Police Issues

NEWS CLIPS

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:53:43 GMT

* Retired L.A. County Sheriff's managers confirm tales of prisoner abuse * ICE implements Secure Communities despite state opposition * New York City stop-and-frisks, gun recoveries up, homicide down * New Jersey troopers take on gun traffickers * Mistaken arrest of Manhattan man leaves columnist wondering "what if" * Grandmother who insists she's innocent turns down plea pargain, gets life for smuggling cocaine * Brooklyn D.A. under fire for letting ultra-orthodox Jewish leaders discourage child-molestation complaints

DOJ V. SHERIFF JOE

Sat, 12 May 2012 19:22:36 GMT

“Today, the Department of Justice did something it has done only once before in the 18-year history of our civil police reform work; we filed a contested lawsuit to stop discriminatory and unconstitutional law enforcement practices.” That’s how Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez prefaced the announcement that placed Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s preoccupation with illegal immigrants under the Federal microscope.

In a detailed 32-page civil complaint filed Wednesday, the Feds charged Maricopa County, its Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Joe Arpaio with violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act by engaging in law enforcement and correctional practices that discriminate against Latino residents and against Latino inmates, and for retaliating against their critics.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Sun, 06 May 2012 02:31:28 GMT

More than two-hundred fifty police chiefs recently gathered in Washington for the annual conference of the Police Executive Research Forum. Much of their meeting was devoted to what has become the most pressing topic in big-city policing: rising gun violence.

PERF used the occasion to present data from questionnaires sent to more than 1,000 police departments. About half were returned (N=588). Consistent with PERF’s membership, responding agencies trended to medium and large size, with a mean of 579 officers and a service population of 553,119. Gun crimes reported by PERF cities dovetailed with like measures in the UCR (click here for PERF’s slide show). Gun homicide rates aligned perfectly with national data, falling from 4.2/100,000 in 2008 to 3.8 in 2009 and 3.7 in 2010. Summary statistics for armed robbery with a gun and aggravated assault with a gun were also very close.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 06:49:42 GMT

In 1990, when Los Angeles marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Watts Riot, the most devastating civil disturbance in modern American history, most experts agreed that despite all the studies and reports improvements were few and little of significance had changed. Regrettably, their depressing assessment was confirmed only two years later when Angelenos suffered through another conflagration.

Now, as weary Southlanders mark the twentieth anniversary of the so-called “Rodney King” riots, named after the black parolee who was beaten senseless during an encounter with police, the rush is on to demonstrate that this time we really did “get” it. At a recent event sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, civil rights leader Connie Rice and former D.A. Gil Garcetti pointed to the 1992 riots as a transformative event that changed the LAPD from an occupation force to a progressive “majority minority” department that is far more sensitive and responsive to citizen needs.

ARRESTING THE VICTIM

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 05:46:18 GMT

According to section 1219(b) of the California Code of Civil Procedure, “no court may imprison or otherwise confine or place in custody the victim of a sexual assault [for] refusing to testify concerning that sexual assault or domestic violence crime.” So how is it that a 17-year old rape victim was locked up for three weeks after failing to appear at her alleged assailant’s preliminary hearing and trial? Why is she now wearing a GPS ankle bracelet?

Because a “material witness” warrant isn’t about testifying. It’s about showing up. After having to dismiss and refiling the case against Frank Rackley, 37, something that the courts are unlikely to allow twice, that’s what prosecutors are determined that the teen do.

THREE PERFECT STORMS

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:56:40 GMT

One can only imagine what was going through officers’ minds when, at the conclusion of a wild freeway pursuit, they were confronted by a youthful driver who repeatedly pointed at them as though he was holding a gun. By the time it was all over LAPD’s finest had fired as many as 90 rounds, killing Abdul Arian, 19.

A one-time police Explorer scout who was reportedly dropped for “disciplinary reasons”, Arian was driving a Crown Vic, a recycled cop car. Relatives described him as a law-abiding youth who wasn’t into guns or drugs. Yet his Facebook page mentioned a trip to a shooting range. Arian had also been expressing strong fears of the LAPD. One of his Facebook postings, captioned “just always after me,” depicts a police car in his rear view-mirror, its red lights on. Another post reads “done crying...tired of trying...yeah im smiling...but inside im dying.” During the April 12 chase Arian warned the 911 operator that he was armed and ready to shoot it out. “I have been arrested before for possession of destructive devices, I’m not afraid of the cops. If they pull their guns, I'm going to have to pull my gun out on them.”

A RAILROAD JOB?

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 00:27:21 GMT

In November 2009, following a two-week trial, a New York judge sentenced Adrian Thomas, 27, a father of seven, to the maximum term of 25 years to life for second-degree murder in the death of his 4-month old son thirteen months earlier. Thomas was largely convicted on the basis of his admission, after nearly nine hours of interrogation, that he flung the infant onto a mattress to stop him from crying on three successive days, including the day of the boy’s death. Thomas said he was frustrated over being jobless and hounded by his wife and in-laws.

At trial, prosecution medical experts testified that the acts described by Thomas caused the child to suffer severe brain trauma, leading to death. Defense experts disagreed. They said that the boy’s death resulted from septic shock caused by a serious bacterial infection. While there was no disagreement that a serious infection was indeed present – the coroner listed it as a secondary cause of death – the prosecutor criticized the defense experts as being bought and paid for.

WALKING WHILE BLACK (PART II)

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 18:36:13 GMT

Click here and listen closely. That’s George Zimmerman, two minutes and twenty-two seconds into his call to Sanford police. Your blogger recorded this fragment from the 911 tape, which is posted in its entirety on a TV station website. Now click here for a segment that your blogger processed with Audacity’s standard noise-reduction algorithm. According to news reports (see, for example, the above video) you’re hearing someone, allegedly Zimmerman, utter the odious slur “fuckin’ coons,” a purported reference to the ethnicity of the 17-year old youth whom the community watch captain shot dead moments later.

WALKING WHILE BLACK

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:54:33 GMT

About 7:30 pm Sunday, February 26, Trayvon Martin, 17, a Miami high school junior, was on foot inside a gated community in Sanford, Florida. It was raining lightly. Trayvon was returning to a residence where his family was watching basketball with candy and a drink that he bought at a convenience store.

George Zimmerman, the leader of a recently formed community watch group, spotted Trayvon from his SUV. A 28-year old criminal justice student at Seminole State College, Zimmerman had a CCW license and carried a 9mm. pistol in his waistband. Thinking Trayvon suspicious, Zimmerman telephoned police and told the dispatcher that a black youth in a hoodie was walking slow and peering in windows. “There’s a real suspicious guy. This guy looks like he’s up to no good, on drugs on something.” It was his 46th. similar call in fourteen months. Zimmerman was told that an officer would be sent, and when he offered to follow the youth the operator said “we don’t need you to do that.”

THE NUMBERS GAME

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:37:12 GMT

It’s been thirteen months since NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly created a panel to investigate charges that the department systematically underreported serious crime. While it’s yet to issue findings, it turns out that there has actually been a report all along. As revealed days ago in the Village Voice, NYPD investigators submitted a damning 95-page report six months before Kelly’s panel was formed. It concluded that the commander of the 81st. precinct, Deputy Inspector Steven Mauriello, had ordered officers to keep victims from filing crime reports or, if that wasn’t possible, to downgrade incidents below the Part I threshold so that they would not be included in yearly crime statistics.

"When viewed in their totality, a disturbing pattern is prevalent and gives credence to the allegation that crimes are being improperly reported in order to avoid index-crime classifications. This trend is indicative of a concerted effort to deliberately underreport crime in the 81st Precinct."