US police & murders of black men

[FlammableFlower]

WTAF...?

I don't know where this properly belongs...(maybe in the Trump Health thread?) but it may as well go here for starters:

Talking about the jobs report numbers, Trump says,

“Hopefully George [Floyd] is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that happening for our country.

This is a great day for him.”

Just wow.

[Boustrophedon]

Epic trolling. Trump is going to be spitting blood.

DC renames street near White House 'Black Lives Matter Plaza'

[Fishnut]

I had a quick check to see if it's been mentioned and couldn't find anything, so I'd like to recommend the BBC documentary NYPD: Biggest Gang in New York?. It documents the efforts of an organisation called CopWatch who film NYPD officers. I've not been to New York so had no idea how many police there are but my goodness. When it was made in 2016 the NYPD had 36,000 officers and a budget of $5 billion. In some parts of the city they acted more as an occupying force than a civilian service, with literal watchtowers and floodlights. It's created a population under siege while they say crime rates have reduced, at what cost? And what would that crime rate look like if all the cases of police brutality were included?

[EACLucifer]

I had a quick check to see if it's been mentioned and couldn't find anything, so I'd like to recommend the BBC documentary NYPD: Biggest Gang in New York?. It documents the efforts of an organisation called CopWatch who film NYPD officers. I've not been to New York so had no idea how many police there are but my goodness. When it was made in 2016 the NYPD had 36,000 officers and a budget of $5 billion. In some parts of the city they acted more as an occupying force than a civilian service, with literal watchtowers and floodlights. It's created a population under siege while they say crime rates have reduced, at what cost? And what would that crime rate look like if all the cases of police brutality were included?

Annoyingly, I can't easily find a comparitive graph of crime rates - or a specific crime like homicide - over time across countries. As I understand it, most developed countries have had a drop in crime over the last few decades, but only the US has anything close to their levels of police brutality or incarceration.

[dyqik]

Epic trolling. Trump is going to be spitting blood.

DC renames street near White House 'Black Lives Matter Plaza'

Related, the DC local government is part owner of a hotel that is housing Utah National Guard troops, and is evicting them. We might even get a Third Amendment lawsuit...

https://www.theonion.com/third-amendmen ... 1819569379

[Bird on a Fire]

Loads more footage of police brutality reported on by the BBC. Have the police really not noticed that everyone has cameras now, or are they just super confident in their impunity?

The Buffalo video shows a 75-year-old man approach police officers enforcing a curfew. They then move forward, pushing him back and causing him to fall over and hit his head.

As he lies on the ground, blood is seen pouring from his ear.

The man was taken away in an ambulance and was later found to have suffered a severe head injury.

An initial statement from Buffalo Police Department said the man had "tripped" and fallen during a "skirmish involving protesters", compounding outrage at the incident on social media.

One officer stops to help the guy and is moved on by another cop. Dozens then completely ignore him as he lies apparently unconscious on the ground. More evidence, if it were needed, that all cops are b the problem, not just a few lone-wolf bad-apples. Beatings, gropings, shootings, all on camera.



Meanwhile the ACLU is suing the President over his tear-gas-at-church stunt, which will be a good laugh.

[EACLucifer]

Loads more footage of police brutality reported on by the BBC. Have the police really not noticed that everyone has cameras now, or are they just super confident in their impunity?

I posted a thread by Greg Doucette earlier in this thread where he had posted ten examples of police brutality. He's now up past two hundred and eighty examples

The Buffalo video shows a 75-year-old man approach police officers enforcing a curfew. They then move forward, pushing him back and causing him to fall over and hit his head.

As he lies on the ground, blood is seen pouring from his ear.

The man was taken away in an ambulance and was later found to have suffered a severe head injury.

An initial statement from Buffalo Police Department said the man had "tripped" and fallen during a "skirmish involving protesters", compounding outrage at the incident on social media.

One officer stops to help the guy and is moved on by another cop. Dozens then completely ignore him as he lies apparently unconscious on the ground. More evidence, if it were needed, that all cops are b the problem, not just a few lone-wolf bad-apples. Beatings, gropings, shootings, all on camera.

All the cops in forces that go bad, yes. In some areas, police and sheriffs showed solidarity with protestors, and there was no violence. Almost as if bad apples actually do render every apple in the barrel rotten, and systems of apple-packing that do not attempt to exclude bad apples lead to barrels of exclusively rotten apples.

What I've yet to find is any sign of protestors in the US taking a peaceful situation and turning it violent, but there are plenty of examples of the US doing so.

Meanwhile the ACLU is suing the President over his tear-gas-at-church stunt, which will be a good laugh.
[/quote]

I know I bang on about qualified immunity a lot, but it is relevant in this case. After all, according to that doctrine, without an incredibly specific precedent in that exact jurisdiction how were police supposed to know that tear-gassing-a-peaceful-protest-to-enable-the-president-to-do-a-photo-op-with-an-upside-down-bible-at-a-church-he-then-doesn't-pray-at was wrong?

[dyqik]

More evidence, if it were needed, that all cops are b the problem, not just a few lone-wolf bad-apples. Beatings, gropings, shootings, all on camera.

That's the thing about the "bad-apples" line. No one using it as an excuse ever completes the proverb.

[EACLucifer]

One way that people outside the US can support protesters is by donating.

I just made a donation to the ACLU, there are lots of other options here: https://nymag.com/strategist/article/wh ... atter.html

Another way people can do so specifically in the UK is by joining the campaign to stop sales of teargas, rubber bullets etc to the USA. 166 MPs have called for it - perhaps some more can be persuaded by letters from constituents?

[dyqik]

Loads more footage of police brutality reported on by the BBC. Have the police really not noticed that everyone has cameras now, or are they just super confident in their impunity?

The Buffalo video shows a 75-year-old man approach police officers enforcing a curfew. They then move forward, pushing him back and causing him to fall over and hit his head.

As he lies on the ground, blood is seen pouring from his ear.

The man was taken away in an ambulance and was later found to have suffered a severe head injury.

An initial statement from Buffalo Police Department said the man had "tripped" and fallen during a "skirmish involving protesters", compounding outrage at the incident on social media.

One officer stops to help the guy and is moved on by another cop. Dozens then completely ignore him as he lies apparently unconscious on the ground. More evidence, if it were needed, that all cops are b the problem, not just a few lone-wolf bad-apples. Beatings, gropings, shootings, all on camera.

Two of the officers have been suspended now, which is the first step, I guess.

[jimbob]

I had a quick check to see if it's been mentioned and couldn't find anything, so I'd like to recommend the BBC documentary NYPD: Biggest Gang in New York?. It documents the efforts of an organisation called CopWatch who film NYPD officers. I've not been to New York so had no idea how many police there are but my goodness. When it was made in 2016 the NYPD had 36,000 officers and a budget of $5 billion. In some parts of the city they acted more as an occupying force than a civilian service, with literal watchtowers and floodlights. It's created a population under siege while they say crime rates have reduced, at what cost? And what would that crime rate look like if all the cases of police brutality were included?

I've said it before but reading this (Obama-era) DoJ report into Ferguson PD still makes me angry 5-years later:

(PDF)

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/f ... port_1.pdf

It was basically run as a revenue-collection exercise, aimed at blacks. The numbers are eye-watering for a police force of 54 officers covering a population of 21,000 has managed

Between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2014, the City of Ferguson
issued approximately 90,000 citations and summonses for municipal violations. Notably, the City issued nearly 50% more citations in the last year of that time period than it did in the first.
This increase in enforcement has not been driven by a rise in serious crime. While the ticketing rate has increased dramatically, the number of charges for many of the most serious offenses covered by the municipal code—e.g., Assault, Driving While Intoxicated, and Stealing—has
remained relatively constant

One person was solely arrested for resisting arrest.

[dyqik]

Loads more footage of police brutality reported on by the BBC. Have the police really not noticed that everyone has cameras now, or are they just super confident in their impunity?

The Buffalo video shows a 75-year-old man approach police officers enforcing a curfew. They then move forward, pushing him back and causing him to fall over and hit his head.

As he lies on the ground, blood is seen pouring from his ear.

The man was taken away in an ambulance and was later found to have suffered a severe head injury.

An initial statement from Buffalo Police Department said the man had "tripped" and fallen during a "skirmish involving protesters", compounding outrage at the incident on social media.

One officer stops to help the guy and is moved on by another cop. Dozens then completely ignore him as he lies apparently unconscious on the ground. More evidence, if it were needed, that all cops are b the problem, not just a few lone-wolf bad-apples. Beatings, gropings, shootings, all on camera.

Two of the officers have been suspended now, which is the first step, I guess.

And now 57 police officers have resigned from the emergency response teams in support of them. Somehow, they are still employed.

[Herainestold]

The sooner this whole sh.tty system collapses, the better for all of us.

[Woodchopper]

One way that people outside the US can support protesters is by donating.

I just made a donation to the ACLU, there are lots of other options here: https://nymag.com/strategist/article/wh ... atter.html

Another way people can do so specifically in the UK is by joining the campaign to stop sales of teargas, rubber bullets etc to the USA. 166 MPs have called for it - perhaps some more can be persuaded by letters from constituents?

Yes, stopping sales would send a message.

And not doing so sends one as well - that despite what is said the UK government is willing to provide support.

[Herainestold]

Where are they getting tear gas from? Does Amerika not produce the bulk of it?

[Martin Y]

Epic trolling. Trump is going to be spitting blood.

DC renames street near White House 'Black Lives Matter Plaza'

Related, the DC local government is part owner of a hotel that is housing Utah National Guard troops, and is evicting them. We might even get a Third Amendment lawsuit...

https://www.theonion.com/third-amendmen ... 1819569379

A quick skim of Wiki (as I had no idea what the 3rd amendment was) suggests it bans quartering soldiers in private homes without consent. Not sure how a hotel qualifies.

[Martin Y]

The sooner this whole sh.tty system collapses, the better for all of us.

They should replace it with a nice one-party dictatorship. That would fix all the racism somehow.

[Bird on a Fire]

I hadn't heard of the calls to ban sales of riot gear - here's a Guardian article.

The UK sells all kinds of deadly weapons to all kinds of horrible people, so I suspect chances are slim and a victory would be largely performative; however, as Prof Chopper says, whether the UK government chooses to go along with it or not would send a message of some sort to somebody.

[dyqik]

Epic trolling. Trump is going to be spitting blood.

DC renames street near White House 'Black Lives Matter Plaza'

Related, the DC local government is part owner of a hotel that is housing Utah National Guard troops, and is evicting them. We might even get a Third Amendment lawsuit...

https://www.theonion.com/third-amendmen ... 1819569379

A quick skim of Wiki (as I had no idea what the 3rd amendment was) suggests it bans quartering soldiers in private homes without consent. Not sure how a hotel qualifies.

A hotel is the private property of the owners (one of whom is the DC local government), and there is not a contract in place to house members of the armed forces from these units. And it's perfectly possible for an owner to reside in a hotel - Trump is trying to register his Mar-A-Lago club as his legal residence for voter registration purposes, and that's zoned as a hotel.

Anyway, there's not a lot of case law to go on.

[Herainestold]

The sooner this whole sh.tty system collapses, the better for all of us.

They should replace it with a nice one-party dictatorship. That would fix all the racism somehow.

One can imagine many better systems.

[bolo]

Epic trolling. Trump is going to be spitting blood.

DC renames street near White House 'Black Lives Matter Plaza'

I came here to post about this. My Facebook feed has probably 10 different photos from local residents enjoying the big yellow letters. Props to Mayor Bowser.

[EACLucifer]

I hadn't heard of the calls to ban sales of riot gear - here's a Guardian article.

The UK sells all kinds of deadly weapons to all kinds of horrible people, so I suspect chances are slim and a victory would be largely performative; however, as Prof Chopper says, whether the UK government chooses to go along with it or not would send a message of some sort to somebody.

Even if just symbolic, symbols matter. If it passes and has no practical effect, it is a powerful statement that what the US are doing to their people right now is not something nations should be tolerated doing. Even if it fails, it is an expression of solidarity.

[Bird on a Fire]

It is genuinely very funny, but I hope it doesn't distract from the genuine attempts at transforming the justice system and wider society. What are Bowser's forthcoming policy proposals?

It seems a bit like the mayoral equivalent of clicktivism - feel-good fun participation that doesn't actually achieve anything beyond annoying some ballbags.

[bolo]

Bowser's policy proposals are mostly about very local issues like filling potholes. In anything more.ambitious she is hampered by DC not being a state and therefore under the thumb of national politics. The top ambition for DC local government for decades has been statehood, but until the Dems get a filibuster proof majority in the Senate that will never happen because it would mean a guaranteed extra Dem Representative and 2 extra Dem Senators.

[Gfamily]

The sooner this whole sh.tty system collapses, the better for all of us.

They should replace it with a nice one-party dictatorship. That would fix all the racism somehow.

One can imagine many better systems.

Not that you are that 'One'.

Must be your failure of imagination - or something.