Watching The Cops
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Title: Searing DOJ report says Ferguson PD routinely violated rights of African-Americans
Source:
Fox News
URL Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201 ... p=latestnews&intcmp=latestnews
Published: Mar 4, 2015
Author: Jake Gibson and The Associated Press
Post Date: 2015-03-04 09:57:14 by misterwhite
Keywords: None
Views: 2406
Comments: 14
The Ferguson Police Department routinely violated the constitutional rights of the local African-American population in the Missouri city for years, the Department of Justice has found in a searing report. The investigation, launched after the August shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, found that the department violated the Fourth Amendment in instances such as making traffic stops without reasonable suspicion and making arrests without probable cause. The report provides direct evidence of racial bias among police officers and court workers, and details a criminal justice system that through the issuance of petty citations for infractions such as walking in the middle of the street, prioritizes generating revenue from fines over public safety. The practice hits poor people especially hard, sometimes leading to jail time when they can't pay, the report says, and has contributed to a cynicism about the police on the part of citizens. The official release of the report could come as early as Wednesday. The details were provided to Fox News on Tuesday by law enforcement officials familiar with the department's findings. The Justice Department alleges that the discrimination was triggered at least partly by racial bias and stereotypes about African-Americans, a violation of the 14th Amendment. The report details a November 2008 email on an official Ferguson municipal account which joked that President Obama would not be president for long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years?” From 2012 to 2014, the report found, African-Americans comprised 85 percent of people pulled over for a traffic stop; 90 percent of those given citations; and 93 percent of arrests. Also, African-American drivers were more than twice as likely to be searched during a traffic stop than white drivers, but that those black drivers were 26 percent less likely to be found to be holding contraband. The report also accuses the Ferguson police of using unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and that 88 percent of those cases involved African-Americans. Overall, blacks make up 67 percent of Ferguson's population. The Justice Department began the civil rights investigation following the August killing of Brown, which set off weeks of protests. A separate report to be issued soon is expected to clear the officer, Darren Wilson, of federal civil rights charges. The department has conducted roughly 20 broad civil rights investigations of police departments during the six-year tenure of Attorney General Eric Holder, including Cleveland, Newark, New Jersey and Albuquerque. Most such investigations end with police departments agreeing to change their practices. Justice Department officials were in St. Louis on Tuesday to brief Ferguson leaders about the findings, a city official said. Several messages seeking comment from Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and Mayor James Knowles III were not returned. A secretary for Jackson said he is not doing media interviews. Scott Holste, a spokesman for Gov. Jay Nixon, declined comment, saying he has not seen the report. Ben Crump, the attorney for the Brown family, said that if the reports about the findings are true, they "confirm what Michael Brown's family has believed all along, and that is that the tragic killing of an unarmed 18-year-old black teenager was part of a systemic pattern of inappropriate policing of African-American citizens in the Ferguson community."
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#1. To: All (#0)
Looks as though this DOJ report is limited to traffic stops only. On network news, one black girl was interviewed for having been jailed for a cracked windshield. Sounds extreme, huh? Turns out she was ticketed for the windshield and ordered to fix it. She didn't. Ticketed again. Never fixed it. Round and round. Finally jailed. Then she said she shouldn't have been jailed because she can't afford to fix it. See? That's racism. Blacks shouldn't be held to the same standards as whites.
the obama ad is pulling out all the stop[s to start a race war, they really hate blacks and won't stop till white America destroys black America. They could not do this without the 100% of the white liberal media. What is the saddest part is not obama's hatred for blacks, but the stupidity of blacks in allowing themselves to be used in such a manner that they are moving the obama/holder agenda of black genocide ahead.
It's a bullshit law. Cops routinely write tickets for the tiniest chip in a windshield that isn't even in the driver's line of sight. Just another revenue enhancement scam - has nothing to do with safety.
This is all about making local cops a part of the DHS - all under federal control.
Blacks comprise 67 percent of the people who live in Ferguson, but 93 percent of the people arrested. From that, the Justice Department concludes that the cops are racist. That’s one interpretation. But it is not the only explanation, and it’s not even the most likely explanation. Unless all of America’s criminal justice system is racist. Because across America, black people are arrested and jailed at rates far higher than their percentage of the population. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not defending the Ferguson Police Department. I’m not saying anything about the Ferguson Police Department. I don’t care about the Ferguson Police Department. I have long since tired of everything having to do with Ferguson, Missouri. But if the new standard of racism in our society, according to the federal government, is disproportionality, then we’ve got a problem. For example, in American prisons, black people comprise 39.4 percent of the inmates. By comparison, blacks account for 14.1 percent of the national population. That means black people are incarcerated at a rate more than two and a half times their proportion of society. That’s an over-representation rate of about 250 percent. In contrast, blacks are over represented in Ferguson arrests at a rate of about 140 percent. The disproportionality of criminal conduct is demonstrated anecdotally most nights on the evening news, as mug shots are shown, beat-down videos are played, and store surveillance footage is played back. If there is a correlation between being arrested and going to prison – and there is – then the so-called racism of the Ferguson Police Department is statistically far less evident than the national average. But that nicety doesn’t matter to a Justice Department that seems to have decided before it showed up that there were problems in Ferguson and it was going to ferret them out. Sometimes the Justice Department does justice, and sometimes it does politics – and in Ferguson, it’s hard to tell which is which. But I would offer, for the sake of discussion, this simple question: Is it possible that, in America, black people are more likely to commit crime than white people? And that the police arrest them because they are criminals, and not because they are black? Is it possible, in a society of diverse cultures and backgrounds, that those diversities of culture and background lead to diversities of conduct – including in relation to the law? Could it be that blacks are arrested in Ferguson more often than whites not because the police are racist, but because blacks simply break the law more often? The Justice Department’s own statistics support that likelihood. It is the federal government, after all, which says that a murderer is almost eight times more likely to be black than white – even though whites vastly outnumber blacks in the population. If a police department, then, was to arrest more blacks than whites for murder, would that be racism – as the Department of Justice claims in Ferguson – or simply a reflection of who commits the crimes – as the Department of Justice also claims? It is more than just bad logic to claim that disproportionate arrests are proof of racism – it is dishonesty. Again, I don’t know or care about the specifics of Ferguson. But I care deeply about the federal government’s premise – that there must be quotas of criminality, and if arrests fall outside social percentages, then the issue is a failure of policing, as opposed to a failure of conduct. Further, I believe that if there is increased crime among African-Americans – and virtually all statistics show that there is – then as opposed to turning that toward the divisive issue of assumed racism, perhaps it would be better to use it to raise the issue of improved conduct and cultural reform. Because you can either reduce black arrests by intimidating police out of arresting black people, or you can encourage more black people to obey the law. I prefer the latter. There are differences of opinion about why black people are disproportionately criminal. I believe it has to do with a failed culture and nonexistent families. But whatever the cause, the solution is not to demand the police change their behavior, it is to demand that law breakers change their behavior. Even if they’re black. http://www.wham1180.com/onair/bob-lonsberry- 3440/why-do-ferguson-cops-arrest-so-13375224
nope, this is all about starting a civil war that will tear the country apart using race as the catalyst.
nope, this is all about starting a civil war that will tear the country apart using race as the catalyst. It's not "A" or "B" It's A AND B
I'd like to see the black Ferguson arrest rate compared to other cities of similar size (adjusted for the black population, of course). I doubt that it's much different. Meaning one of only two things -- either we have nationwide racial discrimination or blacks commit crimes at a higher rate than whites.
Nope. It's an attempt by bleeding heart liberals to either arrest less blacks or more whites. They're doing the exact same thing in schools regarding punishment for bad behavior.
maybe
That is exactly what they want you to say and think.
This was my first assumption after reading the report.
It's a bullshit law. Cops routinely write tickets for the tiniest chip in a windshield that isn't even in the driver's line of sight. Just another revenue enhancement scam - has nothing to do with safety. It's a law just like the others. You really want the officers deciding what laws they'll enforce? How about they only enforce speeding in their residential neighborhood... Cause 10 over is bullshit? What about spending no time on your vehicle getting slammed into at Walmart and the perp fleeing... because an anti cop activists deserved the damage? They need to enforce all the laws, equally. If you think a law is bullshit, get it repealed. A "chip" in the windshield, on the passenger side, quickly spreads across the whole windshield... and you know it. Many officers give warnings... some use the violation as a stepping stone for more crime within the car. It's called doing their jobs.
Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on. Robert Kennedy
You and all the other sane, rational, thinking beings. And I bet most blacks believe it. But they're counting on white guilt to get law enforcement to look the other way when a black criminal is involved. Their solution is to improve the statistics by lying about them, rather than addressing the problem head on.
#2. To: misterwhite (#0)
#3. To: misterwhite (#1)
Turns out she was ticketed for the windshield and ordered to fix it.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#4. To: BobCeleste (#2)
the obama ad is pulling out all the stop[s to start a race war
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#5. To: misterwhite (#0)
What if blacks just break the law more often? The Justice Department yesterday released a report accusing the police department in Ferguson, Missouri, of broad-based discrimination against black people. The basis for the claim is the fact that, in recent years, blacks have been arrested in Ferguson at a rate about 40 percent higher than their proportion of the city’s population.
#6. To: Deckard (#4)
This is all about making local cops a part of the DHS - all under federal control.
#7. To: BobCeleste, Deckard (#6)
This is all about making local cops a part of the DHS - all under federal control.
#8. To: Gatlin (#5)
#9. To: BobCeleste (#6)
"nope, this is all about starting a civil war that will tear the country apart using race as the catalyst."
#10. To: Rufus T Firefly (#7)
#11. To: misterwhite (#9)
Nope. It's an attempt by bleeding heart liberals to either arrest less blacks or more whites.
#12. To: misterwhite (#8)
....or blacks commit crimes at a higher rate than whites.
#13. To: Deckard (#3)
#14. To: Gatlin (#12)
"This was my first assumption after reading the report."
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