Reported at MSN
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Police Department lost its third police chief in eight days as it struggles with allegations that a number of officers had sex with a teenage prostitute and exchanged racist text messages.
Mayor Libby Schaaf said acting Police Chief Paul Figueroa was on the job for two days before stepping down on Friday but said his decision was not connected to the two scandals.
However, she denounced the department's "toxic, macho culture" and vowed to root out "the bad apples." [Emphasis added.]
***
The scandal involving at least 14 Oakland police officers is another blow to a department already under federal oversight over past failures to adequately hold officers accountable for misdeeds that included planting evidence and robbing residents in predominantly black west Oakland.
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FORMER TOP COP, NOW LEGISLATOR, PROPOSES LEGISLATION TO "PROTECT" HIS LAW ENFORCEMENT FRIENDS
I have posted information about how “Top Cops” can create a culture in a department that protects the bad and demoralizes the good. A recent television report caught my attention because it mentioned a law in North Carolina that was used to protect police officer videos from being made public: making them part of the officer’s personnel files which are protected by state law from disclosure. That ploy hit home with me because Arizona has a similar statute that protects officer’s personnel files – it was used by Chandler’s “Top Cop” to seal off misconduct from public disclosure and may have used by Payson’s “Top Cop” as well.
On June 13, 2016, CNN reported that a North Carolina legislator, John Faircloth, was introducing legislation, HB 972, which would exempt dash cam and body cam videos of police activity from public records disclosure.
Citing the September 2013 shooting of an unarmed man by North Carolina police that led to prosecution of the offending officer, the reporter explained that the hurdles imposed would hamper the ability to find and expose such serious police misconduct.
When asked why he was proposing the legislation, Faircloth, a former chief of police, said: “It’s not wrong for me to protect people I’m friendly with. I’m friendly with a lot of folks, including law enforcement.” [Emphasis added.]
The article mentions that South Carolina and Los Angeles have similar “protections” to keep police videos from being disclosed. You may remember that Los Angeles was where Rodney King’s beating by police was videotaped by bystanders and South Carolina was where Patrolman Michael Slager was videotaped shooting Walter Scott in the back eight times and then the officer tried to plant evidence – Slager was later charged with murder.
Source: Nick Valencia, CNN reporter (LINK).
The Guardian (LINK)
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The editorial board of the Florida Sun Sentinel urged the Broward Sheriff's Office, Fort Lauderdale police and other South Florida law-enforcement agencies to add body cameras to their police tools.
In response, Commissioner William Julian dubbed the cameras a "video leash" for officers.Police union leader Jeff Marano said he thought it was “bad for the officers”, claiming that body cams will be used to "burn cops."
Source: Sun Sentinel (LINK)
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In an article, published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in August 2015, Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, argued in favor of the use of body cams.
She reported that in San Diego, use of force incidents decreased 47 percent in the 14 months after launching cams there.
She also described the shooting of a citizen by a Cincinnati police officer. The officer claimed that the suspect had “dragged” the officer with his car and the officer feared for his life. The footage on the officer’s body cam showed that the officer had not been dragged. On July 29, just 10 days after the original incident occurred, a grand jury indicted the officer who shot Sam DuBose for murder.
STLToday (LINK)
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Source: Mason Pelt (LINK)
Pelt also cites other articles about how videos captured police misconduct:
• 14 officers subduing a one-legged man
https://medium.com/matter/i-watched-14-police-officers-take-down-a-one-legged-homeless-black-man-outside-twitter-hq-1b3a9bf10e0f#.l7axhvojg
• an officer killing a man with a chokehold that had been banned since 1985.
(Source LINK)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Police Department lost its third police chief in eight days as it struggles with allegations that a number of officers had sex with a teenage prostitute and exchanged racist text messages.
Mayor Libby Schaaf said acting Police Chief Paul Figueroa was on the job for two days before stepping down on Friday but said his decision was not connected to the two scandals.
However, she denounced the department's "toxic, macho culture" and vowed to root out "the bad apples." [Emphasis added.]
***
The scandal involving at least 14 Oakland police officers is another blow to a department already under federal oversight over past failures to adequately hold officers accountable for misdeeds that included planting evidence and robbing residents in predominantly black west Oakland.
______________________
FORMER TOP COP, NOW LEGISLATOR, PROPOSES LEGISLATION TO "PROTECT" HIS LAW ENFORCEMENT FRIENDS
I have posted information about how “Top Cops” can create a culture in a department that protects the bad and demoralizes the good. A recent television report caught my attention because it mentioned a law in North Carolina that was used to protect police officer videos from being made public: making them part of the officer’s personnel files which are protected by state law from disclosure. That ploy hit home with me because Arizona has a similar statute that protects officer’s personnel files – it was used by Chandler’s “Top Cop” to seal off misconduct from public disclosure and may have used by Payson’s “Top Cop” as well.
On June 13, 2016, CNN reported that a North Carolina legislator, John Faircloth, was introducing legislation, HB 972, which would exempt dash cam and body cam videos of police activity from public records disclosure.
Citing the September 2013 shooting of an unarmed man by North Carolina police that led to prosecution of the offending officer, the reporter explained that the hurdles imposed would hamper the ability to find and expose such serious police misconduct.
When asked why he was proposing the legislation, Faircloth, a former chief of police, said: “It’s not wrong for me to protect people I’m friendly with. I’m friendly with a lot of folks, including law enforcement.” [Emphasis added.]
The article mentions that South Carolina and Los Angeles have similar “protections” to keep police videos from being disclosed. You may remember that Los Angeles was where Rodney King’s beating by police was videotaped by bystanders and South Carolina was where Patrolman Michael Slager was videotaped shooting Walter Scott in the back eight times and then the officer tried to plant evidence – Slager was later charged with murder.
Source: Nick Valencia, CNN reporter (LINK).
The Guardian (LINK)
_________________
The editorial board of the Florida Sun Sentinel urged the Broward Sheriff's Office, Fort Lauderdale police and other South Florida law-enforcement agencies to add body cameras to their police tools.
In response, Commissioner William Julian dubbed the cameras a "video leash" for officers.Police union leader Jeff Marano said he thought it was “bad for the officers”, claiming that body cams will be used to "burn cops."
Source: Sun Sentinel (LINK)
_________________
In an article, published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in August 2015, Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, argued in favor of the use of body cams.
She reported that in San Diego, use of force incidents decreased 47 percent in the 14 months after launching cams there.
She also described the shooting of a citizen by a Cincinnati police officer. The officer claimed that the suspect had “dragged” the officer with his car and the officer feared for his life. The footage on the officer’s body cam showed that the officer had not been dragged. On July 29, just 10 days after the original incident occurred, a grand jury indicted the officer who shot Sam DuBose for murder.
STLToday (LINK)
_______________
- The Atlantic published recently that the number of cops indicted for murder so far this year is greater than it’s been in the past five previous years combined. Since 2015 is set to be one of the safest years for law enforcement in a quarter century, I can only assume the “war on cops” is in reference to the number of police prosecuted for crimes they have committed. It’s hard not to notice the correlation between the amount of video evidence of police abuse of power and the increase in police indictments.
- ***
- We’ve already seen police officers’ deem abuse of power to be not worth recording. One example of this is Albuquerque officer Cedric Greer, who was caught turning off his body cam in order to beat a homeless man. Greer was only exposed because another officer reported his misconduct. The sad reality is that 61 percent of officers admit that they haven’t reported serious violations on the part of other officers
Source: Mason Pelt (LINK)
Pelt also cites other articles about how videos captured police misconduct:
• 14 officers subduing a one-legged man
https://medium.com/matter/i-watched-14-police-officers-take-down-a-one-legged-homeless-black-man-outside-twitter-hq-1b3a9bf10e0f#.l7axhvojg
• an officer killing a man with a chokehold that had been banned since 1985.
(Source LINK)