Police earning the hate

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Thu Feb 03, 2022 4:24 am




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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Thu Feb 03, 2022 4:27 am




Pavel Bure
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Police earning the hate

Postby Pavel Bure » Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:11 am

SWAT team descriptions above pair nicely with the history discussion in the political thread. The way it was handled has already been seen on a large scale with the Attica Prison massacre and then the state’s effort to cover it up. It seems that when a team of poorly trained people who have been told their entire professional lives that people are trying to kill them go into a crisis situation they tend to shoot everyone and sort it out later.

In other words. It’s not a new phenomenon and nothing is being done to stop it.

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Police earning the hate

Postby tifosi77 » Mon Feb 07, 2022 4:20 pm

I've mentioned it before, but when my FIL became County Sheriff in 1978, they had just stood up a SWAT team during the prior Sheriff's term. After a couple 'training' exercises, he went to the county commissioners and said "these yahoos are going to get someone killed and cost the county millions in lawsuits," and recommended the team be stood down until proper training protocols could be formulated . (SWAT was still a fairly new police concept at the time) They just wanted to play soldier, and this was decades prior to the over-militarization of law enforcement in the post-9/11 / GWOT era.

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Postby tifosi77 » Wed Feb 09, 2022 7:06 pm

For some reason, the copy-paste feature in Chrome on my tablet doesn't work with URLs anymore. This headline and first paragraph are from WaPo, if you want to seek it out.

Fatal police shootings in 2021 set record since The Post began tracking, despite public outcry
Police shot and killed at least 1,055 people nationwide last year, the highest total since The Washington Post began tracking fatal shootings by officers in 2015 — underscoring the difficulty of reducing such incidents despite sustained public attention to the issue.

The new count is up from 1,021 shootings the previous year and 999 in 2019. The total comes amid a nationwide spike in violent crime — although nowhere near historic highs — and as people increasingly are venturing into public spaces now that coronavirus vaccines are widely available.

Despite setting a record, experts said the 2021 total was within expected bounds. Police have fatally shot roughly 1,000 people in each of the past seven years, ranging from 958 in 2016 to last year’s high. Mathematicians say this stability may be explained by Poisson’s random variable, a principle of probability theory that holds that the number of independent, uncommon events in a large population will remain fairly stagnant absent major societal changes.
I found the Officer Down Memorial Page (again, can't like URLs), and it cites line-of-duty deaths among police at 523........ 359 of which were COVID, 3 were 9/11 illnesses, 23 were automobile crash and 3 were motorcycle cash and 14 were struck by vehicle (vehicular assault and pursuit related accidents are separate categories). Over a dozen of their 17 classifications could have nothing to do with actual police work, but they don't define them with any specificity I can find. So that's at least 400 of their 523 who died from potentially non-police work reasons getting flumped in there.

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Postby dodint » Wed Feb 09, 2022 7:16 pm

Yup. When compared to other occupations it comes out to be relatively safe.

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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:19 pm

Interesting development locally.

A black motorist was shot and killed over the weekend after a multi-county chase. He was shot eight miles outside of the officer's jurisdiction. To the Sheriff's office's credit, they arrested the police officer later that day. The family retained noted civil rights attorney (and CNN contributor) Bakari Sellers as well.

And the cop is a black woman. Might get interesting.

https://www.thestate.com/news/state/sou ... 45735.html

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:22 pm

Former NYPD Union President Charged With Stealing Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars of Members' Dues
https://reason.com/2022/02/24/former-ny ... bers-dues/
Ed Mullins, the former head of the New York Police Department's Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA), has been charged with defrauding his own union of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which he spent on expensive meals, luxury items, and even a relative's college tuition.

Mullins, 60, a controversial figure with a reputation for excusing terrible behavior from the police and publicly lamenting about the decriminalization of marijuana, resigned in October following an FBI raid on the SBA office and Mullins' home. He had been the president of the union for 20 years. At that time, sources told the New York Post that Mullins was being investigated for possibly misappropriating union funds.

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice revealed that was indeed the case. According to the complaint filed by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams with the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, Mullins for the past five years was allegedly "submitting false and inflated expense reports to the SBA, seeking reimbursement for those bills as legitimate SBA expenditures when in fact they were not." From that, he managed to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars that his union members—including 13,000 fellow officers, both active and retired—had paid in dues.

According to the complaint, the fraud all started when the vice president retired in 2017. The treasurer took responsibility for approving Mullins' expense reports and reportedly didn't bother to scrutinize them or even request receipts from Mullins. When Mullins submitted his reports, he would jack up the amounts charged. Just one example provided in the complaint states that he changed a $45.92 charge from a wine bar to $845.92. The complaint notes that Mullins in 2018 added this treasurer (who is not named in the complaint) to his slate for his reelection.

Mullins faces one federal count of wire fraud, which comes with a maximum 20-year sentence (though he will most likely not receive the maximum sentence if convicted).

Mullins, of course, is entitled to due process and the presumption of innocence until he is convicted. But, ironically, Mullins was a quite public and vocal opponent of this. He once tweeted out an attack on New York City's Civilian Complaint Review Board, calling them a "disgrace." He was offended by a tweet that simply acknowledged that the Fourth Amendment protected Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures and encouraged New Yorkers to file a complaint if this right was violated. Mullins complained on Twitter in 2018 that he might get into trouble if he tried to arrest a guy smoking marijuana at a subway entrance, so he didn't—and he shouldn't have arrested the guy anyway because New York City had long since decriminalized marijuana possession.

According to The New York Times, Mullins surrendered to police Wednesday morning and was released on a $250,000 bond. That seems awfully high for a nonviolent crime. Maybe he would benefit from some federal bail reform? Oh, right. He hates bail reform too.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:23 pm


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Postby dodint » Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:24 pm

Former NYPD Union President Charged With Stealing Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars of Members' Dues
https://reason.com/2022/02/24/former-ny ... bers-dues/
This is not unique to law enforcement unions. Every union is stealing from its members. :pop:

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Postby Shyster » Wed Mar 02, 2022 7:30 pm

Police: Trooper Facing Child Porn Charges, Accused Of Putting Camera In His Bathroom To Record Child
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/03 ... y-trooper/
NEW STANTON (KDKA) — A state police corporal is in jail, accused of having child pornography and putting a camera in his bathroom to record a young girl.

Sean McKenzie, of Perryopolis, is facing a list of child pornography and sexual abuse counts. He was arrested Tuesday in Westmoreland County.

According to the criminal complaint, a Dropbox [sic] first alerted investigators to the alleged pornographic material. State troopers connected the account to McKenzie, police said.

Investigators also found videos and photos on McKenzie’s iPhone and on a thumb drive, state police said.

In addition, police said they discovered photos taken from a camera placed in McKenzie’s bathroom to record a child in a swimsuit.

McKenzie eventually admitted to having and looking at the pornography, police said.

He is in the Westmoreland County Prison on $500,000 bond. He worked out of the New Stanton barracks.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Mar 02, 2022 7:41 pm

Black woman awarded $100,000 after cop pulls gun on her for having legal firearm permit
https://www.revolt.tv/article/2022-02-2 ... olice-gun/
A Black woman who won a $100,000 settlement from the Minneapolis Park Board after a park police officer held her at gunpoint is now speaking out about the incident. In 2019, Jenice Hodge was delivering food when she was pulled over for what she thought would be a routine traffic stop.

In body camera footage from the incident, officer Calvin Pham could be heard informing Hodge that he pulled her over for being on her phone and not wearing a seatbelt. However, the woman informed Pham that she was using her phone’s GPS to deliver food and said her safety buckle was on while her arm was over the other strap, which she had never been pulled over for before.

The officer then asked for her license, which she went to retrieve from her purse.

“I didn’t even have my driver’s license out of the sleeve and I had a gun pointed at my head,” she told KSTP.

Less than 60 seconds after pulling her over, Pham had his gun drawn at the woman and commanded her to step out of the vehicle.

“I was confused and scared, and I didn’t know what was going on,” she said.

Hodge raised her arms through her car’s sunroof, but refused to leave her vehicle.

“Step out of the car, now. I will rip you out if you do not step out of the car now,” Pham could be heard telling her.

The woman finally stepped out of the car and asked why she was being apprehended, before Pham pushed her face to the ground.

“What did I do to cause this reaction from him?” she recalled.

According to Pham’s police incident report, he noted a weapons permit in Hodge’s wallet, which prompted his decision to pull his gun on her.

“I observed a card in her wallet that appeared to be an MN PERMIT TO CARRY, which made me believe that JENICE may have a gun,” it read.

Hodge confirmed that she does have a permit to legally carry a firearm, but Pham never reported seeing a gun.

“You didn’t see a firearm, you didn’t ask if I had a firearm, you just reacted to something that you see in my wallet,” she said.

Pham also claimed Hodge appeared to be “trying to conceal something or reaching for a weapon,” which she denied.

The woman was arrested and charged with obstructing the legal process and marijuana possession, though the charges were dropped after she pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license. She filed a civil lawsuit against the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and received a settlement of $100,000; after which Pham resigned from the police department.

Here we have a cop draw down on a woman not because he saw a weapon or even thought he saw a weapon, but because he saw Jenice Hodge's concealed-carry permit in her wallet. Although this occurred in 2019, the body-cam video was just released due to the settlement of Hodge's lawsuit.


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Police earning the hate

Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Tue Mar 15, 2022 8:28 pm


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Postby Shyster » Thu Mar 24, 2022 12:59 am

Dozens of L.A. Sheriff Deputies Alleged to Be ‘Tattooed Members’ of ‘Law Enforcement Gangs’
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... y-1325695/
The gang scandal within the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has flared up again, with the county’s top watchdog accusing LASD brass of stonewalling its investigation into tattooed gang members within the department, and the department accusing the inspector general of an “unhealthy obsession to attack” the LASD.

A new letter to Sheriff Alex Villanueva from Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman reveals that Huntsman’s office is investigating at least 41 deputies for their alleged membership in tattooed “law enforcement gangs.” The letter cites a “partial list of deputies whom the Sheriffs Department itself has identified as allegedly being tattooed members,” a list that includes “eleven alleged Banditos and thirty alleged Executioners.”

The alleged deputy gangs within the LASD operate out of the department’s precincts, called “stations” in LASD lingo. The Banditos are linked to the East Los Angeles station, while the Executioners, according to Huntsman’s letter, are “a deputy gang based out of the Sheriff’s Department’s Compton Station.”

Deputy gangs have plagued the LASD for decades — as detailed by a county-commissioned 2021 report by the RAND corporation — and members have been accused of violence, discrimination, harassment, and intimidation, not only against members of the public but fellow members of the department. The county has paid out at least $55 million in settlements to resolve claims linked to alleged deputy gangs.

Not unlike in street gangs, sheriff-deputy gang members receive matching tattoos. The Bandidos emblem is a skeleton with a sombrero and a handlebar mustache holding a smoking revolver. As described by Huntsman, the Executioners’ tattoo features “a skeleton with a Nazi-style military helmet.”

The terminology used to describe these deputy gangs has been controversial. They have also variously been described as “subgroups” and “cliques.” In February, Sheriff Villanueva sent a letter to the county board of supervisors demanding that they “cease and desist from using the derogatory term ‘deputy gangs,'” arguing that the term “serves no purpose other than to fuel hatred … against our people.”

But Huntsman makes clear his office is investigating the deputies under a specific section of the California penal code that prohibits “law enforcement gangs.” And Huntsman is far from alone in denouncing LASD gang activity. Last year, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) called for a federal investigation of the Executioners, whom she described as “a rogue, violent gang of law enforcement officials.” This February, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), chair of the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, similarly called for the Justice Department to launch “a full investigation” into “violent contingents of deputies” who belong to “unauthorized, exclusive, and secretive gangs.”

In his letter, Huntsman blasts Villanueva’s top deputy, undersheriff Timothy Murakami, for failing to turn over documents related to the gang investigation requested in January. “The Sheriffs Department may not refuse to produce the records requested,” Huntsman writes, “by unilaterally declaring that no deputy sheriff is a member of a ‘law enforcement gang.'” The inspector general writes that he’s “required by law to investigate” potential gang activity, and that the law also requires the LASD to cooperate.

Huntsman’s letter also makes clear that the investigation is not limited to the Banditos and the Executioners, but and also seeks documentation of deputies linked to “potential law enforcement gangs” known as the “Gladiators,” “Jump Out Boys,” “The Grim Reapers,” and “The Vikings.”

The Sheriff’s Department reacted to Huntsman in a Facebook post decrying the watchdog’s “unhealthy obsession to attack the department” and a campaign to “undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the Sheriff’s Department.”

The post touts Villanueva’s commitment to “transparency and accountability” and claims that “all legally obtainable information requested by the Office of the Inspector General has been provided.”

Finally, it accuses the Inspector General of playing politics — seeking to tarnish Villanueva in an election year. “The timing of this letter suggests Mr. Huntsman is using his public office and resources,” the post contends, “to campaign against the sheriff leading up to the June primaries.”

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Mon Mar 28, 2022 7:43 pm


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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Mon Mar 28, 2022 7:47 pm


tifosi77
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Police earning the hate

Postby tifosi77 » Tue Mar 29, 2022 4:25 pm

Alex Villanueva is just about the worst kind of law enforcement bureaucrat. LASD has been in a spot of bother for a very long time.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:58 am



On Oct. 25, 2021, LaDonna June Paris walked into a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in the midst of a mental health crisis. Paris is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was having a manic episode associated with her illness. Before ReStore employees called police, Paris had been in the store for hours and had harmed no one. She had simply locked herself in the bathroom and employees were concerned with her wellbeing and the wellbeing of her dog who was in a Uhaul truck she was driving.

When officers arrived on the scene, Paris would not come out of the bathroom. For 30 minutes officers attempted to get her to come out but not with compassion or talking. Instead, they laughed, rattled and banged on the door, and deployed a taser to scare her. Banging, laughing, and taser sounds to a person in a bipolar manic episode is like throwing gasoline onto a fire. Adding to the gross incompetence of these actions was the fact that the officers were enjoying it. “I love my job!” officer Ronni Corracia said as she taunted the 70-year-old woman with her taser. “This is going to be so fun.” As Corracia and another officer taunted Paris, they were seen laughing and waiting for a third officer, who they hoped to show up, because he is apparently good at doling out violence on elderly women. “I really hope it is (name unclear) because I really like the way he works,” Corracia says. “He is going to pound the door open and spray her.”

After taunting Paris for half an hour, that officer shows up. As the video shows, he kicks in the door and the 70-year-old woman is thrown to the ground, her face smashing into the concrete floor as the three cops pile on top of her. “After 34 minutes of unsuccessful verbal coaxing, Paris still refused to open the door and surrender,” the statement says. “Officers forced entry into the small bathroom and quickly secured Paris with minimal force.”

Paris’ mental health crisis becomes even clearer at this point as she begs for someone named “Rufus” to help her. Instead of help, however, she received handcuffs and was dragged outside where EMS was called to deal with the bloody gash on her face. Once outside, her mental state was even more evident. When EMS arrived, they noticed her mental state immediately and attempted to tell the officers that she needed help. However, the officers were intent on taking her to jail, which is where she was taken.

Paris was charged on Oct. 28 with attempted arson, assault and battery upon a police officer, resisting an officer, trespassing and cruelty to animals. Even though Tulsa Police Department policy requires a description of a suspect's mental state to be in the booking sheet, none of the officers mentioned the fact that EMS had explicitly told them that Paris was bipolar and was having a manic episode. Instead, Paris was thrown in solitary confinement in Tulsa County jail for approximately a month and received zero mental health care. After 29 days, the case was dismissed on Nov. 23 “in the interest of justice and civil diversion.”

After the incident, the Tulsa Police Department released a statement claiming that the officers acted within policy, although they did admit that laughing and taunting could be “perceived” as unprofessional.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Fri Apr 01, 2022 6:05 pm

More:


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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Fri Apr 01, 2022 6:30 pm


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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:03 am

Arkansas Deputy Threatens to Abuse Cop Who Pulled Him off Suspect He Was Beating


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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Fri Apr 08, 2022 3:43 pm

Santa Ana police officers blast Disney tunes at scene to avoid YouTube video recording
https://abc7.com/santa-ana-police-offic ... /11718827/
SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A video posted on YouTube shows Santa Ana police officers waking up a neighborhood during an investigation Monday night as they blasted Disney music from one of their patrol vehicles to stop a YouTuber from recording on scene.

In the video, an officer said they were at a scene near West Civic Center Drive and North Western Avenue for a vehicle theft investigation.

The first song heard playing in the video is "You've Got a Friend in Me" from the Disney/Pixar film "Toy Story."

It was almost 11 p.m. when "We Don't Talk About Bruno," "Un Poco Loco," and other Disney hits filled the air. At one point, the YouTuber is heard telling officers to "have respect for the neighbors."

The music drags on, waking up people in their homes, including children and Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez.

"It was eerie, and it was discomforting because you don't hear Disney music being played that loud near 11 o'clock at night," Hernandez told Eyewitness News during a Zoom interview Wednesday.

Hernandez is seen in the video speaking with one of the officers.

"Why are you doing this?" Hernandez asked.

"Because they get copyright infringement," the officer replied.

The YouTuber is heard in the recording saying it's because "he knows I have a YouTube channel." That channel is called Santa Ana Audits.

On Wednesday, it had more than 3,500 subscribers and appeared to focus on recording SAPD officers on scene, a right protected by the First Amendment as long as there is no interference with police work.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Sun Apr 10, 2022 5:02 am


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Postby Shyster » Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:20 pm

Granted immunity, former Baltimore police sergeant admits to decades worth of crimes
https://www.yahoo.com/news/granted-immu ... 00489.html
Money. Cocaine. A gun.

Former Baltimore Police Sgt. Keith Gladstone admitted Tuesday to stealing all of that, and more, during his testimony as a witness for the U.S. government in an ongoing trial against one of his previous subordinates.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise had Gladstone take the stand to testify against former police Detective Robert Hankard. Prosecutors are accusing Hankard of depriving people of their civil rights, helping to plant evidence and lying to a grand jury, all of which they say occurred while he was a member of the Cease Fire Squad commanded by Gladstone.

Hankard has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. Prosecutors expect the trial to continue into early next week with a possible Monday conclusion.

Gladstone pleaded guilty in 2019 to one charge of conspiracy to violate civil rights for planting a BB gun at the scene where one of his friends, former Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, ran a man over with his car. He has not been sentenced yet.

The gun planting scheme is at the center of the government’s case against Hankard — prosecutors and Gladstone claim Hankard gave the gun to another officer who gave it to Gladstone to plant.

Former Baltimore Police Detective Carmine Vignola testified Wednesday against Hankard, saying he and Gladstone got the BB gun from Hankard for Gladstone to plant for Jenkins. Vignola pleaded guilty to lying to a grand jury in 2020 about where he got the BB gun and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was released in October, after serving six months, because of COVID-19.

Vignola was subpoenaed for his testimony and said on the witness stand he originally lied to the grand jury because he wanted to limit Hankard’s exposure.

“He was a close friend of mine,” Vignola said Wednesday. “I didn’t want to testify against Robert Hankard.”

Gladstone however willingly gave his testimony, which lasted nearly seven hours and was wide-ranging, touching on incidents like stealing fireworks, violating Baltimoreans’ rights and how he broke police protocol to help Hankard and Vignola get their stories straight after shooting someone in 2016.

As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors granted Gladstone immunity, meaning his words cannot be used against him, provided he testify truthfully in court and cooperate with the feds during their investigation.

“I would like to have some reduction in my sentence,” Gladstone said when prosecutors asked about his candor and cooperation.

A Baltimore police officer since 1992, Gladstone said in court that he started stealing money from drug dealers he was arresting in the mid-1990s to pay confidential informants, and that doing so was common practice inside the department.

A few years later, maybe in 2003, Gladstone said, he started stealing money for himself. Gladstone testified that Hankard also stole money with Jenkins, the former head of the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force unit who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2018. He estimated the pair probably stole money during raids and searches three to five times.

“Wayne Jenkins was a friend of mine,” Gladstone said.

Protected by his prosecutor-granted immunity, Gladstone detailed the time he and two other officers decided to deliver 3 kilograms of cocaine they found inside a backpack in a police van to a confidential informant to sell on their behalf. Armed with a gun, Gladstone personally drove the officer to deliver the drugs.

“So you were an armed cocaine trafficker?” asked David Benowitz, Hankard’s attorney.

“I was,” Gladstone said.

The three officers made $20,000 each from the sale, said Gladstone, adding that he spent most of it on veterinary bills after a fire alarm went off in his house and his German shepherd ripped teeth out unhinging a sliding-glass door.

Sometimes, he said, he stole objects instead of money. Once, a suspect traded him an AR-15 rifle in exchange for being set free. Another time, when raiding an auto repair shop, Gladstone said, he stole tools and fireworks. He and his squad used the tools, he testified.

The tl; dr version: A former Baltimore PD sergeant who was the former head of a special task force not only testified that he was a thief, evidence planter, perjurer, gun runner, civil-rights violator, and drug trafficker, but that such behavior as "stealing money from drug dealers" was "common practice inside the department."
Last edited by Shyster on Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:31 pm


Here’s the most recent example of cops lying. And it’s only one of several.
A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper who faced multiple misdemeanor charges amid allegations of falsifying traffic stop reports has pleaded guilty.
That would be Sgt. Zachary Czerniewski, a 10-year veteran who had been promoted twice before admitting to altering traffic stop reports to alter the race of drivers (from black to white), and cover up warrantless searches of vehicles. The former alterations likely stemmed from previous discipline the trooper had received for “stopping a disproportionate amount of minorities.” The trooper was allowed to resign.

[ . . . ]

Here’s a report about Norwalk, Connecticut cop from February:
[Norwalk police] ran an audit and made a strange discovery. Traffic Division Officer Edgar Gonzalez had entered multiple warning tickets into the system, all for out-of-state motorists, without ever actual stopping the drivers.

Norwalk police said they don’t know how Gonzalez obtained the names of the drivers he allegedly entered into the system, or why those particular drivers were chosen.
[ . . . ]

From 2017:
Five Arlington police officers who had been accused of falsifying traffic stops have surrendered their state peace officer licenses to dodge criminal charges.

The officers were indicted Friday, records show, but charges of tampering with government records have been dismissed. Eleven other officers also gave up their licenses so their cases wouldn’t go to a grand jury, said Sam Jordan, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County district attorney’s office.

Dace Warren, 46, faced 15 counts; Christopher John Dockery, 32, faced 14 counts; and Dane Alan Peterson, 33, faced 10 counts. Brandon Christopher Jones, 33, and Christopher Michael McCright, 47, each faced five counts. The offenses were alleged to have happened in the first half of 2016, according to the indictments.

In May, the Arlington Police Department announced that it had suspended 15 officers after an internal audit found evidence of phony traffic stops. A 16th officer was put on leave later.
[ . . . ]

From 2020, here’s some LAPD officers making the local gang database even shittier, raising the number of officers accused of falsifying information on in-person stops to twenty:
Three Los Angeles police officers were charged Friday with falsifying records and obstructing justice by claiming without evidence that people they stopped were gang members or associates, Los Angeles prosecutors announced Friday.
[ . . . ]

From 2020, here’s some LAPD officers making the local gang database even shittier, raising the number of officers accused of falsifying information on in-person stops to twenty:
Three Los Angeles police officers were charged Friday with falsifying records and obstructing justice by claiming without evidence that people they stopped were gang members or associates, Los Angeles prosecutors announced Friday.
Why do they do this? Well, first: it’s easy to do. Lots of stops happen. Very few are audited. Second, it helps officers achieve the ends they desire, whether it’s too look less bigoted or to ensure a steady flow of meaningless work by filling crime databases with junk data.

In other cases, it’s simply to cover up wrongdoing.
Two New Jersey police officers were found guilty of tampering and other official misconduct Thursday in a June 2012 traffic stop on the Garden State Parkway.

Essex County prosecutors said dashcam video disproved Bloomfield officers Sean Courter and Orlando Trinidad’s claims that Marcus Jeter tried to grab Courter’s gun and hit Trinidad. The footage shows Jeter holding his hands up in his car and yelling out “I did nothing wrong!” as officers pull him out of an SUV and cuff him.
A similar situation, this time on the other side of the nation:
Former LMPD officer Matt Dages has pleaded not guilty to falsifying a report in the arrest of Amaurie Johnson near the Grossmont trolley station on May 27, 2020.

Dages, a three-year veteran of the force, accused Johnson of smoking on the trolley platform, leading to a confrontation between the two men. In bystander video and body-worn camera footage released during an investigation, Dages can be seen pushing Johnson to sit before his arrest on charges of resisting and assaulting an officer.

Eventually, charges were dropped against Johnson and a charge was instead filed against Dages for falsifying a police report. District Attorney Summer Stephan said Dages mischaracterized Johnson’s actions that day.
Sometimes the falsification of reports serves to directly enrich officers.
Two former Rohnert Park police officers are facing federal corruption charges of conspiracy, extortion, falsification of records and tax evasion, all tied to an alleged years-long scheme to pull over and rob people of cash and marijuana.

Brendon Jacy Tatum and Joseph Huffaker were assigned to Rohnert Park’s drug interdiction team at various times between 2015 and 2017, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Friday.
Sometimes it appears to be nothing more than laziness.
A Delaware state trooper who received several traffic commendations has been indicted in a fraudulent traffic warning scheme in which at least two of his victims were fellow law enforcement officers, the Delaware Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Cpl. Edwin Ramirez, who was stationed at Troop 9, was charged with misdemeanor and felony tampering with public records; issuing a false certificate, a felony; and official misconduct, a misdemeanor. If convicted, he faces up to nine years in prison.

As state police continued to investigate, they found that in April alone, Ramirez issued more than 30 fraudulent warnings, according to the Justice Department. In some cases, motorists were not informed of the warnings. In other instances, prosecutors said, the traffic stop never happened.
Here’s a false report that was undermined by surveillance footage captured by a nearby homeowner’s camera. Here are two Philly cops being busted for writing a bogus report to justify their suspicionless stop of a city resident. Over in Florida, two more cops are caught handing out fake tickets, including 24 to the same driver. A California police officer was indicted for performing bogus traffic stops to rob drug dealers of money… at the behest of other drug dealers. Here’s a cop who was fired for covering up his assaults of citizens by writing false reports.

More data points: An officer who lied often enough had 14 of his cases tossed. Two more officers from California indicted for bogus police reports.

It’s not an epidemic. But it’s also just the tip of the iceberg. This is only a few of the notable symptoms of law enforcement rot. These are just some of those who have been caught and disciplined. Others have been caught and their punishment — what there is of it — have flown under the press radar. Others will never face punishment for their actions because their violations haven’t been egregious enough.

But this sort of behavior doesn’t arise in a vacuum. This happens because officers feel comfortable doing it. They feel confident their fellow officers will say nothing about it. And they feel assured the consequences will most likely be minimal. Even those who have been indicted or convicted resigned during investigations to avoid having a firing on their record or, in some cases, to avoid having their law enforcement certification stripped.

As police accountability efforts move forward, we will see more of this. If these efforts can be sustained, we hopefully, at some point, will see reports of this behavior decrease. But, at the moment, we’re stuck in the middle. We’re years away from better policing. And we’re still suffering the side effects of a police culture generated by decades of nearly nonexistent accountability.

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