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solarbirdSeveral examples of why reform is not enough. Policing has to be torn all the way down, most of its work handed off to other civil authorities, and law enforcement re-imagined.
----- 1 -----
The ‘Warrior Cop’ Is a Toxic Mentality. And a Lucrative Industry.
Police are paying firms that preach extreme vigilance and deadly force.
by Alain Stephens
June 19, 2020
https://www.thetrace.org/2020/06/warrior-cop-mentality-police-industry/
group of police officers, kitted out for a day of shooting, sit silently in a tin-roofed gun range. A portable CD player plays a recording of the desperate cries of one of their colleagues, fighting for his life. The range instructor, Tony Semanant, a former Marine and SWAT operator, clad in olive drab, then tells his students the purpose of the next three days of intensive training: “You’re fucking going home at night to your fucking family,” he says.
Suddenly, the trainees, who are being filmed as part of a promotional video for RealWorld Tactical, a Florida-based training and gear outfit, explode into action. Quick cuts show officers shooting AR-15s through car windshields, shooting from inside vehicles, sparring with multiple opponents, and carrying each other under the cover of smoke. “I’m here because I don’t want to be a statistic,” says one participant to the camera.
RealWorld Tactical’s training regimen is the embodiment of the “warrior” culture that permeates American law enforcement. It preaches that police work is inherently violent, and that officers represent the last opportunity for law and order in an increasingly dangerous society. In this world, police are alone, even reviled by the public — their actions misunderstood and the threats they face underappreciated.
“They are taught that they live in an intensely hostile world. A world that is, quite literally, gunning for them,” writes Seth Stoughton, a law professor and former police officer, in an article for the Harvard Law Review. “Death, they are told, is constantly a single, small misstep away.”
----- 2 -----
Colorado to strip its police force of qualified immunity: Countless officers discussing resigning.
June 20, 2020
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/colorado-to-strip-its-police-force-of-qualified-immunity-good-luck-retaining-officers/
Editor note: Law Enforcement Today has received countless messages over the past few days from officers in Colorado. Many have asked for resources finding police jobs out of Colorado – many others have said they plan on leaving the field altogether.
This is just the beginning. Here’s why.
COLORADO – New criminal justice reform has been passed to the governor’s desk in Colorado, and it tightens the screws on law enforcement officers across the state.
The Denver Post reported this comprehensive package in the wake of protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN.
As of Friday, June 19, the legislation has been signed into law.
Denver civil rights attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai said:
“This is, in my estimation, the largest single advancement of individual civil rights and liberties for Coloradans in a generation.”
The bill is sponsored by Senator Leroy Garcia, Senator Rhonda Fields, Representative Leslie Herod. Representative Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and the American Civil Liberties Union worked together with Colorado legislators to draft the bill.
In this bill, SB20-217 Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity, choke holds are banned, along with a few additional key enhancements:
Deadly force must be used as a last resort
No rubber bullets can be used
Body cameras must be turned on during interaction with the public
Qualified immunity is not a defense in the civil action
A Statewide database must be created
This bill, which takes effect July 1, 2023, according to the drafted proposal, adds more burdens on law enforcement officers across the state of Colorado.
----- 3 -----
Social Distance Warrior
twitter.com/vixy
22 June 2020
https://twitter.com/vixy/status/1275137044570730497
[THREAD]
"But we need police to protect us from crime!"
When SPD claimed there was a "credible threat" of arson to their building, they PACKED UP & LEFT.
Abandoned a mixed-use area, businesses & residences. Removed valuables, shredded documents, boarded it up & left.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Spek
twitter.com/spekulation
10 June 2020
https://twitter.com/spekulation/status/1270900665636675585
First, the narrative they put forth as they were moving out... For days, they claimed there was a "credible threat" the building would be burned down. They used it to justify widespread violence and gassing, and ultimately framed moving out as giving in to this "credible threat".
[NEXT]
If you argue "it's ok that they left b/c the threat wasn't real," you accept that they lied about a threat, & you should ask why.
If you argue "they wouldn't lie! The threat was real!" then you accept that they RAN AWAY instead of protecting people they're supposed to protect.
[THREAD CONTINUES AT UPPER URL]
----- 4 -----
Hack Brief: Anonymous Stole and Leaked a Megatrove of Police Documents
The so-called BlueLeaks collection includes internal memos, financial records, and more from over 200 state, local, and federal agencies.
22 June 2020
https://www.wired.com/story/blueleaks-anonymous-law-enforcement-hack/
It's been the better part of a decade since the hacktivist group Anonymous rampaged across the internet, stealing and leaking millions of secret files from dozens of US organizations. Now, amid the global protests following the killing of George Floyd, Anonymous is back—and it's returned with a dump of hundreds of gigabytes of law enforcement files and internal communications.
On Friday of last week, the Juneteenth holiday, a leak-focused activist group known as Distributed Denial of Secrets published a 269-gigabyte collection of police data that includes emails, audio, video, and intelligence documents, with more than a million files in total. DDOSecrets founder Emma Best tells WIRED that the hacked files came from Anonymous—or at least a source self-representing as part of that group, given that under Anonymous' loose, leaderless structure anyone can declare themselves a member. Over the weekend, supporters of DDOSecrets, Anonymous, and protesters worldwide began digging through the files to pull out frank internal memos about police efforts to track the activities of protesters. The documents also reveal how law enforcement has described groups like the antifascist movement Antifa.
"It's the largest published hack of American law enforcement agencies," Emma Best, cofounder of DDOSecrets, wrote in a series of text messages. "It provides the closest inside look at the state, local, and federal agencies tasked with protecting the public, including [the] government response to COVID and the BLM protests."
----- 5 -----
Inslee appoints task force on race, policing and use of force
By Joseph O’Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
22 June 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/inslee-appoints-task-force-on-race-policing-and-use-of-force/
OLYMPIA — Two dozen community leaders, law enforcement representatives and others will work together to draft recommendations on how to better conduct independent investigations of use of force by law enforcement.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced Monday the creation of the task force in the wake of nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. In Washington, those concerns have been elevated by questions over the death of Manuel Ellis in March by Tacoma police.
The death of Ellis has raised questions about whether law enforcement personnel are following Initiative 940, a police-reform measure approved by state voters in 2018.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department had been tasked with independently reviewing whether Tacoma police were justified or were criminally liable in using lethal force against Ellis. But the department didn’t disclose that one of its deputies was involved in detaining Ellis until nearly the end of its three-month investigation.
The department didn’t appoint two citizens from outside law enforcement to give oversight to the investigation; didn’t give Ellis’s family a liaison to keep in touch with investigators; and didn’t provide public updates on the investigation’s progress, according to a review by The Times. Those are all required by I-940.
The task force announced Monday is part of a coordinated effort with state lawmakers to come up with new reforms around investigating police use of force, according to a news statement by Inslee’s office.
“This work will inform legislation and help chart a path towards addressing some of these systemic and extremely harmful practices and policies that have impacted communities of color for generations,” Inslee said in a news release.
----- 6 -----
SlothHammer 40K
twitter.com/CaseyExplosion
22 June 2020
https://twitter.com/CaseyExplosion/status/1275298502285889537
You cannot reform this.
[QUOTED TWEET]
ʝօɦռռʏ Ӽʍǟֆ #GetUsPPEchi
twitter.com/J0hnnyXm4s
TIL it’s tradition for local police to visit and shoot up Fred Hampton’s grave. Here is his son visiting it for Fathers Day.
[EMBEDDED IMAGES AT LINK]
[NEXT]
There are literal gangs, actual white supremacist gangs who get tattooed to mark their first victims, operating within police ranks. And people still think this is an institution that can be reformed. Throw more money at them so they can have sensitivity training. It's fantasy.
----- 7 -----
alvarezdubey
21 June 2020
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBsWjBwhung/
[EDITOR: This is the guy who rather famously gave shelter to protesters being attacked by cops in DC a couple of weeks ago.]
My evening stroll brings unnecessary followers...These are OUR streets. There is nothing to see here, "Authorties". Keep moving and Return to Humanity. Godspeed...
----- 8 -----
Flavortown control your cops
aka_dirtgirl
21 June 2020
https://twitter.com/aka_dirtgirl/status/1274815213217423363
Columbus police are "respectfully" not doing what the mayor wants.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE of letter telling the mayor "we're still using tear gas, deal with it."]
[SEE ALSO: indiscriminate mace spray by police
https://twitter.com/d0tslash/status/1274886443756904450
]
----- 9 -----
Elyssa Cherney is on furlough
twitter.com/ElyssaCherney
23 June 2020
President of Chicago police union indicates he’d use chokeholds even if the city bans them: “I’m not going to give up my life because of some stupid department policy ...” from twitter.com/JeremyGorner and twitter.com/MidnoirCowboy reporting
[LINKS TO:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-police-use-of-force-20200622-2twwuh3otjc2fbwtpnmkfa3z3i-story.html
After George Floyd’s death, where does Chicago draw the line on police chokeholds?
By Jeremy Gorner and William Lee
Chicago Tribune
Jun 22, 2020
]
----- 10 -----
NYPD commissioner: Officers who drove into protesters did not violate use-of-force policy
By Justine Coleman
06/22/20
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/503967-nypd-commissioner-officers-who-drove-into-protesters-did-not-violate-use
The New York Police Department (NYPD) commissioner on Monday defended the officers who drove into anti-policy brutality protesters late last month, saying they did not violate the department’s use-of-force policy.
Commissioner Dermot Shea testified in an online public hearing on the police response to the George Floyd protests, saying the officers shown in videos to be lurching into a crowd were complying with department standards.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who is investigating the police response, asked the commissioner about videos from May 30 that showed two police cruisers driving into a crowd in Brooklyn.
“Was that in violation of your use of force policy?” she asked.
“No,” Shea answered, adding, “Our internal affairs bureau investigated this information and preliminarily we have an accounting of that incident where we have officers in a situation where they’re essentially being penned in by protesters.”
----- 11 -----
Amputee Pepper Sprayed
Columbus, OH Cops Clash w/ Protesters
New Video Footage
6/23/2020
https://www.tmz.com/2020/06/22/columbus-protests-double-amputee-pepper-sprayed-cops-bikes/
[EDITOR: Accuracy matters. New video shows police did not remove the amputee's artificial limbs. They came off when he was pulled away to safety by medics, from police.]
New surveillance footage shows the Columbus PD had nothing to do with the double amputee's prosthetic legs being removed ... it was protesters dragging him away from the scene that caused them to fall off.
The newly released video by the cops also shows the man throwing a sign and a bottle of liquid at police before they began to use their bikes and pepper spray to clear the streets.
A previous version of this story was based on reports that cops chased after him and took his legs before protesters got them back, but that does not appear to be the case.
----- 12 -----
It’s Time to Defund Police in Albuquerque, And Here’s How We Can Do It
Reform doesn’t fix police because the thing we find wrong with police—the use of violence against poor and working-class people of color and Indigenous people—is not an aberration. There is no reform to fix the central mandate of police and policing, which is to impose order. Policing is not about law enforcement. It is not about guaranteeing everyone’s safety and security equally, no matter what police may say.
Written by The Abolish APD Coalition. You can reach them at AbolishAPD AT gmail.com and on Twitter at twitter.com/AbolishAPD
12 June 2020
https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4751-it-s-time-to-defund-police-in-albuquerque-and-here-s-how-we-can-do-it
It’s time to disarm, defund, and fully dismantle police and policing as we know it in Albuquerque. And here’s why.
Just as Albuquerque residents began sheltering-in-place in late March, Albuquerque police killed Valente Acosta-Bustillos. Friends and family of Acosta-Bustillos hadn’t heard from him in a few days and were worried about his welfare. They called 911. Albuquerque police showed up at his house on Edith SE and killed him in his own home.
On June 4, 2020, just as Albuquerque began emerging from sheltering-in place, police shot Max Mitnik, a young man suffering from a mental health crisis at the time. His behavior that day had been erratic and unpredictable, and his parents were frightened for his and their safety. They called 911 for help. Albuquerque police and crisis intervention officers showed up at his house in the wealthy Tanoan neighborhood and shot him. He remains in critical condition as we write this.
Before anyone calls for reforming the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), remember that all of this comes after nearly six years of court-mandated, federally supervised police reform in Albuquerque. Every police policy has been revised; every police practice has been reviewed. There’s not another police department in the United States that can claim to have gone through more reform than APD. None of it matters. APD continues to use violence against people of color and people suffering from mental health crises.
More reform will not fix APD. The only way to fix APD is to disarm police, defund police, and finally dismantle police as we know it. Let’s redirect the millions of dollars now wasted on weapons and prisons and jails and spend that money instead on social programs. Imagine an Albuquerque in which you can call 911 for help in checking on the welfare of a neighbor or a co-worker who you’re worried about, and instead of police arriving in armed tactical units, a team of unarmed, trained, crisis responders respond. Defunding police will not threaten public safety. It will enhance it. As Minneapolis organizer Kandace Montgomery put it, “We’re safer without armed, unaccountable patrols supported by the state hunting Black people.” Imagine an Albuquerque in which the nearly 20 percent of the city budget currently devoted to police is instead rerouted to housing for those without it, education and job training for those who need it, and universal, accessible health care for all.
But this is not the city we have. Instead we live in a city plagued by police violence. Between 1987 and 1991, Albuquerque police killed 15 people. Nearly all were people of color. A majority suffered from mental illness or were experiencing a mental health crisis when police killed them. People were outraged. The City Council promised to fix the problem though reform.
APD continued to kill people of color, Indigenous people, and people suffering from mental illness.
In 1996, the City Council investigated APD and found that between 1987 and 1997, police killed 31 people. The City Council once again promised to fix the problem through reform. It redesigned police training, raised hiring standards, and created a new police oversight commission— all the measures reformists promised would fix APD and finally hold it accountable.
APD continued to kill people of color, Indigenous people, and people suffering from mental illness.
- The ‘Warrior Cop’ Is a Toxic Mentality. And a Lucrative Industry.
- Colorado to strip its police force of qualified immunity: Countless officers discussing resigning.
- When SPD claimed there was a "credible threat" of arson to their building, they PACKED UP & LEFT.
- Hack Brief: Anonymous Stole and Leaked a Megatrove of Police Documents
- Inslee appoints task force on race, policing and use of force
- You cannot reform this.
- Watch how cops now treat guy who rather famously gave shelter to protesters being attacked by cops in DC a couple of weeks ago.
- Columbus police are "respectfully" rejecting the mayor's orders not to use tear gas
- President of Chicago police union indicates he’d use chokeholds even if the city bans them
- NYPD commissioner: Officers who drove into protesters did not violate use-of-force policy
- IN THE INTEREST OF TRUTH: New video shows Columbus, Ohio police did not remove teargassed amputee's artificial limbs
- It’s Time to Defund Police in Albuquerque, And Here’s How We Can Do It
----- 1 -----
The ‘Warrior Cop’ Is a Toxic Mentality. And a Lucrative Industry.
Police are paying firms that preach extreme vigilance and deadly force.
by Alain Stephens
June 19, 2020
https://www.thetrace.org/2020/06/warrior-cop-mentality-police-industry/
group of police officers, kitted out for a day of shooting, sit silently in a tin-roofed gun range. A portable CD player plays a recording of the desperate cries of one of their colleagues, fighting for his life. The range instructor, Tony Semanant, a former Marine and SWAT operator, clad in olive drab, then tells his students the purpose of the next three days of intensive training: “You’re fucking going home at night to your fucking family,” he says.
Suddenly, the trainees, who are being filmed as part of a promotional video for RealWorld Tactical, a Florida-based training and gear outfit, explode into action. Quick cuts show officers shooting AR-15s through car windshields, shooting from inside vehicles, sparring with multiple opponents, and carrying each other under the cover of smoke. “I’m here because I don’t want to be a statistic,” says one participant to the camera.
RealWorld Tactical’s training regimen is the embodiment of the “warrior” culture that permeates American law enforcement. It preaches that police work is inherently violent, and that officers represent the last opportunity for law and order in an increasingly dangerous society. In this world, police are alone, even reviled by the public — their actions misunderstood and the threats they face underappreciated.
“They are taught that they live in an intensely hostile world. A world that is, quite literally, gunning for them,” writes Seth Stoughton, a law professor and former police officer, in an article for the Harvard Law Review. “Death, they are told, is constantly a single, small misstep away.”
----- 2 -----
Colorado to strip its police force of qualified immunity: Countless officers discussing resigning.
June 20, 2020
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/colorado-to-strip-its-police-force-of-qualified-immunity-good-luck-retaining-officers/
Editor note: Law Enforcement Today has received countless messages over the past few days from officers in Colorado. Many have asked for resources finding police jobs out of Colorado – many others have said they plan on leaving the field altogether.
This is just the beginning. Here’s why.
COLORADO – New criminal justice reform has been passed to the governor’s desk in Colorado, and it tightens the screws on law enforcement officers across the state.
The Denver Post reported this comprehensive package in the wake of protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN.
As of Friday, June 19, the legislation has been signed into law.
Denver civil rights attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai said:
“This is, in my estimation, the largest single advancement of individual civil rights and liberties for Coloradans in a generation.”
The bill is sponsored by Senator Leroy Garcia, Senator Rhonda Fields, Representative Leslie Herod. Representative Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and the American Civil Liberties Union worked together with Colorado legislators to draft the bill.
In this bill, SB20-217 Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity, choke holds are banned, along with a few additional key enhancements:
Deadly force must be used as a last resort
No rubber bullets can be used
Body cameras must be turned on during interaction with the public
Qualified immunity is not a defense in the civil action
A Statewide database must be created
This bill, which takes effect July 1, 2023, according to the drafted proposal, adds more burdens on law enforcement officers across the state of Colorado.
----- 3 -----
Social Distance Warrior
twitter.com/vixy
22 June 2020
https://twitter.com/vixy/status/1275137044570730497
[THREAD]
"But we need police to protect us from crime!"
When SPD claimed there was a "credible threat" of arson to their building, they PACKED UP & LEFT.
Abandoned a mixed-use area, businesses & residences. Removed valuables, shredded documents, boarded it up & left.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Spek
twitter.com/spekulation
10 June 2020
https://twitter.com/spekulation/status/1270900665636675585
First, the narrative they put forth as they were moving out... For days, they claimed there was a "credible threat" the building would be burned down. They used it to justify widespread violence and gassing, and ultimately framed moving out as giving in to this "credible threat".
[NEXT]
If you argue "it's ok that they left b/c the threat wasn't real," you accept that they lied about a threat, & you should ask why.
If you argue "they wouldn't lie! The threat was real!" then you accept that they RAN AWAY instead of protecting people they're supposed to protect.
[THREAD CONTINUES AT UPPER URL]
----- 4 -----
Hack Brief: Anonymous Stole and Leaked a Megatrove of Police Documents
The so-called BlueLeaks collection includes internal memos, financial records, and more from over 200 state, local, and federal agencies.
22 June 2020
https://www.wired.com/story/blueleaks-anonymous-law-enforcement-hack/
It's been the better part of a decade since the hacktivist group Anonymous rampaged across the internet, stealing and leaking millions of secret files from dozens of US organizations. Now, amid the global protests following the killing of George Floyd, Anonymous is back—and it's returned with a dump of hundreds of gigabytes of law enforcement files and internal communications.
On Friday of last week, the Juneteenth holiday, a leak-focused activist group known as Distributed Denial of Secrets published a 269-gigabyte collection of police data that includes emails, audio, video, and intelligence documents, with more than a million files in total. DDOSecrets founder Emma Best tells WIRED that the hacked files came from Anonymous—or at least a source self-representing as part of that group, given that under Anonymous' loose, leaderless structure anyone can declare themselves a member. Over the weekend, supporters of DDOSecrets, Anonymous, and protesters worldwide began digging through the files to pull out frank internal memos about police efforts to track the activities of protesters. The documents also reveal how law enforcement has described groups like the antifascist movement Antifa.
"It's the largest published hack of American law enforcement agencies," Emma Best, cofounder of DDOSecrets, wrote in a series of text messages. "It provides the closest inside look at the state, local, and federal agencies tasked with protecting the public, including [the] government response to COVID and the BLM protests."
----- 5 -----
Inslee appoints task force on race, policing and use of force
By Joseph O’Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
22 June 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/inslee-appoints-task-force-on-race-policing-and-use-of-force/
OLYMPIA — Two dozen community leaders, law enforcement representatives and others will work together to draft recommendations on how to better conduct independent investigations of use of force by law enforcement.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced Monday the creation of the task force in the wake of nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. In Washington, those concerns have been elevated by questions over the death of Manuel Ellis in March by Tacoma police.
The death of Ellis has raised questions about whether law enforcement personnel are following Initiative 940, a police-reform measure approved by state voters in 2018.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department had been tasked with independently reviewing whether Tacoma police were justified or were criminally liable in using lethal force against Ellis. But the department didn’t disclose that one of its deputies was involved in detaining Ellis until nearly the end of its three-month investigation.
The department didn’t appoint two citizens from outside law enforcement to give oversight to the investigation; didn’t give Ellis’s family a liaison to keep in touch with investigators; and didn’t provide public updates on the investigation’s progress, according to a review by The Times. Those are all required by I-940.
The task force announced Monday is part of a coordinated effort with state lawmakers to come up with new reforms around investigating police use of force, according to a news statement by Inslee’s office.
“This work will inform legislation and help chart a path towards addressing some of these systemic and extremely harmful practices and policies that have impacted communities of color for generations,” Inslee said in a news release.
----- 6 -----
SlothHammer 40K
twitter.com/CaseyExplosion
22 June 2020
https://twitter.com/CaseyExplosion/status/1275298502285889537
You cannot reform this.
[QUOTED TWEET]
ʝօɦռռʏ Ӽʍǟֆ #GetUsPPEchi
twitter.com/J0hnnyXm4s
TIL it’s tradition for local police to visit and shoot up Fred Hampton’s grave. Here is his son visiting it for Fathers Day.
[EMBEDDED IMAGES AT LINK]
[NEXT]
There are literal gangs, actual white supremacist gangs who get tattooed to mark their first victims, operating within police ranks. And people still think this is an institution that can be reformed. Throw more money at them so they can have sensitivity training. It's fantasy.
----- 7 -----
alvarezdubey
21 June 2020
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBsWjBwhung/
[EDITOR: This is the guy who rather famously gave shelter to protesters being attacked by cops in DC a couple of weeks ago.]
My evening stroll brings unnecessary followers...These are OUR streets. There is nothing to see here, "Authorties". Keep moving and Return to Humanity. Godspeed...
----- 8 -----
Flavortown control your cops
aka_dirtgirl21 June 2020
https://twitter.com/aka_dirtgirl/status/1274815213217423363
Columbus police are "respectfully" not doing what the mayor wants.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE of letter telling the mayor "we're still using tear gas, deal with it."]
[SEE ALSO: indiscriminate mace spray by police
https://twitter.com/d0tslash/status/1274886443756904450
]
----- 9 -----
Elyssa Cherney is on furlough
twitter.com/ElyssaCherney
23 June 2020
President of Chicago police union indicates he’d use chokeholds even if the city bans them: “I’m not going to give up my life because of some stupid department policy ...” from twitter.com/JeremyGorner and twitter.com/MidnoirCowboy reporting
[LINKS TO:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-police-use-of-force-20200622-2twwuh3otjc2fbwtpnmkfa3z3i-story.html
After George Floyd’s death, where does Chicago draw the line on police chokeholds?
By Jeremy Gorner and William Lee
Chicago Tribune
Jun 22, 2020
]
----- 10 -----
NYPD commissioner: Officers who drove into protesters did not violate use-of-force policy
By Justine Coleman
06/22/20
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/503967-nypd-commissioner-officers-who-drove-into-protesters-did-not-violate-use
The New York Police Department (NYPD) commissioner on Monday defended the officers who drove into anti-policy brutality protesters late last month, saying they did not violate the department’s use-of-force policy.
Commissioner Dermot Shea testified in an online public hearing on the police response to the George Floyd protests, saying the officers shown in videos to be lurching into a crowd were complying with department standards.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who is investigating the police response, asked the commissioner about videos from May 30 that showed two police cruisers driving into a crowd in Brooklyn.
“Was that in violation of your use of force policy?” she asked.
“No,” Shea answered, adding, “Our internal affairs bureau investigated this information and preliminarily we have an accounting of that incident where we have officers in a situation where they’re essentially being penned in by protesters.”
----- 11 -----
Amputee Pepper Sprayed
Columbus, OH Cops Clash w/ Protesters
New Video Footage
6/23/2020
https://www.tmz.com/2020/06/22/columbus-protests-double-amputee-pepper-sprayed-cops-bikes/
[EDITOR: Accuracy matters. New video shows police did not remove the amputee's artificial limbs. They came off when he was pulled away to safety by medics, from police.]
New surveillance footage shows the Columbus PD had nothing to do with the double amputee's prosthetic legs being removed ... it was protesters dragging him away from the scene that caused them to fall off.
The newly released video by the cops also shows the man throwing a sign and a bottle of liquid at police before they began to use their bikes and pepper spray to clear the streets.
A previous version of this story was based on reports that cops chased after him and took his legs before protesters got them back, but that does not appear to be the case.
----- 12 -----
It’s Time to Defund Police in Albuquerque, And Here’s How We Can Do It
Reform doesn’t fix police because the thing we find wrong with police—the use of violence against poor and working-class people of color and Indigenous people—is not an aberration. There is no reform to fix the central mandate of police and policing, which is to impose order. Policing is not about law enforcement. It is not about guaranteeing everyone’s safety and security equally, no matter what police may say.
Written by The Abolish APD Coalition. You can reach them at AbolishAPD AT gmail.com and on Twitter at twitter.com/AbolishAPD
12 June 2020
https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4751-it-s-time-to-defund-police-in-albuquerque-and-here-s-how-we-can-do-it
It’s time to disarm, defund, and fully dismantle police and policing as we know it in Albuquerque. And here’s why.
Just as Albuquerque residents began sheltering-in-place in late March, Albuquerque police killed Valente Acosta-Bustillos. Friends and family of Acosta-Bustillos hadn’t heard from him in a few days and were worried about his welfare. They called 911. Albuquerque police showed up at his house on Edith SE and killed him in his own home.
On June 4, 2020, just as Albuquerque began emerging from sheltering-in place, police shot Max Mitnik, a young man suffering from a mental health crisis at the time. His behavior that day had been erratic and unpredictable, and his parents were frightened for his and their safety. They called 911 for help. Albuquerque police and crisis intervention officers showed up at his house in the wealthy Tanoan neighborhood and shot him. He remains in critical condition as we write this.
Before anyone calls for reforming the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), remember that all of this comes after nearly six years of court-mandated, federally supervised police reform in Albuquerque. Every police policy has been revised; every police practice has been reviewed. There’s not another police department in the United States that can claim to have gone through more reform than APD. None of it matters. APD continues to use violence against people of color and people suffering from mental health crises.
More reform will not fix APD. The only way to fix APD is to disarm police, defund police, and finally dismantle police as we know it. Let’s redirect the millions of dollars now wasted on weapons and prisons and jails and spend that money instead on social programs. Imagine an Albuquerque in which you can call 911 for help in checking on the welfare of a neighbor or a co-worker who you’re worried about, and instead of police arriving in armed tactical units, a team of unarmed, trained, crisis responders respond. Defunding police will not threaten public safety. It will enhance it. As Minneapolis organizer Kandace Montgomery put it, “We’re safer without armed, unaccountable patrols supported by the state hunting Black people.” Imagine an Albuquerque in which the nearly 20 percent of the city budget currently devoted to police is instead rerouted to housing for those without it, education and job training for those who need it, and universal, accessible health care for all.
But this is not the city we have. Instead we live in a city plagued by police violence. Between 1987 and 1991, Albuquerque police killed 15 people. Nearly all were people of color. A majority suffered from mental illness or were experiencing a mental health crisis when police killed them. People were outraged. The City Council promised to fix the problem though reform.
APD continued to kill people of color, Indigenous people, and people suffering from mental illness.
In 1996, the City Council investigated APD and found that between 1987 and 1997, police killed 31 people. The City Council once again promised to fix the problem through reform. It redesigned police training, raised hiring standards, and created a new police oversight commission— all the measures reformists promised would fix APD and finally hold it accountable.
APD continued to kill people of color, Indigenous people, and people suffering from mental illness.
