Ferguson Riots

[StrangeSox]

And aren't you part of that system?

I am not part of the justice or police system, if that's what you mean. I'm a stakeholder in it in that I'm a citizen.

[Y2HH]

I am not part of the justice or police system, if that's what you mean. I'm a stakeholder in it in that I'm a citizen.

 

I thought you were a lawyer.

[pettie4sox]

I thought you were a lawyer.

 

Jenks and Soxbadger are lawyers.

[Y2HH]

Jenks and Soxbadger are lawyers.

 

Well crap, now I can stop hating SS so much.

[Jenksismyhero]

I think that there are systemic problems with our police and justice systems, but I don't think I'm witch hunting every cop. Just the ones who kill unarmed civilians or otherwise use excessive force and often get away with it.

 

Police have always been authoritative assholes, and it's been made worse with the government giving them military gear. I'm guessing a large number of police these days are ex-military, especially police classes that have graduated in the last decade.

[Y2HH]

Police have always been authoritative assholes, and it's been made worse with the government giving them military gear. I'm guessing a large number of police these days are ex-military, especially police classes that have graduated in the last decade.

 

That'd probably make a grand total of 1 in Chicago.

[StrangeSox]

I thought you were a lawyer.

My law degree is from google!

 

I don't know why being a lawyer would matter, though. Lawyers who believe the system needs reform work with the Innocence Project, SPLC, NAACP, the government, etc.

[Jenksismyhero]

That'd probably make a grand total of 1 in Chicago.

 

I know about 3 guys who served and are now CPD (they were hired back in 2007 or so). I know there was a freeze for like 5 years, but I thought they finally started hiring again in 2011/2012?

[Jenksismyhero]

My law degree is from google!

 

I don't know why being a lawyer would matter, though. Lawyers who believe the system needs reform work with the Innocence Project, SPLC, NAACP, the government, etc.

 

Bunch of liberal nancies!

[bmags]

If he was an IP litigation lawyer would it matter for this anyway?

[NorthSideSox72]

It does bother me that this guy got hired after this performance in the last department. Background checks need to go beyond electronic criminal checks when it comes to police work. That's a process problem for this PD.

 

Police have always been authoritative assholes, and it's been made worse with the government giving them military gear. I'm guessing a large number of police these days are ex-military, especially police classes that have graduated in the last decade.

 

The ex-military thing is not new. Police work has always been heavily populated with ex-military types.

 

[StrangeSox]

here's the actual DOJ report on Cleveland pdf.

 

High(low)lights:

Our investigation concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that CDP engages in a pattern or practice of using unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. That pattern manifested in a range of ways, including:

 

• The unnecessary and excessive use of deadly force, including shootings and head strikes with impact weapons;

 

• The unnecessary, excessive or retaliatory use of less lethal force including tasers, chemical spray and fists;

 

• Excessive force against persons who are mentally ill or in crisis, including in cases where the officers were called exclusively for a welfare check; and

 

• The employment of poor and dangerous tactics that place officers in situations where avoidable force becomes inevitable and places officers and civilians at unnecessary risk.

 

and this awful story:

 

On November 29, 2012, over 100 Cleveland police officers engaged in a high speed chase, in violation of CDP policies, and fatally shot two unarmed civilians. The incident inflamed community perceptions, particularly in the African-American community, that CDP is a department out of control and that its officers routinely engage in brutality. The incident began when Timothy Russell and his passenger Malissa Williams drove past the Justice Center in downtown Cleveland, at which point officers and witnesses outside the Justice Center heard what they believed to be a shot fired from the car. It now appears that what they actually heard was the car backfiring. A massive chase ensued, involving at least 62 police vehicles, some of which were unmarked, and more than 100 patrol officers, supervisors, and dispatchers—about 37 percent of the CDP personnel on duty in the City. The pursuit lasted about 25 minutes, at times reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour. During the chase, some of the confusing and contradictory radio traffic incorrectly indicated that the occupants of the car may be armed and may be firing from the car. Other radio traffic did not support that conclusion. No supervisor asserted control over the chase, and some even participated. CDP now admits that the manner in which the chase occurred was not in accordance with established CDP policies. The chase finally ended outside the City’s borders, in an East Cleveland school parking lot, with CDPvehicles located in front of and behind Mr. Russell’s car. In circumstances that are still being disputed in court, thirteen CDP officers ultimately fired 137 shots at the car, killing both its occupants. Mr. Russell and Ms. Williams each suffered more than 20 gunshot wounds. The officers, who were firing on the car from all sides, reported believing that they were being fired at by the suspects. It now appears that those shots were being fired by fellow officers.

[pettie4sox]

here's the actual DOJ report on Cleveland pdf.

 

High(low)lights:

 

 

and this awful story:

 

My god that is awful. Heads should roll. How can a police force be that utterly inept?

[Jenksismyhero]

How did that not make the national news? These recent cases are nothing compared to that nonsense.

[Balta1701]

How did that not make the national news? These recent cases are nothing compared to that nonsense.

Answer your own question. Come on, be skeptical for just 1/4 of a second.

[Y2HH]

I know about 3 guys who served and are now CPD (they were hired back in 2007 or so). I know there was a freeze for like 5 years, but I thought they finally started hiring again in 2011/2012?

 

From what I know, there haven't been many new academy classes in the last decade, I know of one for sure, but beyond that I don't know. I know there were more than that, but there hasn't been many, especially in the last 5-7 years.

Edited December 6, 2014 by Y2HH

[StrangeSox]

How did that not make the national news? These recent cases are nothing compared to that nonsense.

It actually gets worse!

 

On Friday, McGinty said that after officers fired more than 100 shots at the car, Brelo started shooting again and fired at least 15 shots, including fatal ones, downward through the windshield into the victims at close range as he stood on the hood of Russell's car.

 

[...]

 

"Let's be clear what happened here,'' McGinty said about the case. "(Russell) was fully stopped. Escape was no longer even a remote possibility. The flight was over. The public was no longer in danger because the car was surrounded by police cars and 23 police officers in a schoolyard safely removed from pedestrians and traffic.

 

"The primary danger facing the police at this time was from themselves, if they continued to shoot at each other in the circular firing squad they had inadvertently formed. After the ceasefire, Officer Brelo unleashed an unlawful, second barrage of shots.''

[Iwritecode]

Not excusing what the police did in that story but what the hell were the people in the car running from that they led a chase that lasted about 25 minutes, at times reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour?

[Jenksismyhero]

And if they're both dead, how do we know the noise was just a backfire? Seems like a detail only those two would know.

[StrangeSox]

Not actually having a gun would be a pretty good clue.

[Jenksismyhero]

Not actually having a gun would be a pretty good clue.

 

Easily tossed out the window. I'm not being a skeptic there, i'm seriously curious how the cops figured that out. You would think if anything they'd try to suppress the fact that a full scale murder by the entire force was committed because of an error.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

I had forgotten about this until recently, but this happened earlier this year in a town close to where I grew up. Police officer was killed with his own firearm. Unarmed does not mean not harmless or not dangerous

 

http://www.odmp.org/officer/22056-police-o...r-david-w-smith

[StrangeSox]

The Guardian has a story on and the video of the police aggressively questioning the girlfriend of John Crawford, the guy gunned down instantly by police for picking up a toy gun off the shelf in a Walmart.

 

Police aggressively questioned the tearful girlfriend of a young black man they had just shot dead as he held a BB gun in an Ohio supermarket – accusing her of lying, threatening her with jail, and suggesting that she was high on drugs.

 

Asked one of several times whether Crawford owned a gun, Thomas said: “Not that I know.”

 

Curd told her: “Don’t tell me ‘not that you know’, because that’s the first thing I realise somebody’s not telling me the truth”.

 

Curd also pushed Thomas on whether she was intoxicated, asking her: “Have you been drinking? Drugs? Your eyes are kind of messed-up looking”. After she told him that Crawford had smelled of marijuana, Curd took down notes. He went on to ask whether Crawford had been suicidal.

 

Crawford’s family and their attorneys have stressed since his death that under Ohio’s open-carry firearms laws and Walmart’s regulations, he would have been allowed to carry a real rifle with him around the store.

Edited December 16, 2014 by StrangeSox

[StrangeSox]

The Smoking Gun identifies "Witness 40," details her history of false reports/claims, bipolar disorder, racism and how she repeatedly changed her story and her account of what happened during grand jury testimony and admitted that parts of her account were based on what she read in the news.

 

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

The Smoking Gun identifies "Witness 40," details her history of false reports/claims, bipolar disorder, racism and how she repeatedly changed her story and her account of what happened during grand jury testimony and admitted that parts of her account were based on what she read in the news.

 

That's rich. Am I correct in assuming that with the Grand Jury's decision having already been made, this doesn't affect anything other than perhaps some perjury charges thrown at this woman (if even that)?

I could almost smell the stale cigarette smoke and bat-s*** craziness through the monitor. I wonder how many teeth she has?