What do you do when it is the authorities who are mentally ill?
"FBI chief ties higher police scrutiny to rise in crime; Comey says officers in some cities are less aggressive" by Michael S. Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo New York Times October 24, 2015
CHICAGO — FBI director James B. Comey said Friday that the additional scrutiny and criticism of police officers that has come in the wake of highly publicized incidents of police brutality may have led to an increase in violent crime in some cities because it has resulted in less aggressive policing.
Yeah, allowing the police to beat and kill with impunity was good for law enforcement.
With his remarks, Comey lent the prestige of the FBI, the nation’s most prominent law enforcement agency, to a theory that is far from settled: that the increased attention on the police has made officers less aggressive and emboldened criminals.
OMG!!
But Comey acknowledged that there is so far no data to back up his assertion and that it may be just be one of many factors that are contributing to the rise in crime, like cheaper drugs and an increase in criminals being released from prison.
So much for meeting halfway.
“I don’t know whether that explains it entirely, but I do have a strong sense that some part of the explanation is a chill wind that has blown through American law enforcement over the last year,” Comey said in a speech at the University of Chicago Law School.
Well, yeah. So much for the FBI mitigating police brutality.
Hell, it's a qualification.
Comey’s remarks caught officials by surprise at the Justice Department, where his views are not shared at top levels.
Was it the stepping in sh** part?
Holding the police accountable for civil rights violations has been a top priority at the department in recent years, and while the department had no immediate comment Friday, several officials privately fumed at the suggestion that criticizing the police led to violent crime.
Among US law enforcement officials there is sharp disagreement over whether there is any credence to the so-called Ferguson effect after the protests that erupted in the summer of 2014 in Ferguson, Mo., over a police shooting.
In Oakland, Calif., for example, homicides are on the rise after two years of decline. But shootings are down, and the overall crime rate is about the same, said Oakland’s police chief, Sean Whent.
“Our officers are very, very sensitive to the climate right now, but I haven’t seen any evidence to say our officers aren’t doing their jobs,” Whent said.
In Washington, D.C., homicides are also up, but violent crime and crime overall is down, said Lieutenant Sean Conboy, a police spokesman.
“Trying to correlate it to a Ferguson effect, I don’t believe is appropriate,” Conboy said.
Here is my view on it: due to the rising inequality of wealth and other things, we have more and more people at each others throats while there is no middle-class left to steal things from. The elite are behind secure gates and guards in a different world.
Oh, there are the plagues of drug-profiting in poor communities, but it's hard to stand up when you are stoned. How do you think the masters demobilize a population (and make money of it) and make it incapable of fighting back (and don't forget the legal prescriptions and such)?
After civil rights leaders and the Justice Department accused the Seattle Police Department of discriminatory policing and excessive force, the number of officer-instigated stops declined and crime ticked upward, said Kathleen O’Toole, the police chief.
O’Toole said it was up to police leaders to insist on reversing that trend. The critiques made the department better, she said. Crime is down this year, and her city has hosted police officials from places such as Baltimore wanting to understand why.
“There’s never been as much scrutiny on police officers as there is now,” O’Toole said. “We should embrace it.”
But Comey said that he has been told by many police leaders that officers, who normally would have stopped to question suspicious people, are opting to stay in their patrol cars for fear of having their encounters become worldwide video sensations.
Awww, the poor, set-upon oppressors.
I've had enough. Must be the Ferguson effect.
That hesitancy has led to missed opportunities to apprehend suspects and has decreased the police presence on the streets of the country’s most violent cities, he said.
“Lives are saved when those potential killers are confronted by a police officer, a strong police presence and actual, honest-to-goodness, up-close ‘What are you guys doing on this corner at 1 o’clock in the morning’ policing,” Comey said. “We need to be careful it doesn’t drift away from us in the age of viral videos, or there will be profound consequences.”
So how many false-flag fictions does the FBI have ready to roll out for the pre$$, Jim?
This week, Comey plans to address the issue with law enforcement leaders at the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago.
I'm sure the Globe will be covering that.
--more--"
Isn't it all social work anyway?
See:
"The death toll from opioids in Massachusetts continues to rise unabated despite months of intensifying efforts to combat the substance abuse crisis, new data revealed Wednesday. “It correlates with what we’re hearing anecdotally,” said Vic DiGravio, president of the Association for Behavioral Healthcare, which represents community-based treatment providers. Demand for care remains high, he said, and treatment providers have recently been encountering a new phenomenon — overdoses occurring in treatment programs’ waiting rooms and in the neighborhoods right outside their doors. Governor Charlie Baker said in a statement that legislation he has proposed, which would limit prescriptions for painkillers and allow hospitals to force treatment on certain substance users, adds to the arsenal being employed to combat the epidemic. “This data reminds us that we need to use every tool at our disposal to fight back against this public health crisis,” he said."
It's a war.
"The top law enforcement officials, in a show of political force, unequivocal support flanking Baker at a State House news conference, making clear by their presence and their words that Baker and his bill have the backing of an influential group. Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan said it’s up to everyone across Massachusetts to address the opioid abuse scourge, and it starts with doctors and dentists using safe prescribing practices. “The governor’s bill really addresses that at the grassroots: If you don’t need an opioid, don’t prescribe it,” Sullivan said. “If you do prescribe it, prescribe it for three days. And if you need to do it for more than that, take a look, make sure it’s justified.” Massachusetts doctors and dentists have bristled at the idea that the state knows their patients’ needs better than they do, and organizations representing both offered sharp opposition when the governor released his plan last week. Sullivan acknowledged it’s a “tough thing” to tell prescribers what they can or can’t do, “but this is all about the protection of our youth and our citizens so that that pill doesn’t start a heroin addiction that results in death.”
And any amount of tyranny and control in that cause is just and right. Hail Victory!
Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans said he believes he and Mayor Martin J. Walsh are “behind” the bill, but hinted they might have one or two quibbles with the proposed law. Yet, he said, “Anything that we can do to wipe out what’s happening on a daily basis — you know, our officers are out there every day seeing young kids in bathrooms of Burger Kings and all across this city dying because of heroin and it all starts with a pill.”
Wow, I didn't know Bo$ton was a den for so many junkies.
How come the Globe isn't reporting every single one every day, or is this just more over-the-top hyperbole from authority (the most recent example being Patricia crumpling rapidly as it limped inland, "an unusual creature that grew astonishingly quickly at sea, but...." I'm believing in weather modification more all the time)?
At the news conference, Baker said he has never seen an issue with the kind of negative momentum that the Massachusetts opioid abuse crisis has, and he wants the Legislature to move quickly on his bill. “Generally speaking,” the governor said, “if you want to break the negative momentum of something, you have to do something to push back on it.”
He has worked in the field, so he knows who he is pu$hing back against.
Since Iraq 2003, whenever authority wants to move quickly is when you should hit the brakes.
Obama says US will tackle opioid abuse
Yeah, never you mind the derelict DEA agents that got bonuses anyway or the drug tunnel right under their feet (maybe they could get the Secret Service on it; somebody wake 'em up)
Obama defends Black Lives Matter movement
And he has stopped the war machine in its tracks (good thing they squirreled away a cool $38 billion, 'eh?).
Time to get back on the bus.
"St. Louis police step up patrols after church fires" Associated Press October 21, 2015
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis police are stepping up patrols and trying to develop profiles of possible suspects in a spate of fires that have damaged six churches in largely black neighborhoods during the past two weeks, the city’s police chief said.
I have my "theories."
St. Louis and federal authorities, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, are investigating, trying to determine whether the arsonist or suspects are targeting religion, race, or both. St. Louis Fire Captain Garon Mosby has said the possibility that the fires could be hate crimes — for religious or racial reasons — ‘‘is part of the dynamic’’ of the investigation.
The area is still reeling from the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown last year by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson and a grand jury’s subsequent decision not to charge Wilson. Brown, who was black, was unarmed when he was shot by Wilson, who is white, in a case that spurred a national ‘‘Black Lives Matter’’ movement scrutinizing police treatment of minorities.
The Associated Press left messages seeking comment from St. Louis police Wednesday....
--more--"
The suspicious fires took place from Oct. 8 through Oct. 18.
Related:
Seventh St. Louis church hit by arsonist in two weeks
Looks like government's Gladio agent provocateurs, be they contracted or otherwise.
At least it isn't happening overseas:
"Appeals court says American can’t sue FBI over abuse claims" by Sam Hananel Associated Press October 24, 2015
WASHINGTON — A US citizen who says American officials falsely imprisoned and tortured him for several months in Africa can’t sue the FBI agents involved because the conduct took place overseas during a terrorism investigation, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
What is a DOMESTIC ORGANIZATION doing OVERSEAS?!!
Talk about blurring the lines of tyranny.
At least it is nice to know that the FBI uses TORTURE, too!!
The 2-1 ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit acknowledged that Amir Meshal’s allegations of abuse were ‘‘quite troubling,’’ but said he is without recourse to pursue claims that agents violated his constitutional rights.
That is tyranny.
‘‘Matters touching on national security and foreign policy fall within an area of executive action where courts hesitate to intrude absent congressional authorization,’’ Judge Janice Rogers Brown said in upholding a lower court decision that threw out Meshal’s case last year.
The court just signed off on dictatorship as it washed its hands.
Meshal, a New Jersey resident, said he traveled to Mogadishu, Somalia, in 2006 to ‘‘broaden his understanding of Islam.’’ After violence erupted, he and other civilians fled to neighboring Kenya, where he was later arrested by Kenyan authorities and turned over to the FBI.
The lawsuit, which the American Civil Liberties Union filed on Meshal’s behalf, says US officials sent him back to Somalia and eventually to Ethiopia, where he was imprisoned in secret for several months. He says FBI agents accused him of receiving training from Al Qaeda and subjected him to harsh interrogations while denying him access to a lawyer, his family, or anyone else. He was released in May 2007 with no explanation, according to the lawsuit.
While law enforcement officials can be sued for violating a person’s constitutional rights, Brown said courts have been hesitant to allow such lawsuits in cases ‘‘involving the military, national security, or intelligence.’’ Those concerns are heightened when the conduct takes place outside the United States, she said.
The fact that Meshal is a US citizen does not outweigh the court’s reluctance to interfere with matters of national security, Brown said.
Call it the 9/11 effect.
Let's face it: any notion that there is freedom or democracy in this Republic is pure fantasy. This is try fa$ci$m, folks.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh agreed with Brown, but wrote separately to stress that it’s up to Congress, not the courts, to decide whether US officials can be sued for conduct in foreign countries ‘‘in connection with the war against Al Qaeda and other radical Islamic terrorist organizations.’’
Yeah, sue the very organizations they helped and create, fund, and direct, and still do. It's the fig leaf that justifies all AmeriKan military interventions.
In dissent, Judge Cornelia ‘‘Nina’’ Pillard said the government had not supported its claims that allowing the lawsuit would undercut national security and diplomatic relations.
I hope you have a bodyguard, lady.
‘‘When the government reaches out to punish a citizen who is abroad, the shield which the Bill of Rights and other parts of the Constitution provide to protect his life and liberty should not be stripped away just because he happens to be in another land,’’ Pillard said.
Brown and Kavanaugh are Republican appointees. Pillard was appointed by President Obama.
In a statement, Meshal’s lawyer Jonathan Hafetz said he was disappointed by the ruling ‘‘which recognizes the gravity of Mr. Meshal’s allegations of unlawful detention and abuse but denies him any remedy.’’ The ACLU said Meshal is considering an appeal.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Government officials had argued that allowing the case to go forward could reveal sensitive information about national security threats in Africa and US intelligence sources in the region.
Just as any totalitarian commissars would.
US authorities have said that after interviewing Meshal in Kenya, they determined he was not a threat and had not violated US law. Meshal was 24 when he returned home to New Jersey in 2007.
Yeah, how many other innocent people have gotten caught up in the propaganda show?
--more--"
NDU:
"Christie chides Black Lives Matter movement" Associated Press October 25, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Black Lives Matter movement is creating an environment that can imperil police officers, Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said Sunday, accusing President Obama of supporting the movement, encouraging ‘‘lawlessness,’’ and not backing up law enforcement.
That's threat.
‘‘I don’t believe that movement should be justified when they are calling for the murder of police officers,’’ Christie said on CBS’s ‘‘Face the Nation.’’ Told that some individual members have been recorded calling for the deaths of officers, Christie replied that the environment is ‘‘what the movement is creating.’’
I can't remember the last time the Globe featured him or wrote about anything.
So what do we do about war criminal liars and the pre$$ that foments wars based on lies, Chris? Talk about calls for murder!
Black Lives Matter was established after the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen, by a neighborhood watch enthusiast, and it has become an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. The group said on its Facebook page that conservatives are trying to turn the movement into a danger to officers.
Pre$$ proclaims its an issue; mine are empire and economy.
‘‘We’re targeting the brutal system of policing, not individual police,’’ the movement said in its statement. ‘‘The Black Lives Matter Network seeks to end the system of policing that allows for unchecked violence against black people.’’
Police groups have bristled at that comment and said people in protest marches have been recorded chanting for the deaths of officers. During a protest outside Minnesota’s state fair this summer, for example, some marchers were recorded chanting to fry police ‘‘like bacon.’’
I'm not for the death of anyone, to the point of being against capital punishment, period. This blog has chanted for life for nine years.
In defending the Black Lives Matter movement last week, Obama noted that protests are giving voice to a problem happening only in African-American communities.
Well, they are Soros-backed societal disrupters, but that doesn't excuse the actions of police.
--more--"
Related: "October has been very good to Clinton, who dominated the first Democratic debate and emerged unscathed from a pressure-laden congressional hearing on the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya."
Also see: Clinton Nomination Now Inevitable
Oh, puke.
