emphasized putting officers through simulations of threatening situations, said Gil Kerlikowske, who led the police departments of Seattle and Buffalo, New York, before serving as commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol from 2014 until 2017.

“That’s the worst kind of training to give officers today, to make them feel more vulnerable,” Kerlikowske said. “You want people to have an awareness” of violent threats, “but you don’t want them to be so hypersensitive that it impacts everything they do.”

The mindset that trainers impart, such as a feeling of constant vulnerability, can be more influential than the technical knowledge they share, said Seth Stoughton, a law professor at the University of South Carolina and former police officer with expertise in law enforcement training. Stoughton said studies show that training which overemphasizes life-threatening situations can impart a “warrior mentality,” convincing the officers that they face constant deadly threats.

 

[ZiprHead]

Body cam footage shows VA cops lied about death of 77-year-old man whose head they slammed into truck

Video footage recorded on body cameras worn by a Warren County, VA, police officer appears to show that sheriff's deputies lied about the circumstances of a traffic stop in which a 77-year-old man suffered a brain injury and later died.The county Sheriff's Office originally said that Ralph Ennis...

www.rawstory.com

Video footage recorded on body cameras worn by a Warren County, VA, police officer appears to show that sheriff's deputies lied about the circumstances of a traffic stop in which a 77-year-old man suffered a brain injury and later died.


The county Sheriff's Office originally said that Ralph Ennis fell over the trailer hitch of his red pickup truck and struck his head on the camper top attached to his truck.

But as footage aired by Washington, DC, TV station NBC4 shows, deputies rushed the man in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven near Front Royal, VA, and then slammed him face-forward into the back of his truck and tackled him to the ground. Police have said Ennis failed to drop his keys and put his hands behind his back after exiting his vehicle.

Ennis, whose wife said he suffered from dementia, died 13 days later. The sheriff's office originally said that the man had non-life threatening injuries as a result of the incident. Wife Linda Ennis said her husband was transported by medics to the hospital and was diagnosed with a brain bleed. He died April 15. She said he was the subject of a Silver Alert in mid-March as a result of his dementia.

 

[ZiprHead]

 

[lpetrich]

• Minneapolis Officers Found to Engage in Racist Policing - The New York Times - "Minnesota’s Department of Human Rights found instances of shockingly racist and misogynistic language, as well as patterns of discrimination in arrests and use of force."
• Minneapolis police engaged in pattern of racial discrimination, inquiry finds | Minneapolis | The Guardian - "Report released by Minnesota’s human rights department says agency and city will negotiate an agreement to address problems"
• Minneapolis police 'engaged in pattern of racism' - BBC News

noting
Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department - Findings from the Minnesota Department of Human Rights - Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department_tcm1061-526417.pdf

I'll give the report's table of contents.

• Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department
• Table of Contents
• Summary of investigation and findings of discrimination
  • Court order implementing public safety changes
  • Overview of investigation
  • Findings of Discrimination
• MPD officers use higher rates of more severe force against Black individuals than white individuals in similar circumstances
  • MPD officers inappropriately use neck restraints and chemical irritants
  • MPD officers use higher rates of more severe force against Black individuals
• MPD officers are more likely to stop vehicles with people of color and Indigenous individuals when officers are more likely to identify the race/ethnicity of a vehicle’s occupants
• MPD officers treat Black and white individuals differently during traffic stops
  • MPD officers are more likely to search Black individuals and/or their vehicles during a traffic stop than white individuals in similar circumstances
  • MPD officers are more likely to cite Black individuals during a traffic stop than white individuals in similar circumstances
  • MPD officers are more likely to stop Black individuals for longer during a traffic stop than white individuals
  • MPD officers are more likely to use force against Black individuals during a traffic stop than white individuals in similar circumstances
  • MPD officers are more likely to arrest Black individuals during traffic stops than white individuals in similar circumstances
• MPD officers improperly and excessively cite Black individuals with disorderly conduct and obstruction resulting in collateral consequences
  • MPD officers improperly and excessively cite Black individuals
  • Collateral consequences of unjustified citations to Black individuals
• MPD uses covert social media to target Black leaders, Black organizations, and elected officials without a public safety objective
  • MPD’s covert social media accounts were used to conduct surveillance, unrelated to criminal activity, and to falsely engage with Black individuals, Black leaders, and Black organizations
  • MPD officers used covert accounts to pose as community members to criticize elected officials
  • MPD does not have proper oversight and accountability mechanisms for officers’ covert social media use
• MPD maintains a culture where MPD officers consistently use racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language and are rarely held accountable
• MPD provides deficient training and guidance for its officers, which exacerbates a pattern of discriminatory, race-based policing
  • MPD reinforces a culture of unquestionable compliance and aggression
  • MPD officers receive insufficient in-service training
  • Insufficient supervisor training reinforces a culture that is averse to oversight and accountability
  • MPD’s field training program furthers a pattern of race-based policing
  • MPD’s emphasis on aggression during training results, in part, in officers unnecessarily escalating encounters and/or using inappropriate levels of force with community members
• Officers are not held accountable because of ineffective accountability and oversight systems, which contribute to a pattern of discriminatory policing
  • Structure
  • OPCR is not sufficiently independent from MPD
  • The Police Conduct Oversight Commission is ineffective as implemented
  • Complaints are inadequately investigated, and officers are not consistently held accountable for misconduct
• The City fails to provide individuals of all racial backgrounds accused of crimes with evidence relevant to their defense, and this failure disproportionately affects Black individuals who are arrested and charged at higher rates
  • The City fails to comprehensively produce impeachment information to individuals of all racial backgrounds charged with crimes
  • MPD leaders fail to use information about officers’ lack of credibility to discipline officers
• Without coordinated and sustained action from City and MPD leaders, MPD’s organizational culture will continue to undercut the efficacy of the City’s public safety system and perpetuate race-based policing
  • City and MPD leaders acknowledge that MPD engaged and continues to engage in race-based policing and leaders have made some efforts to address racial disparities
  • A lack of collective action has allowed a problematic organizational culture to fester in MPD
• Conclusion, recommendations, and next steps

 

[lpetrich]

From the New York Times,

Two Black city officials, LaTrisha Vetaw, a member of the City Council who is helping lead the search for a new police chief, and Saray Garnett-Hochuli, the director of regulatory services, said the findings came as no surprise to them.

And about social-media surveillance,

Fake accounts are supposed to be used for investigative purposes only, approved by a supervisor and registered in a department inventory, though investigators found at least two dozen accounts in use that were not listed in the inventory. The department did not use covert accounts to similarly surveil white people or white supremacist groups for possible criminal activity, the report said.

Then about the Derek Chauvin case.

Although field training officers like Mr. Chauvin have tremendous sway over rookies, the department does not offer ongoing instruction for them, the investigation found — an oversight that it said “furthers race-based policing.” It cited a 2020 case in which a training officer allowed a trainee to search a Black woman who was unarmed, but said that searching an intoxicated white man who admitted to having a knife in his bag would be a waste of the trainee’s time.

The report suggested that the department still fails to empower officers to intervene when they see something wrong. On the first day of training in 2021, the report said, recruits were told that “instant and unquestioned compliance is in order.”

That attitude trickles down — Minneapolis police officers demand unquestioned compliance in “even the most banal interactions,” community members told investigators. More than 2,000 residents were interviewed.

The report said that although the department banned warrior-style training, it still established a “warrior mind-set” in new officers.

The article ended with

The report found that officers frequently failed to de-escalate situations involving people of all races, or even escalated them, often leading to an unnecessary use of force. In one example the investigators cited, officers handcuffed a white man to take him to a hospital, then mocked him. The man, who had been compliant, kicked at them, and one officer punched him repeatedly in the face.