Not for a while, anyway.
Sorry I've been so gun-shy lately regarding these police matters:
"Skeptics doubt new Chicago video policy will rebuild trust" by Don Babwin Associated Press February 18, 2016
CHICAGO — Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s promise to release videos of police shootings in no more than three months was intended to bring more transparency to Chicago, which took more than a year to make public the footage of a teenager’s death and did so only after being ordered by a judge.
But skeptics question why Chicago needs so long to release the same type of videos that Cincinnati and Seattle already make public within days, if not hours.
I can think of a few reasons.
That has sown doubts that the new practice will restore the trust in the mayor and the police force that was damaged when the public saw the now-famous video of a white officer emptying an entire magazine into Laquan McDonald as he appeared to walk away from police.
The policy announced Tuesday calls for all videos to be released within 60 days. The deadline could be extended to 90 days if law enforcement requests a delay.
‘‘That just gives them time to alter the video, do something to it, change the dates, maybe delete some things,’’ said April Cross, who lives in a predominantly black neighborhood on the city’s West Side. ‘‘That’s not giving people in the community faith in the police department at all.’’
Oh, American police would never do anything like that!
Emanuel, in a statement, said the policy ‘‘strikes a better balance of ensuring transparency for the public while also ensuring any criminal or disciplinary investigations are not compromised.’’
Of course, all the leaks in the pre$$ that come from authority that help strengthen their case while prejudicing the public mind are okay. Our papers are full of that stuff.
Though most of the attention will be on dash-cam videos, the policy also calls for the release of any video — public or private — collected by authorities during investigations, as well as audio recordings and police reports.
The mayor fought against the release of the McDonald video. Recently released e-mails revealed an intense interest in his office with how the story was playing in the press.
One activist said the policy is more about influencing damaging news coverage than achieving transparency.
‘‘The 60 days is so the administration can get ahead of the story, to give them time to come up with a PR strategy . . . and cook up a story on how they are going to massage what is on the video and serve it to the public,’’ said William Calloway, a leader in the legal fight with the city over the McDonald video.
And they think we are all stupid about it!
Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who argued for the video’s release, doesn’t go that far. But he wonders how much good the new policy will do.
‘‘There is no way this is not an improvement. . . . But I see it as an insufficient step if the goal is to earn trust,’’ Futterman said. ‘‘To establish trust, that means being honest from the beginning, not 60 days, 90 days later.’’
Once the trust is broken, it's gone forever, no matter how many policies, etc, they put up.
When will these public officials and leaders get it through their thick skulls that we don't trust them, period?
They have PROVEN THEMSELVES to be UNTRUSTWORTHY TIME and AGAIN!
Sergio Acosta, a former federal prosecutor who helped craft the policy, said the 60-day deadline does that.
‘‘Basically, we wanted to give investigators sufficient time to do what they needed to do in terms of interviewing people and gathering other evidence that would not be tainted by a release that is too early,’’ said Acosta, who is also a member of a task force Emanuel created after the release of the video to make recommendations on how to reform the police force.
That's a crock of crap!
The new policy also lets the public know that the days of keeping evidence a secret indefinitely are over, and it puts investigators on notice that the clock is ticking, he said. If police ask for an additional 30 days, those requests must be made in writing and will be made public along with videos and police reports.
Acosta also said he does not expect all the releases to take 60 or 90 days. Some will come out much quicker.
Other big-city departments already get videos to the public far sooner. In Seattle, the police department released dash-cam video last month of police shooting a knife-wielding man the day after it happened. It was the same Thursday in Cincinnati, where the day after police shot and killed a man they say was reaching for a gun, they released cellphone video shot from a nearby car in a mere 17 hours.
If the city holds video for two or three months, ‘‘people are going to think the video is bad for the cops,’’ said Michele Earl-Hubbard, a Seattle-based attorney and advocate of government transparency. ‘‘They know if you wanted to, you could release it sooner [so] they are going to see waiting as hiding something.’’
How the information will be released remains unclear.
The policy calls for the city to create an online portal for video, audio, and police reports. But it will be a few months before the portal is up and running, according to Emanuel spokesman Stephen Spector.
Pffft!
More stalling tactics!
It also remains unclear which city agency will be responsible for releasing the information.
--more--"
Also see:
Chicago hires former US attorney to review law department
Somehow Rahm is hanging on and the calls for resignation have quieted.
Chicago withdraws objection to release of shooting video
Video released of 2013 Chicago police shooting of black teen
The Chatman video from 3 years ago?
Nearly 2 dozen Chicago officers called before grand jury
Philadelphia’s former police chief to advise Chicago force
Like that is going to help!
Chicago-area professor disputes college’s accounts
About what?
"Professor who wore headscarf will leave Christian college" Associated Press February 08, 2016
CHICAGO — A professor of a Christian college who asserted Christians and Muslims worship the same God will leave her post, the school near Chicago announced.
In a statement posted on Wheaton College’s website, the school and Larycia Hawkins said they ‘‘have reached a confidential agreement under which they will part ways.’’ The statement didn’t go into details.
The college had placed Hawkins, a Christian and an associate professor of political science, on leave in December after she posted her views on Facebook. Hawkins also began wearing a hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women, to counter what she called ‘‘vitriolic’’ rhetoric against Muslims.
Shortly afterward, the college began efforts to dismiss her despite objections by some faculty members.
‘‘I appreciate and have great respect for the Christian liberal arts and the ways that Wheaton College exudes that in its mission, programs, and in the caliber of its employees and students,’’ Hawkins said in the statement posted Saturday on the school’s website.
College officials and Hawkins said in the statement that neither will speak publicly about their relationship before a news conference scheduled for Wednesday.
College officials previously had said Hawkins’s views were inconsistent with the college’s ‘‘doctrinal convictions.’’
Hawkins had maintained that nothing about her views contradicts the college’s statement of faith, which all instructors sign. Among other things, it affirms belief in ‘‘one sovereign God,’’ views on Adam and Eve, and the existence of Satan.
Nearly 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students attend Wheaton College, which is roughly 30 miles from Chicago.
--more--"
"Illinois bill would criminalize filming fights to put online" Associated Press February 09, 2016
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The video posted on Facebook showed a 12-year-old on the ground while another boy tried to stomp him, with classmates standing by, circling the two and recording the fight on their phones.
Neither boy was seriously hurt, but Republican state Representative Terri Bryant of Murphysboro was so disturbed by the spectators’ behavior that she’s proposed a bill making it a crime to record fights to share online.
‘‘Instead of getting help, they opened their cellphones,’’ said Bryant. ‘‘I just want to send a clear message that it is unacceptable to stage these fights or be a willing bystander.’’
And yet we have a ma$$ media promoting wars all over the place (can't see those much, either, actually).
Bryant’s proposal, though, has prompted concerns about infringing on free speech rights and unnecessarily criminalizing young people. Similar concerns have hindered lawmakers around the country who have tried in recent years to crack down on cyberbullies who take to social media to harass classmates. In addition, intent can be difficult to prosecute.
‘‘I wish someone would have stepped in,’’ said Tiffany Thomas, the mother of the boy who was on the ground in an alley near a middle school.
It's an age-old problem for kids and a good life lesson. Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself even if it means taking an ass-whipping. Chances are you will be left alone after that. I know I was after I did.
--more--"
I'm not for fighting and bullying in school, but don't Illinois legislators have more serious problems right now?
Related: Police say Chicago homicides climbed dramatically in January
Well, you know, What's Dunn is Done:
Judge won't force officer to testify in trial for 3 officers
Obama to make first visit of presidency to a US mosque
Will he pray for Freddie Gray?
"Obama visits mosque, denounces anti-Muslim bias" by Gardiner Harris New York Times February 04, 2016
WASHINGTON — President Obama said that too many Americans only heard about Islam after terrorist attacks, and that this must change. “Our television shows should have some Muslim characters that are unrelated to national security,” he said. “It’s not that hard to do. There was a time when there was no black people on television.”
Shouldn't it be were no?
I'm just nitpicking there; however, do you know how disgusting it is to see those words come from his mouth when it is his government and its mouthpiece media that have done all this?
(Warning: post is sensitive to virgin eyes but will help you see who is behind ISIS)
Obama said that anyone who suggested that the United States was at war with Islam not only legitimized such groups as the Islamic State but also played into their hands. “That kind of mind-set helps our enemies,” he said. “It helps our enemies recruit. It makes us all less safe.”
Have I mentioned how sick and tired I am of this guy after seven years? Same as Bush about the same time. Don't want to hear him anymore.
For Obama, the remarks were an implicit admission of how little progress has been made since he opened his presidency with a 2009 speech he delivered in Cairo that sought to reach out to the world’s Muslims by calling for a “a sustained effort to listen to each other, to learn from each other, to respect one another, and to seek common ground.”
Hard to do that when you are a slave to the Zionist state, Iran deal notwithstanding.
He started three more wars, and Libya, Syria, and Yemen all happen to be Muslim nations.
Seven years after the Cairo address, which the White House titled “A New Beginning,” Obama is nearing the end of his presidency at a time when respect and common ground have often been overtaken by suspicion and angry political rhetoric.
It is the result Obama said in Cairo that he feared the most: that the world would remain “bound by the past,” doomed never to move past historic divisions and mistrust.
On Wednesday, Obama urged Americans to look inward to examine the roots of those divisions, and to seek ways to transcend the fear and suspicion.
And then the pre$$ cites the false flags in Paris and San Bernardino.
Btw, I no longer have fear and suspicion. I know who the "terrorists" are, and know Muslims are not responsible for any of the things done in their name.
It's amazing how fear and suspicion vanish in the face of knowledge.
Obama took office pledging to repair the image of the United States among the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims, that he felt had been tarnished by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Wars he promised to end, and now he is rebuilding bases and telling us we can never leave.
Obama’s defense of Islam has been constrained by a suspicion in the United States that he is secretly a Muslim himself, even though he has said he is a Christian and has regularly attended church services.
But in the final year of his presidency, Obama has lost much of his reticence in addressing issues he cares about....
Yeah, he's a real voice after seven years of utter failure!
--more--"
So did he talk out of the other side of his mouth like he did in Chicago?
Cleveland files claim against Tamir Rice’s estate
What?
"Cleveland mayor apologizes for billing family of dead boy" by MARK GILLISPIE, Feb. 11, 2016
CLEVELAND (AP) — The mayor of Cleveland apologized Thursday to the family of Tamir Rice, a black 12-year-old boy fatally shot by a white Cleveland police officer, for the city having sent the administrator of the boy's estate a "decedent's last dying expense" claim of $500 for ambulance services.
Mayor Frank Jackson opened a City Hall news conference by saying, "We want to start off again apologizing to the Rice family if in fact this has added to any grief or pain they may have."
Jackson said the claim was a "routine" matter but that supervisors should have been alerted to whom it involved and that it shouldn't have been filed. He said the claim would be withdrawn.
"It was a mistake in terms of us flagging it, but not a mistake in terms of the legal process," Jackson said.
Be it incompetence or insensitivity, it doesn't matter. AmeriKan government is rotten to the core.
Tamir was shot outside a city recreation center by a then-rookie patrolman, Timothy Loehmann, in November 2014 while playing with a pellet gun. Loehmann and his training officer, Frank Garmback responded to a 911 call about a man waving a gun and pointing it at people. A grand jury in late December declined to indict Loehmann and Garmback on criminal charges.
Related: Cleveland Tosses Rice Case
That's despite the car pulling up, sliding on the grass, the cop hopping out and blam-blam in less than a second. His sister then runs to him but is tackled by police and put into the car next to body and left to watch her brother's life ebb away before the ambulance gets there some 15 minutes later.
The administrator for Tamir's estate, Douglas Winston, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he asked Cleveland for documents related to Tamir's medical care and had never previously seen such a request result in a claim being filed in Probate Court, which is what occurred on Wednesday. "I just wanted to know what the bill was and who might have paid it," Winston said. Winston added that he would have rejected the claim because it was filed too late. Ohio law says such claims must be filed within six months of a person dying.
Cleveland's finance director said at the news conference that the file for the ambulance bill was closed in February 2015 after Medicaid paid $179 of the $500 cost. The city wrote off the balance, she said.
Rice family attorney Subodh Chandra, who also represents the estate, said filing the claim made no sense to the family. Both the family and the estate have sued the city and the police officers in federal court over Tamir's death. "This was a deeply disturbing incident to them," Chandra said.
It's not the first time that Jackson has held a news conference to apologize to the Rice family. He apologized in March 2015 after city attorneys filed a response to the lawsuit that blamed Tamir for his own death. Jackson called the response "insensitive" at the time and ordered it refiled.
Yeah, sorry somehow makes everything all right.
--more--"
Related: Cleveland fires 6 officers involved in 137-shot barrage
Just a bump in the road for them.
Also see: Federal plan submitted to revamp Cleveland’s police department
That would bring us to Ferguson:
"Department of Justice expected to announce civil rights suit against Ferguson" by Matt Apuzzo New York Times February 10, 2016
WASHINGTON — Just two weeks after it appeared that Ferguson, Missouri, was ready to overhaul its beleaguered criminal justice system and address allegations of widespread civil rights abuse, city leaders reversed course and all but dared the Obama administration to sue them.
By Wednesday morning, the Justice Department was preparing to do just that, setting up a court fight over excessive policing in a city that came to symbolize it. Vanita Gupta, the acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said the department “will take the necessary legal actions to ensure that Ferguson’s policing and court practices comply with the Constitution and relevant federal laws.”
That is what this is all about. Federalizing and nationalizing police forces so the Feds have more control and the police are removed from local accountability.
I mean, when was the last time the federal government obeyed the Constitution anyway?
By rejecting the terms of a carefully negotiated settlement in a 6-0 vote, the Ferguson City Council made a risky gamble. Local officials, who worried about the cost of that deal, now face the prospect of a lawsuit that could cost millions in legal fees even if they prevail.
Well, maybe the federal government will stand down then.
Under President Barack Obama, the Justice Department has opened more investigations into patterns of police abuse than it has under any previous administration. No case has been more closely watched than Ferguson, where the 2014 police shooting of an 18-year-old black man, Michael Brown, set off nationwide protests and attracted the scrutiny of the federal authorities.
There has to be some irony there.
The result of that investigation was a scathing Justice Department report, which concluded last year that Ferguson’s criminal justice system was broken at every level. It said police officers used excessive force almost exclusively against African-Americans and did not know the basic standard for making an arrest. Investigators concluded that the city’s Police Department and court operated not as independent bodies but as a moneymaking venture to pad Ferguson’s budget.
That is what government is these days.
After months of negotiating with the Obama administration, city officials tentatively agreed last month on a deal that would have avoided a lawsuit.
It was an expensive deal.
Oh. I thought it was racism that was at the heart of it.
It called for Ferguson to pay for an independent monitor, provide new training and give raises to police officers in order to attract qualified applicants. Ferguson has been running an operating deficit of about $2.5 million since the unrest of a year and a half ago, but Mayor James Knowles III said he was optimistic that he had the votes in the City Council to approve the agreement.
But at a crowded public hearing on Tuesday, things fell apart. Council members and some residents said they could not afford the cost, which could require a tax increase. The city said that giving pay raises to police officers could prompt similar raises for other municipal employees.
What does the federal government care?
Most of the public comments encouraged council members to approve the deal, even if it required tax increases to pay for it.
“A lot of our residents know the situation we’re in and still want the city to sign the consent decree so we can move our city forward, so we can roll up our sleeves and get to work,” said Mildred Clines, a Ferguson resident.
Until they get the tax bill.
With senior Justice Department officials watching from Washington on a video feed, the council voted to reject the deal as written and send it back with changes. Members of the council proposed eliminating the pay raises and, most significantly, striking a provision that would require the city to abide by the deal even if it dissolved the Police Department and turned police duties over to an outside agency.
An outside agency?
Like a private army of mercenary Pinkertons?
The Justice Department had made it clear that since city negotiators had already agreed on the terms, anything short of a vote for approval would result in a lawsuit.
Fighting the Justice Department is expensive, which is why it is also rare. In 2012, the Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, over allegations of discrimination against Latino immigrants. Like Ferguson, the county rejected settlement deals and fought the case in court, ringing up about $5 million in legal fees. Three years later, Maricopa County agreed to settle the case.
See: Judge adopts deal involving racial claim at Arizona prisons
Ferguson leaders said they had already begun making changes to the city’s police and court procedures. Knowles, for instance, has taken steps to form a civilian oversight panel to review allegations of police abuse. And officials said they would continue making changes, court case or not.
“We don’t feel that we need an agreement to start making reforms and moving forward,” Bell said. “If there’s this lawsuit, that’s not going to stop us from moving forward with these reforms.”
--more--"
Related: If Ferguson dissolves Police Department, who would step in?
Not the Fargo police:
"Fargo police say officer shot during standoff dies" Associated Press February 11, 2016
FARGO, N.D. — A North Dakota police officer died Thursday after being hit by a gunshot that authorities suspect was fired by a man later found dead in the home where the officer had responded to a domestic disturbance call.
Officer Jason Moszer, a six-year police veteran with a wife and two children, died at 12:45 p.m. from a single gunshot wound, a police spokesman said. Family members visited him in a hospital earlier in the day to say goodbye, Fargo Police Chief David Todd said.
The shooting began on Wednesday evening when the suspect, identified by police as Marcus Schumacher, fired at officers responding to the domestic disturbance call. A standoff ensued overnight and when the firing stopped, police discovered Schumacher dead inside the home. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he killed himself or died from police gunfire, they said.
Todd said earlier that Schumacher had exchanged gunfire with a SWAT officer.
The violence shook Fargo, which is North Dakota’s largest city but has a low crime rate. Police said an officer had not died in the line of duty in more than a century.
That was were my printed copy ended.
The only other Fargo police officer killed in the line of duty was Frederick Alderman, 25, who was shot to death July 5, 1882, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a national nonprofit group that keeps records of fallen officers.
They are blaming Beyonce for them all.
Schumacher, 49, was found dead shortly before dawn inside the home where he had barricaded himself, Todd said.
Schumacher appeared to have died from a gunshot wound but ‘‘we don’t know if that was from us engaging him or something self-inflicted,’’ Todd said.
Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said the suspect fired ‘‘a number of rounds’’ and that officers were going house to house in a six-block area ‘‘to find out where they all went.’’
Todd said a squad car at the scene had been fired upon and that he believes the suspect was targeting law enforcement. Police said no one else in the neighborhood was hurt.
Moszer, 33, was among officers who responded to the home Wednesday evening. A SWAT team in an armored vehicle retrieved Moszer and took him to a medical facility, where he died.
Police said they tried to communicate with Schumacher through negotiators, but that he didn’t respond and the SWAT team eventually entered the house and found the body.
Officers responded after Schumacher’s son called dispatchers and said the suspect had fired a gun at his mother, Schumacher’s wife. The caller and his mother were able to escape the home unharmed.
Sarah Stensland, 26, lives less than a block from the suspect’s home. She said she and her girlfriend locked the doors, turned off the lights and hunkered down in the basement for the night.
‘‘We were scared. We could hear gunshots very clearly, even from the basement,’’ she said. ‘‘I felt like my nerves were on edge all night. I’m just exhausted.’’
Students and staff at nearby Horace Mann Elementary School were shifted to another school Thursday so as not to impede the investigation, Fargo Public Schools said in a statement. The move was made at the request of the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is handling the case.
What was all this, another mind-bending crisis drill psyop meant to condition the kids and this cop wasn't going along?
--more--"
Maybe they could come from Connecticut:
"Connecticut officers who drew their stun guns on the job last year were more likely to fire when the suspect was black or Hispanic, according to a first-of-its-kind set of statistics that could stoke the nation’s debate over race and police use of force. The preliminary data was obtained by The Associated Press ahead of an official analysis expected in the coming weeks. While police and state officials cautioned against passing judgment until then, at least one criminal justice expert said he would not be surprised to see similar findings elsewhere around the country. Some civil rights groups said the statistics confirm what they suspected for years. The figures come as police across the U.S. face heavy scrutiny over their use of deadly force against blacks. Although stun guns have been billed as non-lethal alternatives to firearms, they have resulted in deaths."
Maybe they need more diversity.
Related: US attorney for Conn. builds closer ties with police
Just execute the bastards.
Also see: Black drivers in Florida face stricter seatbelt enforcement
It's an emotional issue when you fly a confederate flag from the antenna.
Grand jury indicts police officer who shot unarmed, naked man
Claimed he was hiding a gun you-know-where.
And what could be worse than being black in America?
Being a black woman!
"2 Los Angeles police officers accused of repeated sexual assaults" New York Times February 18, 2016
Two officers from the Los Angeles Police Department have been charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting four women over the course of more than two years, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Prosecutors said the string of attacks began after the two officers were assigned to work as partners in the Police Department’s Hollywood division in late 2008 and continued into 2011. Some of the victims were assaulted multiple times, prosecutors said.
The district attorney’s office declined to provide additional information about the assaults, except to say that the victims were ages 19, 24, 25 and 34 at the time of the attacks and had been arrested in connection with drug-related crimes.
The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the case stemmed from an investigation into complaints against the two officers, who were longtime veterans of the force. Both men have been relieved of duty.
The charges in Los Angeles have echoes of another recent case involving accusations of a police officer assaulting women. In that case, a former Oklahoma City police officer, Daniel Holtzclaw, was convicted in December of raping 13 women while on duty.
Prosectors said Holtzclaw preyed on poor black women with criminal histories whose stories he thought were unlikely to be believed.
Related:
Oklahoma Cop Holtz Claw on Black Women
Oklahoma Cop Can't Holtz Claw
Time to head to the orgy now.
--more--"
Related: Police swarm Katherine Clark’s home after apparent hoax
Should be easy to find given all the electronic data collection going on, shouldn't it?
Whose joke is it?
Good excuse for crisis drill anyway.
Gun ownership does not make women safer
Well, it can't make them any less safe and they might avoid a rape by the LAPD.
Mourners gather for Colo. sheriff deputy’s funeral
A second generation of police, called to duty
What duty would that be?
"A record number of U.S. prison inmates were found in 2015 to have been falsely convicted, according to a report released Wednesday."
Yeah, the people who should be in jail are not and the people in there are innocent.
That's why we call it AmeriKan JU$TU$.
