During a meeting with a US
Justice Department team in Philadelphia on Thursday, a group of people lashed
out at the Police Department for a long history of unjustified shootings of
blacks by white police officers.
Angry residents -- most of them
African American, including several mothers who said their sons had been
unjustly shot by the police – were present at the meeting, Philly.com reported.
The two-hour long City Hall
meeting was part of an investigation into the department’s use of deadly force.
The Philadelphia Police
Department has recently launched a probe to investigate officers’ alleged use
of brutality on citizens.
Philadelphia Police
Commissioner Charles Ramsey was present as investigators invited the public to
talk about their experience with the department and where they think police
violated their duties.
In 2013 Ramsey called for an
investigation when he read the figures that showed police had fatally shot or
wounded 52 people in 2012, according to Philly.com.
Many people said they lacked
trust in police. They also accused the police of viewing them more as their
enemies rather than as respected tax-payers. Some angrily called for cops
involved in fatal shootings to be jailed, according to WPVI.
Here are a few statements made
by people at the meeting:
-- "We believe it's hard
to get justice for the citizens of police-involved shootings because police
view them more as their enemies rather than as respected, tax-payers who pay
their salary and who they are supposed to protect."
-- "Philadelphia is angry.
We are angry and we are tired of waiting and we are tired of being studied and
analyzed. We want some results."
-- "The problem begins at
the top. The district attorney and the police commissioner.”
Police brutality has been a
matter of concern across the US in recent years. The Justice Department is
under intense pressure to review the use of deadly force by law enforcement
officers.
