Police Crime

A black teenager pedalling fast was fleeing from a crime . A white teenager pedalling at the same speed is feeling the freedom of youth'- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People commenting on the case of a black teenager shot by police after falling off his bicycle in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 1993. Now don't you think something is fishy about that.
William J. Whitfield 3rd, was an unarmed African American man, he was shot dead in a New York supermarket on December 25, 1997 by police who said they mistook the keys he was carrying for a gun. Although the officer who shot him was cleared of wrongdoing, it was revealed that he had been involved in eight prior shootings. The New York Police Department (NYPD) Police Commissioner subsequently set up a monitoring system for officers involved in three or more shootings. Why do you have to wait until three or more shootings occue?, that does not happen if we shoot someone, we are automatically guilty.
All over the USA people are injured and even killed by police using excessive force or deliberately brutal treatment. Police officers punch, kick, beat and shoot people who pose no threat, or are causing serious injuries, and sometimes death, by misusing restraints, chemical sprays or electro-shock weapons. Most reported incidents take place during arrest, searches, traffic stops or in street incidents.
Each year there are thousands of reports of assault and mal-treatment by police officers. Inquiries into some of the largest urban police departments have uncovered systematic brutality. It is very difficult to assess the true extent of police brutality because there is no reliable national data. Since 1994 the federal government has been legally required to collect national data on police excessive use of force, but Congress has not provided the necessary funding.More than 17,000 police agencies operate in the USA, each with its own code of practice and methods of recording and investigating abuses.
A lot of US police departments have strict guidelines on the use of deadly force, and international standards state that force should be used only as a last resort, proportionate to the threat and designed to minimize injury.Although it is clear that these standards are frequently breached and that too often the authorities have turned a blind eye to abuses.Investigations into complaints of police brutality are often subject to delays and there are concerns about the quality and impartiality of internal investigations. Disciplinary action is very rare. Sanctions, when they are imposed, are often lenient.Many police shootings raise serious doubts as to whether the victims posed an immediate threat. Amnesty International detailed more than 30 cases where NYPD officers had shot or injured suspects, including children, in disputed circumstances in its 1996 report. Nearly all the victims were black, Latino or from other minorities - a pattern seen across the country. Members of racial and ethnic minorities bear the brunt of police brutality in many areas. Black officers themselves have complained of the stereotyping of black men as criminal suspects. Caroline Sue Botticher, an unarmed innocent African American woman, died after police from West Charlotte, North Carolina, fired 22 rounds at the car in which she was a passenger when it failed to stop at a police check-point in April 1997. There was no evidence to suggest that anyone in the car was armed. Some police departments have introduced guidelines to bar police from firing at moving vehicles unless they are directly threatened with deadly force, but many have not.
There have been many deaths in custody after police used restraint procedures known to be dangerous. Hogtying - tying suspects' ankles to their wrists behind their backs - has been recognized as highly dangerous for at least the past decade. However, while many departments, including the NYPD, have banned the procedure, others continue to use it. Deaths in custody resulting from hogtying have been reported from various parts of the country, including Athens (Georgia), Jackson (Mississippi) and Memphis (Tennessee).Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on grounds of race, colour, national origin, sex or religion by state and local law enforcement agencies, and allows the Justice Department to withhold grants or make them conditional on compliance

Brutality in Massachusetts

In Compton Sheriff's deputies fired about 120 shots at a vehicle to end a car chase according to sources quoted inThe unarmed man in the SUV was wounded, but will survive.120 shots? That is dangerous to bystanders and nearby houses and residences. The normal operating procedure is for the police department to investigate this. If it is justified it is then dissmissed. As 120 bullets were fired, the justification for the gunfire is a unfair and sort of a stetch ok, lets not sugar coat this, it is a big stretch even given the national success at defenses of this type
Another police incident was a suspected purse snatch run over by police truck
A police truck ran over a fleeing suspect in a purse snatching. The truck ran over the legs of the victim and barely missed running over the man's head. This stuff is crazy, police feel they are fighting crime but they are causing them too, murder and certain kinds of assault are crimes, torts or something like that.

Brutality in Hungary

In Hungary hundreds of thousands were attackedhttp by police going home after a anniversary celebration of the major opposition party Fidesz. Peaceful celebrants, pensioners, families or simple passers-by and tourists were beaten up indiscriminately. Policemen were equipped with ski masks, illegal cobra sticks, rubber bullets and did not have their compulsory identification badges. Populist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, a member of the socialist Party admitted that police in some cases of direct instruction. 52-56% of voters in Hungary are represented by Fidesz. The police had an explanation for the attack. They said a small group of people coming from elsewhere was into the peaceful crowd. Wasn't it their job to seperate them?, to protect innocent people by hurting innocent people, i am not sure, but I do not feel they were right and took the problem into legal matters, because they was not sure of who they were helping/hurting. Police sometimes take control of things too abruptly.

Brutality exists nationwide

One of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the U.S. is abuse by law enforcement officers. The violations occur nationwide, in rural, suburban, and urban areas of the country, committed by various law enforcement personnel like local and state police, sheriff's departments, and federal agents. Police engaged in many unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and unnecessarily rough treatment. The proportion of repeatedly abusive officers on any force is generally small, responsible authorities, including law enforcement supervisors, as well as local and federal government leadership,often fail to act to rpenalize or restrain such acts.

Isn't it no RIDING bikes on the sidewalk

One day I was with my friend Dominique and my cousin Melissa. We were on our way to Dominique house. I was walking Dominique bike, but i was walking with my legs over the bike so it seemed like i was riding it. All of a sudden i heard someone say young ladies. We turned around and saw 3 police officers. We didn't know why they were coming to us because we all felt none of us was doing anything wrong. The cops asked me for my i.d. I replied by saying i did not have it on me, then one officer asked "you wanna take her in?".My cousin asked where, but we all had a clear idea that it was gonna be the precint. The cop then asked my age and i told him i was 15, the other cop told him to just let me slide. That one cop was overusing his force and trying to find anyway possible to catch someone that night. I never understood why we couldn't ride bikes on the sidewalk because we don't have any bike lanes.

Yup, in prison too

Cops do not only overuse their force on the streets only, they do it in prison too. Have you ever seen the movie Civil Brand? If you didn't that is a movie when the women are in a prison. In the prison the guards are allowed to do whatever they want. They beat them, rape them, and hardly feed them. As harsh as that may sound, im am sure things like that really happen. If people who are not criminals are treated as horrible as they are, imagine how people who actually are criminals is treated. In Hennipen County Jail inmates complained about beatings and sexual assault. How ironic is it that the inmate got in trouble for filing the complaint. The inmate even had to use kleenex tissue to place in his jumpsuit to stop anal bleeding, and then he was taking to the hospital. That is really nasty. Inmates also have bruises, scrapes, etc from brutal attacks from the police.http://www.charityadvantage.com/CUAPB/3-30-04Newsletter.asp

Security Brutality

Is it me or are security guards taking their job a little bit too seriously and a little to far. In my 3.5 years of high school i have noticed the changes in the way security act. This year a new security guard came. Her name is blue. Ever since she came things just have not been the same. She is like a gang member, she just has to prove to people how tough she "think" she is. The first thing i noticed was her no words policy. She is like a pit-bull on a mission. The first incident was a simple body slam. A student by the locker with his hat on. The hallway is a crowded noisy place so the chances of a you hearing someone a distance from you is very rare. The guard had to make sure she didn't feel disrespected so she took it upon herself to get in the boy's way so he walked around her, that is when it all happened, she body slammed him, then the other security guards came and took him and she walked away. The next incident happened in the lunchroom. Two girls were handing out fliers for their party. She told them they could not hand out fliers. So one of the girls she walked away. She then aggressively threw the girl against the wall, and then the girl was pulled into the deans office. Now here is a more interesting event. There was a fight in the cafeteria, a girl was getting jumped. The girl who was getting jumped was pulled into an office because she was not calm, the other faculty members told the security guard that the girl was not calm and to let her stay in the office or a while, the security guard still insisted on bringing her out, that is when the girl unconsciously hit the other girl who had jumped in the fight. The security guard then threw the girl on the floor, got on top of her back, and then handcuffed her. Some security do things that are not necessary just because they can.