Our Boys In Blue

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Mongrel
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Fri Aug 07, 2015 12:56 pm

The funny thing is that any of you who've seen me know I look like the textbook image of a Jewish stereotype (even more so if I grow a beard), and while I've been mistaken for a Jew hundreds of times by co-workers, schoolmates, teachers, clients, and other people (even being harassed on the street by random kooks after Netanyahu won reelection, which was hilarious XD ), I've only been the target of a genuine racial slur once that I can recall, when an ex's bonehead brother years ago called me a dirty sand nigger, a treasured moment I shall savour in my privilege forever.

Starr and I both have this funny thing going on where, technically we're both non-practising Catholics by birth, but we have Jewish sounding last names (in her case it's an actual Jewish last name, and in mine it's the Swedish name that gets mistaken for Jewish all the time), so we get some amusement out of all the times people make understandable, but totally incorrect assumptions based on stereotype. Fucking with people's assumptions is something I enjoy, so while I correct people gently, I don't mind at all that it happens.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Sun Aug 16, 2015 4:06 pm

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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Thad » Sun Aug 16, 2015 5:15 pm

The link to the Stop and Frisk app is good but it's NY-specific; it looks like various other state chapters of the ACLU have similar apps for recording and streaming video; the Arizona version appears to be defunct, and the project it's based on hasn't been updated in 2 years. If anybody knows a better set of resources I'd be interested in seeing them.

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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Sharkey » Mon Aug 17, 2015 3:34 pm

There was an older application I can't remember the name of now, but the closest recent thing is probably Witness.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Thad » Mon Aug 17, 2015 5:43 pm

Nice. I'm looking for something in Android, but that looks like a good pick for the iOS crowd.

I think I saw something (for Android) that uploads the video to Dropbox, too; I don't remember if it was one of the NY or NJ-only apps or one of the ones that isn't there anymore, but that's not a bad idea.

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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Thad » Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:04 pm

Radley Balko of the Washington Post summarizes Campaign Zero's policy proposals. Most of it, unsurprisingly, is pretty modest and commonsense, though Balko notes that even modest and commonsense reforms can be a tough sell.

Per our discussion about getting people outside the "minorities brutalized by the police" demographic onboard, he has this to say:

There is at least some reason to be more optimistic this time around. The main reason is that the problems in policing are starting to affect people who have the status and power to do something about them. One reason we’re starting to see conservative opposition to police militarization, for example, is that police militarization is starting to affect conservatives. We’re seeing regulatory agencies with armed police forces, some even with tactical teams. We’re seeing SWAT-like tactics used to enforce zoning laws and low-level crimes. We’re seeing heavy-handed force used to collect cigarette taxes or to enforce regulatory law.

Similarly, while how and when police use lethal force has a disproportionate effect on communities of color, there has been no shortage of stories about unarmed white people killed by police. There are problems in policing that are directly related to race, such as profiling, bias and an irrational fear of black criminality. But there are also problems in policing that affect people of all races, such as the use of lethal force, unnecessary escalation and the prioritizing of officer safety over all else. (Even these problems disproportionately affect black and brown people.)

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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Thu Sep 03, 2015 12:35 pm

Daily Beast: Trigger happy cop shot another officer in a McDonald's parking lot during lunchtime and kept right on blasting away

According to Bernalillo County court documents filed by Grant’s lawyer, Grant was taking part in a drug buy with another undercover officer while the sting was being monitored by Brachle and others. A briefing was held before the bust and officers in attendance learned not only of Grant and his fellow undercover cop’s presence in the car, but also of descriptions of their clothing and seating positions. Brachle didn’t attend the briefing, Grant’s lawyer says, but nonetheless took an “active and aggressive role in the operation.”

...

Brachle first put two bullets into Grant’s torso at point-blank range. The detective’s body slumped over in the back seat. Brachle then fired seven more times as Grant tried to crawl away.

“Please stop shooting,” the detective pleaded as the lieutenant kept firing.

The damage was substantial: Almost all of Grant’s vital organs were struck and he lost 80 percent of his blood that day, nearly dying. After several surgeries, Grant can expect a lifetime of more medical work and costs to recover.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Thad » Thu Sep 03, 2015 1:21 pm

God, that's awful.

But I can't help thinking how the law-and-order types are going to spin this one. It's not like you can spin the people trying to hold the shooter accountable as being anti-cop.

Then again, I am talking about a group of people that regularly uses "support the troops" rhetoric until the second a veteran criticizes a war, or asks for healthcare. Cognitive dissonance isn't really a going concern.

Smart money's on the "isolated incident/one bad apple" narrative.

(Oddly, nobody who uses the phrase "one bad apple" ever seems to recall that the rest of the expression is "spoils the whole bunch.")

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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Friday » Sat Sep 05, 2015 8:04 pm

Well I mean a more accurate analogy for the police at this point is "a significant amount of bad apples per basket, ranging from 10-50% depending on basket, has spoiled the apples to the point where the apples are now murdering, unprovoked, at random, but trending toward other apples with a different color."
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:33 pm

Hooollllly shit.

Okay. Daily Kos: This Guy Was Almost Sandra Bland'd

So basically, some St Louis area cops had a guy in custody who couldn't pay bail on some traffic violations. He told them he needed a doctor, an EMT examined him and said he needed to go to Emergency, the cops wouldn't let him. The cops "found him" hanging from his bed and he finally was taken to the hospital.

...only the guy woke up instead of dying.

Obviously now he's telling everyone who will listen that he didn't try to kill himself.

Seriously now... what the fuck is it going to take, exactly for anything to change? We're well past absurd and into some bizarre la-la-land of who-the-fuck-even-knows-what anymore when it comes to cops.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:40 pm

Henry County Report: Leaked documents reveal Dothan police dept planted evidence on young black men for years, with the DA complicit

The Alabama Justice Project has obtained documents that reveal a Dothan Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation was covered up by the district attorney. A group of up to a dozen police officers on a specialized narcotics team were found to have planted drugs and weapons on young black men for years. They were supervised at the time by Lt. Steve Parrish, current Dothan Police Chief, and Sgt. Andy Hughes, current Director of Homeland Security for the State of Alabama. All of the officers reportedly were members of a Neoconfederate organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center labels “racial extremists.” The group has advocated for blacks to return to Africa, published that the civil rights movement is really a Jewish conspiracy, and that blacks have lower IQ’s . Both Parrish and Hughes held leadership positions in the group and are pictured above holding a confederate battle flag at one of the club’s secret meetings.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:55 pm

Apparently added to the list of capital crimes punishable by officially justified summary execution - trying to pull yourself out of your car after a car crash.

Officer Patrick Feaster in Paradise, California came upon the scene of a drunk driving wreck on Thanksgiving night. As the driver Andrew Thomas dragged his body out of the window, vertically, Feaster, very calmly from what the video shows, shot him, possibly twice though the official report says no to that, then calmly holstered his weapon.

Thomas was not killed, but "the shot hit Thomas in the C7 and T1 vertebrae and could lead to him being paralyzed for life," reports Action News Now. Video of the shooting can be found at that link as well.

Feaster then refers to his dispatch to a "man in the car who refuses to get out." Why might Thomas not be getting out? Well, Feaster had just shot him, though he does not mention that to dispatch.

According to this report from local Action News Now:

When backup arrived on the scene, Feaster did not mention anything about having fired his weapon. According to [Butte County D.A. Mike] Ramsey, Feaster notified his commanding officer about the discharge only after Thomas’ gunshot wound was found.

As the commanding officer suggested an investigator return to Canteena and try to find out if Thomas had been shot at the bar, Feaster revealed that he may have shot Thomas.

Ramsey said nearly 11 minutes passed before any other officers, medics or firefighters learned Thomas had been shot.


https://reason.com/blog/2015/12/11/poli ... -shoots-ma

Dashcam video, every kind of warning you might need for a cop walking up to someone trying to drag themselves out of a wrecked car and calmly firing an officially legal and non-criminal bullet into his spine.


Look, if you live in the US, and you're not afraid of the police, there is something wrong with you.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Friday » Wed Dec 16, 2015 1:55 pm

Officer Patrick Feaster in Paradise, California came upon the scene of a drunk driving wreck on Thanksgiving night.


I can also recommend the scenic views of the valley as you drive down the Skyway.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:22 pm

Hung Jury in the Freddie Grey case.

Suggest staying well away from Baltimore for a few days.

(the joke is that I would suggest staying well away from Baltimore all the time anyway)
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Thad » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:22 pm

So, remember that story last year where a 17-year-old boy was accused of sexting a 15-year-old girl and the police wanted to take a picture of his erect penis to see if it was a match?

If your reaction to that story was "I think this police officer just wants to look at a picture of an underaged boy's erect penis," give yourself a gold star.

Ars:

The Virginia police officer who wanted to photograph a 17-year-old boy's erect penis in connection to a juvenile sexting case committed suicide Tuesday as authorities went to arrest him on pedophilia-related charges. Those charges were not connected to last year's sexting case that received global media coverage.


So, y'know, this story was horrifying enough when it was just "prosecutors and a judge went along with a policeman's request to induce an erection in a 17-year-old boy and photograph his penis (and didn't back off until the case received national media attention)", but you've got to throw the word "pedophile" in there to get a clear picture of just how out-of-control this thing got.

Now, I'm sure there are people who'd call this an isolated incident (and, in terms of the specific details, I sure hope they're right). But if you want an example of prosecutors and a judge showing unwarranted deference to a police officer, and demonstrating their own judgement to be incredibly poor, this is a perfect one.

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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:49 pm

12 year old girl killed in eviction confrontation between father and police officer

Well coverage of this is going to be *interesting*. Unfortunately the girl isn't really in a place where she can give a damn about that nonsense.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Thu Jan 14, 2016 1:20 am

Grand Jury in Mississippi decline to charge cop after he spent twenty-minutes strangling a man to death.

Agrand jury in Clarke County, Mississippi has decided not to charge a police officer in the death of Jonathan Sanders, an unarmed Black man who was placed in a chokehold by officer Kevin Herrington last summer.

The Clarion-Ledger reports Herrington had reasonable suspicion that Sanders was involved with drug activity, and excessive force was warranted in the arrest. The July 8 incident began when Sanders made a comment to Herrington, who had pulled over a drunk driver. Witnesses say Herrington allegedly said “I’m going to get that nigger,” and placed Sanders in a chokehold for over twenty minutes as he waited for backup.

Chokwe Lumumba, an attorney for the Sanders family, tells The Guardian:

“Witness 1 saw officer Herrington’s blue lights come on,” said Lumumba. “Jonathan’s horse reared up, startled, and knocked Jonathan off his horse. His light slipped around his neck. Jonathan ran to get the horse and Officer Herrington came from behind him, yanked him down to the ground in front of the house with the light strap and placed him in a chokehold. Jonathan didn’t even see him.”

“I never saw him go for the officer,” said Witness 1, who was quickly joined by Witnesses 2 and 3, according to the attorneys. They said Herrington held Sanders face-down on the ground and placed his arms around Sanders’ neck to restrain him.

Witness 3, who the attorneys said has law enforcement experience, told investigators he ran outside to see what was going on and told Herrington: “‘Let him up; he won’t be able to breathe in my grass because my grass is too high,’” said Lumumba. Witness 2, who had also moved outside, said he or she then heard Sanders twice say “I can’t breathe”.

Sanders’ family claimed he died at the scene, while paramedics declared he passed at a local hospital. After administrators sat Sanders upright, blood rushed out of his mouth, The Guardian writes. State medical examiners ruled his death a homicide, noting the 39-year-old died from manual asphyxiation.

The grand jury also discredited claims that the police officer used racial slurs during his encounter with Sanders. All witnesses and Sanders’ mother testified before the grand jury, a practice not normally used in grand jury proceedings.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Grath » Fri Jan 22, 2016 10:21 pm

Anyone who isn't fucking terrified of the police should take a look at this. Motorcyclist had been passing cars in a no-passing zone. However, the cop (in an unmarked police car) almost runs him over, comes charging out of the car with his gun drawn, and kicks the obviously complying and non-threatening motorcyclist in the chest so hard that it broke his clavicle and fractured his ribs.

The police officer was given a written reprimand for not disclosing his use of force and then promoted.

A jury awarded $180,000 to the victim. After the verdict last week, State Police released a statement that said the agency “is disappointed with the (trial) outcome and feels the actions of our troopers clearly did not violate established procedures or tactics. In situations like these, officers have milliseconds to make what may be life-or-death decisions and those officers should be shielded from the liability of civil damages.”

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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Sun Feb 07, 2016 3:09 pm

Forget if it was posted ITT or not, but a while ago the Fraternal Order of Police was omghaxx0red. Well, the Guardian has the first interesting information to come out of that so far.

A Guardian analysis of dozens of contracts obtained from the servers of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) found that more than a third featured clauses allowing – and often mandating – the destruction of records of civilian complaints, departmental investigations, or disciplinary actions after a negotiated period of time.

The review also found that 30% of the 67 leaked police contracts, which were struck between cities and police unions, included provisions barring public access to records of past civilian complaints, departmental investigations, and disciplinary actions.
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Re: Our Boys In Blue

Postby Mongrel » Mon Feb 08, 2016 2:35 pm

BBC: Chicago Cop sues victim's family for his "Emotional distress"

NIIIIIICE.

I'm not sure if this is simply a great demonstration that cops can live in such a bizarre, coddled police echo chamber so disassociated with their community or even any sense of reality that shit like this can seem like a good idea to them, or if this guy is just a total fuckwit. Maybe both.
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