Please post all of the completely insane COPWATCH stories here

[Freelancer]

Interesting comments in here too...

Interesting signature WhiteDevil uses

Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet. 

[Dok]

Those deputies who looked on should be fired and sued too.

Agreed.  

Then they should be charged as accessories, convicted, and all of them dropped in with the general population.

[Kilgore Trout]

The agents of state power know no limit. They recognize neither right nor humanity of man , they are the paid thugs of the rich and so they overinflate themselves to the point of obscenity to the detriment of mankind.

[charrington]

CEDAR RAPIDS – Police in SWAT gear busted through a door and searched a Cedar Rapids home for drugs Thursday morning, but came up empty.

At least 12 officers surprised the tenants at 1135 33rdSt. NE when they arrived around 7 a.m. with a narcotics search warrant. Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, a police spokeswoman, later confirmed that nothing was seized from the house.

No one was taken to jail, but the tenants of the house, Justin Davis, 28, and his girlfriend, Erica Lewis, 26, were charged with disorderly house and signed a promise to appear in court, police said. No one was injured during the raid.

Davis said his 5-year-old daughter was in her room when officers busted a hole in the front door. He said he came to the door when he heard a K-9 unit dog barking, and was pulled outside, where he was told to lie face down in his front yard. He said the officers had him at gunpoint.

Davis was visibly upset after police left and mentioned moving out of the area.

“What do you think my neighbors think about me now?” Davis said. “My character has been assassinated, and I’m really upset about that.”

Davis said he and Lewis were handcuffed while officers searched. They were told police had information that there was drug activity at their house.

Hamblin said search warrants are issued only after a judge reviews the evidence collected and signs the warrant. In general, police investigate tips about drug activity by interviewing neighbors, looking through trash and using a drug-sniffing dog, Hamblin said.

“We don’t take just one person’s word, under normal circumstances,” Hamblin said.

Davis said he is on probation and it would be stupid for him to be involved with drugs.

“They should have made sure they had concrete evidence before they knock in someone’s door,” Davis said.

Disorderly house is described as a building or room where someone “resorted to for” illegal activity involving drugs, alcohol, gambling or prostitution, according to a city ordinance.

Initial post:

CEDAR RAPIDS – Police in SWAT gear busted through the door of a northeast Cedar Rapids home and searched inside for drugs Thursday morning.


Read More -->
http://www.easterniowanewsnow.com/2010/08/12/swat-team-busts-through-door-looks-for-drugs-at-cedar-rapids-house/

[charrington]

Just doing our Job Maam


Universal City police call it an unfortunate coincidence.

Police had been searching for Cody Ring, 20, on suspicion of aggravated robbery and home invasion. He was deemed dangerous by police.

Police were told Ring would be showing up at the Villages of Kitty Hawk apartment complex on Sunday afternoon and parking at Building 15.

Police were given a 10-minute window that Ring in which expected to arrive. He was expected to be driving a silver colored Chevy HHR.

At that time, Tiffaney Wilson drove up in her silver Chevy HHR, and parked in her spot at Building 18. Police officers immediately surrounded the car with their guns drawn and started screaming at Wilson to put her hands up.

Wilson says she was panicking because she didn't know what was going on and she had her three children in the car with her.

Police got Wilson's door open and saw the children in the back seat. They realized they had the wrong car, put their guns away and left the area.

But Wilson says police should have known immediately she was not the suspect. The suspect is a white male. Wilson is a black female.

Minutes later, police say, Ring showed up in a darker silver Chevy HHR. Police arrested him without incident.

Police apologized to Wilson for the mix-up, but she says it doesn't feel like enough. She wants police to be retrained on approaching suspects.

"I think they could have done a lot better. It could have been me or my kids' lives," Wilson said.


Watch Video for cops explanation: Not a brain to be found.
http://www.kens5.com/news/Universal-City-woman-is-upset-and-irate-after-police-swarm-her-and-her--95081154.html

[worcesteradam]

what the hell

[charrington]

Disorderly House - is a crime - especially if you are not doing anything else illegal. Take the show "the horders" if ever there was a disorderly house those would have to be the poster children.  But they don't get summoned to court do they?  

How the law can justify what they do anymore is way beyond me. I hope they sue them for every dime the county has.

Look at the comments on their blog.

http://gazetteonline.com/local-knowledge/2009/07/09/cedar-rapids-police-arrest-blotter

[Femacamper]

WTF...I'd like to charge the Demicans and Republicrats with a disorderly house!

[phosphene]

this headline should read...

"Having your neighbors SWAT teamed is as easy as a phone call."

[WHAT HAPPENED]

this makes me SOOOOOO FIING MMMAAADDDDD IM GOING TO PUNCH HOLES IN THE WALLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PullMyFinger]

Disorderly House - is a crime - especially if you are not doing anything else illegal. Take the show "the horders" if ever there was a disorderly house those would have to be the poster children.  But they don't get summoned to court do they?  

How the law can justify what they do anymore is way beyond me. I hope they sue them for every dime the county has.

Look at the comments on their blog.

http://gazetteonline.com/local-knowledge/2009/07/09/cedar-rapids-police-arrest-blotter

Administrator closed and swept all the comments.Every one of them.

[cloudsifter]

I did a search for 'disorderly house' on that site and came up with one that they didn't delete the comments yet as of my posting time here.

http://gazetteonline.com/local-news/2010/08/12/swat-team-bursts-into-cedar-rapids-home-looking-for-drugs

[charrington]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsWTWRpIXBA

Slightly longer video
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Watch-Raw-video-teen-arrest-101006044.html

[charrington]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=025_1282197777

[charrington]

At what point does an airport search step over the line?

How about when they start going through your checks, and the police call your husband, suspicious you were clearing out the bank account?

That's the complaint leveled by Kathy Parker, a 43-year-old Elkton, Md., woman, who was flying out of Philadelphia International Airport on Aug. 8.

She says she was heading to Charlotte, N.C., for work that Sunday night - she's a business support manager for a large bank - and was selected for a more in-depth search after she passed through the metal detectors at Gate B around 5:15 p.m.

A female Transportation Security Administration officer wanded her and patted her down, she says. Then she was walked over to where other TSA officers were searching her bags.

"Everything in my purse was out, including my wallet and my checkbook. I had two prescriptions in there. One was diet pills. This was embarrassing. A TSA officer said, 'Hey, I've always been curious about these. Do they work?'

"I was just so taken aback, I said, 'Yeah.' "

What happened next, she says, was more than embarrassing. It was infuriating.

That same screener started emptying her wallet. "He was taking out the receipts and looking at them," she said.

"I understand that TSA is tasked with strengthening national security but [it] surely does not need to know what I purchased at Kohl's or Wal-Mart," she wrote in her complaint, which she sent me last week.

She says she asked what he was looking for and he replied, "Razor blades." She wondered, "Wouldn't that have shown up on the metal detector?"

In a side pocket she had tucked a deposit slip and seven checks made out to her and her husband, worth about $8,000.

Her thought: "Oh, my God, this is none of his business."

Two Philadelphia police officers joined at least four TSA officers who had gathered around her. After conferring with the TSA screeners, one of the Philadelphia officers told her he was there because her checks were numbered sequentially, which she says they were not.

"It's an indication you've embezzled these checks," she says the police officer told her. He also told her she appeared nervous. She hadn't before that moment, she says.

She protested when the officer started to walk away with the checks. "That's my money," she remembers saying. The officer's reply? "It's not your money."

At this point she told the officers that she had a good explanation for the checks, but questioned whether she had to tell them.

"The police officer said if you don't tell me, you can tell the D.A."

So she explained that she and her husband had been on vacation, that they'd accumulated some hefty checks, and that she was headed to her bank's headquarters, where she intended to deposit them.

She gave police her husband's cell-phone number - he was at her mother's with their children and missed their call.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/daniel_rubin/20100818_Daniel_Rubin__An_infuriating_search_at_Philadelphia_International_Airport.html

[charrington]

Greg Taylor was wrongfully convicted of killing a prostitute in 1991 in North Carolina. Taylor proclaimed his innocence, but the evidence against him seemed insurmountable: blood from the victim found on his SUV.

The catch is that there was never any blood in the car. Taylor was convicted after crime lab technicians reported traces of blood on his SUV near the crime scene. Those same technicians buried the results of additional testing that showed there was never any blood.

Taylor wrongly served 17 years in prison until being released in February.

Blood Evidence Buried in Hundreds of Cases
Taylor might not be alone. A new report released by the FBI showed that North Carolina crime lab workers omitted, overstated or falsely reported blood evidence over a 16-year period.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/fbi-north-carolina-crime-lab-buried-blood-evidence/story?id=11431980

[charrington]

By Carlos Miller
In front of a cable/satellite news team with cameras rolling, a Miami-Dade Metrorail security guard ripped my video camera from my hand, knocking it to the ground, before pocketing it and refusing to return it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3Ul0CPDEBs


The guard then began pushing me aggressively after I had pulled out my iPhone to continue recording – all while telling me to stop pushing him.

He then struck my hand again in an attempt to snatch the iPhone.

I struck him back, busting his lip.

It was the second time within a month that I had a confrontation with security guards over videography at the Douglas Road Metrorail Station. The first time resulted in a captain from 50 State, the security company that contracts with Miami-Dade County, to “permanently ban” me from the Metrorail.

However, I was never served an official notice. And I did not commit a crime to merit being banned from a public-funded facility in the first place.

After Thursday’s confrontation, paramedics were called to treat the security guard. Cops were called to decide whether I needed to be arrested on battery charges. Or trespassing charges.



http://carlosmiller.com/2010/07/29/i-was-attacked-by-a-metrorail-security-guard-for-shooting-video/

[charrington]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9aa_1282200247

[charrington]

Police can use force in everyday situations with impunity, even when no crime is being committed. That cannot be right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AaSLERx0VM

When Americans read British newspapers referencing "her Majesty", "his Highness" or "Lord So-and-So", we bask in the smug patriotic pride of knowing ours is no nation of aristocrats, but a country based on principles like equality before the law and authority granted by merit.

So we're told. Yet we do have de facto aristocrats, whose authority over ordinary citizens rivals what English royals gave up with the Magna Carta: power to inflict pain on anyone who treats them disrespectfully, power even to kill with relatively little fuss.

If mine were truly a free country, US police wouldn't wield such immense power or employ such aggressive tactics against their own citizenry – a militarisation of our police forces that started with the war on drugs and intensified after 9/11.

Consider: can you invent a realistic scenario wherein you shoot a man dead; justify it with a story witnesses contradict; confiscate any surveillance video; claim a "glitch" makes it impossible to show the video to anyone else – all while enjoying the support of state legal apparatus?

Police in Las Vegas did that last month, after they shot Erik Scott seven times as he exited a Costco. Cops say Scott pointed a gun at them; witnesses say Scott's licensed weapon was in a concealed holster, and five of those seven shots hit him in the back. The confiscated surveillance video might settle the question; too bad about that glitch.

At least Costco's not in trouble for recording police actions. That's illegal in 12 states, even (or especially) when you record police misbehaviour. Even in states where it's allowed, officers are wont to ignore the law and go after photographers anyway, and they can always record you with their own dashboard cams.

These aren't the only powers police wield with relative impunity; whenever Tasers are issued, they're used with shocking (sorry) frequency. With guns, police at least have to argue "Oops, I thought he was dangerous", after shooting you; Tasers don't even require that.

In 2004, Malaika Brooks, then seven months pregnant, was stopped for speeding in Seattle. She refused to sign the ticket – a non-arrestable misdemeanour at the time, though she was arrested for it anyway – and was Tasered three times. Last March, a federal appeals court ruled that the Tasering, which left permanent scars, was not "excessive force" since it only inflicted "temporary, localised pain".

Even if a man is lying on his belly with his hands cuffed behind his back, it may be presumed acceptable to Taser him. San Francisco transit cop Johannes Mehserle used that defence in his trial for shooting and killing Oscar Grant on New Year's Day, 2009: he thought he was firing his Taser rather than his gun, and only ever intended to shoot a pain-inducing electric dart into the handcuffed man on the ground.

Hero-cop TV dramas show brave officers risking their lives to rescue hostages or stop carjackers. There's some like that in real life, too. But in most cases of egregious police overreaction, especially Swat raids in which innocent people are killed, cops aren't going after dangerous hostage-takers, but looking for drugs or serving warrants for other, non-violent crimes.

Police can deprive people of liberty, health or life itself. Surely, we only entrust such authority to those with the intelligence, insight and wisdom to handle such power? Nope. At least, not in my state of Connecticut, not since the 1996 state supreme court decision Jordan v New London.

Robert Jordan applied for a police job in New London and scored 33 on his qualification exam, equivalent to a 125 IQ.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/16/police-usa-civil-liberties

[Aoss]

The guy will sue, officers get a couple weeks suspension... 3 weeks later things will be back to normal.

Nothing changes because nobody makes anything change.

[d0rn]

Clear case of cops "venting" on a guy who pulled a camera on them and "shot". Remember when wallets were the cause of someones death because the cops thought it was a gun? Well, now it's a camera. Only this time; they won't shoot you (maybe), but rather taze and "vent" some frustration on you. Never say you're doing the right thing to a cop and present yourself like some citizen hero. They have neither the time nor the will - if not counting the very few that do - to make the "right" call on a situation.

Something lingers in my mind as I see more and more of these videos: Do as we say, not as we do.

So, go ahead... do as they say.

[Dig]

Good morning, Worm your honor.

The crown will plainly show
The prisoner who now stands before you
Was caught red-handed
showing feelings
Showing feelings
of an almost human nature.
This will not do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCMHmDnfD6I

[charrington]

The Las Vegas police officer who shot an unarmed Trevon Cole during a June drug raid over small-time marijuana sales was justified, a coroner's inquest found Saturday night. The ruling came late in the evening after an inquest that was supposed to end Friday dragged through the day and into the night Saturday. (See our recent coverage of the case here and of a looming lawsuit over the killing here.)



Of about 200 Clark County coroner's inquests in officer-involved killings since 1976, only one has resulted in a finding of criminal negligence. Whether that near-perfect percentage of acquittals results from exceptionally good police work in Las Vegas, or an inadequate process and institution, depends on who one asks.

Cole, 21, and his pregnant fiancé, Sequoia Pearce, were at the apartment they shared when police serving a search warrant burst through their door. Cole was shot in the bathroom by Det. Bryan Yant, who, in testimony today, said he kicked in the bathroom door and saw Cole squatting by the toilet, apparently flushing marijuana. He said Cole rose to his feet while moving his hands in a shooting motion and that he saw something silvery or metallic in Cole's hand. He then fired once, killing Cole.

"Unfortunately, he made an aggressive act toward me," said Yant under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Chris Owens. "He made me do my job."

Owens questioned Yant sharply at times, suggesting that Yant's weapon had accidentally discharged as he came through the door. Owens cited the position of Cole's body on the floor and the downward trajectory of the bullet as it entered his cheek before lodging in his neck, which suggested that Cole was still kneeling when shot.



http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/aug/22/cop_cleared_killing_unarmed_man

[charrington]

Heidi Gill, who was repeatedly shocked with a stun gun by a Warren police officer outside Up A Creek Tavern in 2007, has settled a federal lawsuit with the city for a six-figure amount.

Court documents say that the suit filed against Officer Richard Kovach and other Warren officials was dismissed July 29.

Mayor Michael O’Brien told WFMJ, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, that the settlement amount is $300,000. The city’s insurance deductible is $250,000.

Councilman Bob Dean estimates that officers had been issued stun guns less than a year before the Gill incident. Since then, they have received “a lot” of additional training.

Further, officers rarely respond to incidents without backup anymore, Dean added.

Judge Donald Nugent, in a document filed July 27, gave the following account of the Sept. 2, 2007, incident:

Gill, formerly of Niles, was asked to leave the tavern and was escorted out by security guard Shawn Tisher in the early morning. Her blood-alcohol level was later recorded at 0.30, nearly four times the legal limit of 0.08.

As Tisher and Gill were leaving the tavern, they passed Kovach, who was on patrol. Tisher explained what was happening to Kovach, who asked Gill for her name and Social Security number.

Gill gave false information and ran toward the parking lot, getting into a vehicle owned by John Turner, another tavern security guard. Kovach said he twice told Gill to exit the vehicle, but Gill refused, so Kovach fired his stun gun at her.

Gill says the next thing that happened was that Kovach used his stun gun on her a second time, causing her to fall out of the vehicle, and that Kovach used the stun gun on her a third time while she was on the ground and pushed her to the ground with a foot to her back.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/aug/20/tasered-woman-settles-lawsuit-for-300000/

[charrington]

The city of Madison last year quietly paid $27,000 to settle an excessive-use-of-force claim against Madison police stemming from a 2006 arrest, Isthmus has learned. Yet despite this indicator of the claim's validity, the officers involved, following an equally secret internal review, did not receive so much as a reprimand.

In the incident, Madison police responding to a bar assault allegedly kicked and punched the perpetrator into unconsciousness as he lay bleeding on the ground. In fact, an employee of the downtown establishment where this occurred was so upset she called 911 — on the cops.

"They were basically stomping on his head," the employee, Elissa Parker, tells Isthmus. "There was more blood than I could ever fathom a person having."

It was the early morning hours of Dec. 29, 2006, at State Street Brats, 203 State St. Just short of closing time, a bar patron named Jacob Bauer hit another man in the head with a pint glass. Police were called.

Parker, who was bartending at the time (she no longer works for the bar, having graduated from the UW), does not excuse Bauer's conduct, which prompted the call to police, but feels their response was "unbelievably excessive."

Bauer, says Parker, tried to flee by running onto the bar's garden area, where police caught up to him. She did not see Bauer resisting but watched in horror as police stomped and beat him as he lay on the ground. "At one point, one of the cops pulls [Bauer's] head up by the hair and another cop is kicking him in the face."

Parker began screaming, "Stop, you're going to kill him!" Then she used her cell phone to call 911.

"The police almost killed this guy," Parker told 911 dispatch, according to the recording obtained by Isthmus. "And I don't think he deserved this. They were kicking him in the head and stomping on his face and bending his neck over to the side, and he's out now and there's blood everywhere and it's very Rodney King-esque."

Parker told the dispatcher her boss "won't let me do anything because it's the police" but said she was calling anyway. The dispatcher asks, "So the kid the police were beating up is not conscious?"

Parker replied: "Not that I can see. He's just lying on the floor motionless. And there's blood everywhere. It just seems very not right. I've seen kids being subdued; I've worked here for a long time. I've seen fights broken up. This is not right." (Hear an MP3 of the call and read the transcript HERE.)

According to Parker, other witnesses had similar reactions. But Tyler Kneubuehl, an employee of State Street Brats who was present that night, feels the cops used appropriate force. "He was refusing to go," Kneubuehl says of Bauer. "He was putting up a fight."

Bauer was taken by ambulance from the scene to Meriter ER. He had lacerations to his face and right thumb that required sutures, as well as swelling and redness to his right eye. He required follow-up treatment from the Center of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and reportedly experienced headaches and severe jaw pain for many months.


http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=30200

[charrington]

Officer David Bisard's attorney, John Kautzman, has released this statement responding to the prosecutor's announcement that all DUI charges will be dismissed, leaving reckless homicide and criminal recklessness:
"Earlier today we obtained a significant favorable ruling regarding the lack of probable cause as it relates to the license suspension.

The next step was for us to examine the blood draw protocols to see if the required steps were followed. We commend the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office for coming forward early with the candid admission that the facility and med tech were not properly certified. Obviously, the failure to follow the appropriate standards and protocols meant that the blood draw result obtained was no longer reliable. However, several significant criminal charges remain pending against our client, and we will continue to move forward with the defense of Officer Bisard."

Update -- Cop's blood draw not admissible in court
Top public safety officials and the Marion County prosecutor this afternoon announced sweeping actions that will result in the dismissal of DUI charges against the suspended officer accused of driving drunk and causing a fatal crash with two motorcycles that were stopped at a light.

The FBI also will join an internal investigation of Indianapolis police's handling of the case, and Public Safety Director Frank Straub has removed a commander from overseeing the multi-agency Fatal Alcohol Crash Team because of shortcomings in the investigation. But Straub said the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's Professional Standards Division -- internal affairs -- will be expanded to all Public Safety agencies and will retain its commander as a sign of his confidence in the internal watchdogs.

The dismissal of officer David Bisard's six counts of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated -- leaving intact a reckless homicide charge and two newly filed criminal recklessness counts -- is rooted in a fatal flaw in the case, Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said. Brizzi said a lab tech who drew Bisard's blood sample at an occupational health clinic was not certified under Indiana's DUI laws to do such work for a criminal case.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20100819/NEWS02/8190485/Cop-s-blood-draw-not-admissible-in-court

[charrington]

Mayor John Hickenlooper has asked the FBI to review the case of alleged excessive force by Denver Police that was the subject of a year-and-half 9Wants to Know investigation "The video is very disturbing, and when viewed in isolation it does not reflect well on the officers involved," Hickenlooper said in a statement to 9Wants to Know. "To help ensure justice is appropriately served, the city has requested the FBI review this case in its entirety."

Video obtained by 9Wants to Know shows Michael DeHerrera being beaten by police on April 4, 2009 after his male friend, Shawn Johnson, was kicked out of the Five Degrees nightclub for using the woman's bathroom.

"I just knew this was going to end so badly," DeHerrera said in the interview first broadcast by 9NEWS on Friday.

The video recorded on the downtown Denver H.A.L.O. camera at 15th and Larimer Streets shows DeHerrera watching his friend who was facedown on the pavement being arrested by police.

DeHerrera was on his cell phone, talking to his father in Pueblo.

Denver Manager of Public Safety Ron Parea went against a recommendation by the Denver Police monitor to fire the two officers.

The video shows Officer Devin Sparks hitting DeHerrera over and over.

Sparks admits he hit DeHerrera at least nine times with a piece of metal wrapped in leather known as a sap.

The Denver Disciplinary Review Board and the independent monitor decided both officers should be fired for using unnecessary force.

Parea, who has the final word on disciplinary action, disagreed.


http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=148424&catid=339

[charrington]

SEATTLE -- A former supervisor for the federal Transportation Security Administration has pleaded guilty to stealing $20,000 worth of jewelry and other items from checked luggage at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Seattle says 50-year-old Randy Pepper entered the plea Monday at U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Pepper was fired in July 2009 after another TSA worker saw him removing items from checked luggage. Surveillance video confirmed it, and investigators discovered Pepper had pawned the items. Prosecutors say they included gold diamond rings and sterling silver necklaces and earrings.

Pepper faces up to a decade in prison and a $250,000 fine when he's sentenced in November, but he is expected to face a guideline range of closer to six months to one year in prison.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081604822.html?referrer=emailarticle

[charrington]

Police officers, on average, are worse criminals than the public whom they are given lethal force to preside over.


The above map displays the number of law enforcement officers associated with reports of police misconduct in the first half of 2010.

The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project (NPMSRP) was started in March of 2009 as a method of recording and analyzing police misconduct in the United States through the utilization of news media reports to generate statistical and trending information about police misconduct in the United States.

As part of this project, credible reported incidents of misconduct are aggregated into a publicly available news feed and then added into an off-line database where duplicate entries and updates are removed and remaining unique stories are categorized for the statistical information which is presented in this report.

While the use of news reports to generate statistical data may seem strange, keep in mind that police departments do not normally release any detailed information about disciplinary matters, and sometimes they don’t release any information at all. The use of court records by themselves would only garner information about misconduct cases that were successfully prosecuted and would miss confidential settlements and cases of misconduct that were not prosecuted but did result in internal disciplinary action. Therefore, the use of media reports, while not perfect, represents the most efficient method of data gathering available at this time.

It should also be noted that the use of media reports acts as a filter that limits the number of outwardly questionable allegations of misconduct, but that this may also increase risks of under-reporting due to laws that limit the amount of information law enforcement agencies report to the press. Therefore, if anything, the resulting statistics we publish should be considered as a low-end estimate of the current rate of police misconduct in the United States and for any locality we cite.

Additionally, In order to allow for accurate comparisons between this project’s statistics and the US DOJ/FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) statistics, it should be noted that this project utilizes the same methodology federal government uses to generate crime rate statistics by way of a hierarchical reporting system that only records the most serious allegation when more than one allegation is associated with an singular alleged incident of misconduct. It should also be noted that both the federal government crime statistics and the NPMSRP statistical reports are based on a combination of alleged and confirmed activity, not just convictions.

Summary

The following statistical report is based on information gathered during the first half of 2010. The data used to create this statistical report is available for public viewing in the database section of this site. From January 2010 through June 2010 there were:

2,541 Unique reports of police misconduct cited.
3,240 Law enforcement officers cited in recorded police misconduct reports.
178 Of the law enforcement officers reported were departmental leaders, police chiefs, and sheriffs.
4,199 Alleged victims of police misconduct associated with these reports.
124 Fatalities associated with these reports.

17.9 Law enforcement officers cited in the news for misconduct each day on average.

$148,512,000 in approximated police misconduct related settlements and judgments paid out in this period.

By projecting this month’s NPMSRP totals out to one year, the following comparisons can be made between the reported police misconduct allegation rate and the reported 2008 general crime rate* as published by the FBI and DOJ for 2008 (*please note that both the NPMSRP police misconduct rates and the FBI/DOJ UCR general crime rate statistics are reported incidents, not convictions):


Categorization

When examining misconduct reports by type, excessive force incidents were most common at 23.3% of all reports. Officer-involved sexual misconduct complaints were the second most reported at 10.6% and financial crime reports came in third at 7.5% of all reports.


Of the Excessive Force incidents, physical excessive force (punching, kicking, batons, and other physical force) incidents were most common at 62% of all excessive force reports, followed by firearm-related reports at 13%, taser-related incidents at 11%, and mixed (combination of physical and taser or physical and chemical) reports at 10%.

13% of excessive force reports involved fatalities and, of those fatalities, most were caused by firearms (60%) then followed by physical force (23%) then taser-related fatalities (17%). It should be noted that these fatalities are only excessive or unnecessary use of force related fatalities, not the total number of firearm or taser-related fatalities that may have occurred within this period of time.


When examining reports by last reported status, 45% were in the allegation, investigation, or litigation stage while 24% resulted in criminal charges, 12% were internally disciplined, 10% resulted in criminal convictions, and 8% involved financial settlements or judgments.


When looking at the more general view, 22.4% of reports outlined some sort of negative consequence for the officer and/or department involved including some sort of disciplinary finding (9.7%) or criminal conviction/plead (10.1%).

State by State Statistics

The following statistics only count state, city, and county law enforcement agencies. The statistical rates are based on the NPMSRP statistics and employment data provided by the 2008 US DOJ/FBI UCR.

The first map in this series displays the Police Misconduct Rate (PMR), which is the number of law enforcement officers per 100,000 law enforcement officers per state associated with reports of police misconduct within the time period:



Read rest of report -->
http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/?page_id=2793

[charrington]

The Florida Highway Patrol says the deputy involved in a wreck that killed a 91-year-old man was driving double the posted speed limit.

Investigators said Orange County Deputy Malinda Miller was going 80 mph in a 40 mph zone on Magnolia Homes Road, a tight two-lane road that gives drivers little room for error.
   
The accident happened at Callaway Drive, which is about a quarter mile south from Maitland Avenue.

News 13 visited the intersection Monday to see how speed and other factors may have contributed to this crash.

We stopped on the stop bar and looked to the left to count the response time from the first time we saw a car until it was in the middle of the intersection.

That time was three seconds.

However, at 80 miles an hour, the response time is cut to a second and a half.

Neither driver had time to react.
     
In ideal conditions, it can be a challenging intersection.

Drivers first have to face foliage that's very close to the road.

When the accident occurred, it was less than ideal conditions. It was dark and around 5:30 a.m.

Miller was responding to a call in the area, but wasn't using her lights and sirens.

“It could have happened to anybody if they weren't paying attention and took off out there,” said Bruce Neal.

Neal has lived three houses from the intersection for 25 years.


http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2010/august/140860/FHP:-Deputy-in-deadly-crash-was-driving-double-posted-speed-limit

[37]

A cop in Indy ran over three motorcycles...killed one person, critically injured the other two.

Motorcycle enthusiasts are pissed because the cop isn't getting in trouble, and may have been drinking.

There have been protests...one sign read "Officer, please don't run me over just because you can".

IMPD officials declined to confirm Bisard's blood-alcohol level, but Wells' father said the family received word from the prosecutor's office that Bisard's blood-alcohol level tested at .19 percent. Under Indiana law, a driver is presumed drunk at .08 percent.

The accident happened about 11:20 a.m. Friday at 56th Street and Brendon Way South Drive. Bisard, a canine officer, was responding to a request for assistance on a felony warrant and had his emergency lights and siren operating, police said.

Bisard, who was slightly injured, was put on desk duty pending the results of the crash investigation.

Under IMPD policy, any officer who crashes a city-owned vehicle with even a trace of alcohol in his or her system faces a 30-day suspension for a first offense and termination for the second offense.

Eric Wells moved from south Florida to Indianapolis a couple years ago to take a job with the U.S. military's payroll service, his father said. Wells and his childhood sweetheart, Louisa, would have celebrated their second wedding anniversary next month, Aaron Wells said.

Wells had recently joined a Harley Davidson motorcycle club and was out for a ride with fellow members. Wells' funeral was held Tuesday in Speedway. His body will be laid to rest in Boca Raton, Fla.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100810/NEWS/100810029/IMPD-Officer-in-crash-was-impaired

Know what happens in Indiana if a "civilian" wrecks their car and kills someone while drunk?  They go directly to jail.  Officer Bissard is just facing a possible suspension.   

[charrington]

Yeah I posted that bad boy too. Sickening isn't it and he'll get off with a slap on the wrist.

[charrington]

I think with all the latest in the TSA these figures will get much higher.

[charrington]

The Minneapolis city attorney's office has decided to pay seven zombies and their attorney $165,000.

The payout, approved by the City Council on Friday, settles a federal lawsuit the seven filed after they were arrested and jailed for two days for dressing up like zombies in downtown Minneapolis on July 22, 2006, to protest "mindless" consumerism.

When arrested at the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and 6th Street N., most of them had thick white powder and fake blood on their faces and dark makeup around their eyes. They were walking in a stiff, lurching fashion and carrying four bags of sound equipment to amplify music from an iPod when they were arrested by police who said they were carrying equipment that simulated "weapons of mass destruction."

However, they were never charged with any crime.

Although U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen had dismissed the zombies' lawsuit, it was resurrected in February by a three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which concluded that police lacked probable cause to arrest the seven, a decision setting the stage for a federal trial this fall. The settlement means there will be no trial.

"I feel great that the city is being held accountable for the actions of their police," said Raphi Rechitsky, 27, of Minneapolis, one of the seven zombies, who said he and his friends were performing street theater when they were arrested. He is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Minnesota.

http://www.startribune.com/local/101273159.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1PciUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

[charrington]

New Orleans police officers who lie while on the job or file a false police report can be immediately fired under new regulations that will go into effect next week.


Superintendent Ronal Serpas announced the changes, along with several other revisions to the rules governing officer behavior, at a news conference outlining his initial steps to remake the New Orleans Police Department.

"If you lie, you die," Serpas said, noting that the previous policy would allow lesser reprimands for officers who were untruthful a couple times. "If you tell this police department a lie about anything, you will be terminated. That has never happened here before."

In a week when the alleged wrongdoing five years ago of New Orleans police after Hurricane Katrina will be featured prominently in the news, both Serpas and Mayor Mitch Landrieu underscored that they are trying to make improvements that will restore citizen confidence in the officers they interact with every day. There are currently nine ongoing federal probes into the NOPD, many of them stemming from the post-Katrina period.

"In short order, we have made progress on the structure and the culture of the NOPD," said Landrieu at a news conference also attended by Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro and NOPD deputy chiefs Arlinda Westbrook and Marlon Defillo.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/08/lying_is_now_a_firing_offense.html

[EvadingGrid]

New Orleans police officers who lie while on the job or file a false police report can be immediately fired under new regulations that will go into effect next week.

Should be every police force...

[charrington]

ORANGE, Texas — Autopsy and toxicology reports on a West Orange man shot and killed last month by an off-duty Orange police captain showed caffeine, ibuprofen, THC and amphetamine in the man's system at the time of his death.

James Whitehead, 28, was shot in the chest, according to the autopsy report filed by area forensic pathologist Dr. Tommy J. Brown. The bullet struck the middle lobe of his right lung, went through the right atrium of his heart and struck the lower lobe of his left lung.

Whitehead later died at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont.
On July 26, Whitehead reportedly got into an argument with employees at O'Reilly Auto Parts in Orange when trying to return an item. Capt. Robert Arnold was in the store at the time with his daughter, according to police reports.

The argument escalated and led to Arnold shooting Whitehead in the store's parking lot.


http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/101353749.html

[charrington]

I'm wondering if this isn't their first lie -- You're all fired!

[charrington]

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Andrea Seabrook in Washington.

President Obama recently signed a bill that reduces minimum sentences for crack cocaine violations in an attempt to reduce the disparity between time served for crack and powder cocaine, two forms of the same drug that have deep racial implications.

In New York and California, state data analyses suggest blacks are much more likely to be arrested for marijuana violations than whites, and census data show a stark reality: African-Americans make up about 12 percent of the U.S. population and about 44 percent of America's prison inmates.

Last week on Martha's Vineyard, Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute took up the issue of disproportionate incarceration among African-American men, which some have called an epidemic in America. The event, hosted by Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates, brings together some of the nation's foremost thinkers.

Gates said he hoped the discussion would raise the consciousness of well-educated people about a horrible injustice that is occurring to black men.

This hour, we'll talk about black male incarceration, and we want to hear from you. What is the impact of black male incarceration in your life? How does it affect your community? Call us at 800-989-8255. Our email address is talk@npr.org. And you can join the conversation at our website. Go to npr.org, and click on TALK OF THE NATION.

First, we have with us some of the panelists from last week's lecture series titled "Locked Out, Locked Up: Black Men in America." One of them is Charles Blow. He's an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, and he writes the blog By The Numbers for the New York Times website.

Also joining us in just a moment is Charlayne Hunter-Gault, NPR special correspondent in Africa and also the moderator of the panel. She selected the topic. But let's go to you, Charles Blow. You let the story be told by the numbers. What do they say?

Mr. CHARLES BLOW (Columnist, New York Times): Well, I mean, they're it's a broad thing. It's not necessarily just about incarceration. First, if you look at incarceration, one in nine black men are behind bars.

But if you look at the growth in people being introduced into the system, that's not necessarily people who are permanently behind bars, but they have an arrest on their record.

That means a lot, and that is happening far more frequently. For instance, in New York state, no, New York City, in 2008, 40,000 young, mostly young men, they were 90 percent of them men people were arrested for marijuana possession.

So that person doesn't necessarily stay incarcerated, but they are now deemed a criminal, and that has a, you know, far-reaching implications for that person and their future.

SEABROOK: Talk about the differences between these arrests among black people and among white people and the differences of marijuana usage between those two groups.

Mr. BLOW: Right. So, what you would the first think you think is you think that black people are using more marijuana, which is actually not the case. In every major survey of marijuana usage, white young people say that they use marijuana more than blacks.

However, the rate of arrest is, for marijuana use, is like you said before, like seven times higher for young black people than it is for whites. And you have to then say, well, why? How could that be?

And the issue is that, it's the part of the stop and frisk program in New York City, which stops and frisks a whopping 500,000 people a year. And 90 percent of the people never get charged with anything. They did nothing wrong: They happened to be walking while black or brown.

SEABROOK: Do you have tell us where this program came from - it's relatively new what it allows.

Mr. BLOW: Well, I mean, it's part of, you know, the push among in the New York City Police Department to crack down on crime, and it's kind of the philosophy that if you crack down on the small crimes, you will catch the big criminals or people who may commit a crime later.

It also gets people into the system. So every time you make one of these small arrests, that person gets fingerprinted, they get a mug shot, they get, you know, the whole thing. So you have a record of this person in case they do something later.

But, you know, the problem with that is that it's like throwing out the whole melon because you don't like the seeds. You're stigmatizing vast swaths of this population in order to catch a few criminals or would-be criminals or people who may become criminals in the future.

And in fact, the program itself, by putting people in contact with real, violent criminals, in some some researchers say that creates criminals.

SEABROOK: It allows law enforcement to stop anyone and frisk them, or what's the criteria?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129379700&ft=1&f=5

[Femacamper]

This should be government policy across the board.