5 Reasons to Expect Police Brutality to Get Worse Before it Gets Better

Isaac Davis

Few things are more disturbing than looking at the news each day to find yet another shocking case of American police officers using excessive brutality and belligerence against the public. There is no justification for this, and as the list of egregious rights violations by the police grows, more Americans may finally be waking up to what many of us have known for years: our nation is becoming a police state.

With the proliferation of portable handheld and dashboard video cameras, and with the ability to upload and share videos on the web, people can see for themselves what police brutality really looks and feels like, and tension between police and American citizens is visible. A simple Google or YouTube search quickly reveals hundreds of unique cases of cops brutalizing people, often with insane cruelty and hubris, and the list of abuses grows daily.

Many of the most shocking incidents are against women, children, the elderly, the handicapped or the mentally ill. In addition to excessive violence, police are also abusing their powers and illegally stealing money and property from everyday people, while admittedly using traffic and drug laws as revenue generating schemes for government coiffeurs. Most shockingly, though, the police are up-arming themselves with military weapons and equipment, seemingly preparing themselves for something apocalyptic, and are increasingly assuming confrontational and threatening postures when dealing with the public.

Is police brutality and misconduct actually getting worse, or are portable video recorders allowing us to just now see what’s been happening all along? More importantly, is this situation going to improve any time soon?

Our society needs police, good police, working on behalf of and in cooperation and trust with their communities to solve crimes and face legitimate criminals, but, unfortunately, there are many reasons to expect this trend to get worse before it gets better, and here are 5 of them.

1. Rise of the Security State, Decline of Law and Order

In the bigger picture, there is a cultural shift underway in America from a free and prosperous nation to a repressed, surveilled and tightly regulated shell of its former self. This has been underway for generations, but has vastly accelerated since 9/11, which has given the government a perceptual cart blanche check to create, rewrite and bypass any laws it wishes to, including the evisceration of  the Constitution and the Magna Carta. We now have a thriving culture of public paranoia, suspicion, over-reaction, acquiescence and zero-tolerance.

Much of this is the natural result of the collapse of moral leadership at the highest levels of a government that now condones torture and has for decades engaged in ongoing war, geo-political manipulations, interventions and foreign occupations. The breakdown of law and order at the top is being mirrored in every level of society.

2. The Military Industrial Economy is on Steroids

Along with insane public expenditures on defense, we are seeing the intensified militarization of American police, who are already stocked with military surplus equipment, trained in military tactics, and who increasingly demonstrate a confrontational attitude toward the American public. By 1961, when former five-star Army General and 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his ominous presidential farewell address to Americans, warning of the dangers of creating a permanent war economy, the stage had already been set for the rise of the super military industrial complex we see today.

30 years before Eisenhower’s uncomfortable declaration, U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley D. Butler, once the most highly decorated and highest ranked member of the U.S. Marine Corps, also warned us of the dangers of building a permanent economy out of war with explanation of war-profiteering in his book War is a Racket. Now we have the Defense Department’s Program 1033 which funnels billions of dollars of military weaponry, armor and gear into the hands of undertrained police departments.

Having gone unabated and unchallenged since these warnings, what we see happening now in law enforcement is the inevitable result of creating financial opportunities in violence, surveillance and dehumanization.

3. The Fox is The Henhouse and Silence is the Code

Accountability is lacking when law enforcement officers abuse their power, and suspensions with pay, leaves of absence and early retirement are not adequate deterrents to keep psychopathic cops in line. The police investigate themselves, and are an integral part of the same criminal justice system that would also prosecute any officers for misconduct. An inherent and obvious conflict of interest. Policing is a fraternity, and for one reason or another, good cops are mostly silent and are hushed or pushed out for blowing the whistle on corruption.

If a case of obvious brutality does make it to court, there are already alarming precedents that give the police extreme forgiveness in their use of physical compliance techniques. An example being the recent trial and acquittal of the Fullerton, CA police officers who savagely beat and murdered a homeless and mentally ill man, Kelly Thomas, which was caught on video by security cameras. The horrifying incident is available for anyone to watch, but, a jury felt that the officers had a right to use this level of force while taking him into custody, setting an ugly precedent for future encounters like this.

4. This is What Social Engineering & Mind Control Does to Societies

The use of television and mass media as propaganda for the military industrial complex has become ubiquitous in our society, and over the course of the last half-century or so, the portrayal of the role of police, government and public ‘authority’ has changed dramatically. Where once we had Gomer Pyle and The Andy Griffith Show, we now have Cops, CSI, 24, and Lockdown. Dramatizing and presenting police work as entertainment, while aggrandizing public service as always heroic, and giving fictional characters the impunity to violate the law and basic human rights in the name of ‘public safety,’ is a not-so-subtle form of psychological conditioning, teaching us to perceive public employees as being in a dominant position in society, operating under a different set of rules.

Together with non-stop mainstream news coverage of crime, fatal accidents, war, terrorism and other threats, homeland security theater and public military drills, the shock doctrine of government control through overwhelmingly visible violence that is publicized and parroted by mainstream media is the most effective means of generating mass fear and psychological obedience.

5. Not Enough People Know Their Rights and Have the Courage to Exercise Them… Yet

Knowing your rights and how to conduct yourself in any encounter with police or government agents is an essential civic responsibility, yet sadly, too many people don’t know or understand their rights. This may be changing for the better, however, as videos are also emerging of citizens effectively exercising their rights in situations with law enforcement. Knowing your rights works wonders when dealing with police, and it does appear that more people are finding the courage for non-compliance.

What’s worse is that in many cases, law enforcement officers don’t even know the laws themselves. If both the population and the police are ignorant of the law, then we can expect, in the future, more cops to take advantage of this, and more citizens to passively tolerate this.

Conclusion

The natural cycle of the rise and fall of any government includes a period of authoritarian repression and control of the citizenry in order to retain inevitably declining power. Our society is in severe decay in this regard, and police are increasingly being trained to view their job as an ‘us against them’ endeavor, emboldened with an arrogance backed up by huge federal grants, high-tech police equipment, plus an affectionately pro-government, pro-violence mainstream media.

The Gold Standard for Good Policing

As an example of what a proper policing can and should look like, take a look at Sir Robert Peel’s 9 principles for ethical policing, which was written nearly 200 years ago, and has since remained the gold standard for police conduct.

“The Peelian Principles”

These nine basic principles are often referred to as “The Peelian Principles.” Upon close examination of each of the Peelian principles, not only are direct connections to policing in today’s world apparent, but often the nine principles are cited as the basic foundation for current law enforcement organizations and community policing throughout the world.Many law enforcement agencies currently quote the Peelian Principles on their community websites as their own principles.

Peelian Principle 1 – “The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.”

Peelian Principle 2 - “The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.”

Peelian Principle 3 - “Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.”

Peelian Principle 4 - “The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.”

Peelian Principle 5 - “Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.”

Peelian Principle 6 - “Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.”

Peelian Principle 7 - “Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”

Peelian Principle 8 - “Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.”Peelian Principle 9 - “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”

IS OBEDIENCE THE ONLY WAY TO AVOID POLICE BRUTALITY?

By Charles Davis 

 “Maybe you shouldn’t just be obedient,” Reginald Jones-Sawyer, Sr. told the crowd. Instead of just teaching children to be meek and compliant with law enforcement, “maybe we should start teaching our young sons to ask for IDs—ask them to remember names and badge numbers" when they're stopped by police. Maybe we should all be more vigilant, he said.

“When you see our young people stopped, you stop and start recording what you see," he said. Let members of law enforcement know that their every move will be scrutinized. "Obviously," though, "with the flash off"—the police don't need another excuse to shoot.

I didn’t expect Jones-Sawyer, a Democratic member of the California State Assembly, to sound like such a firebrand when I first showed up to the hearing on police violence organized by the California and Hawaii chapters of the NAACP. He’s a politician and his job is to legislate, to diffuse community anger over out-of-control police by channeling it into non-binding resolutions and stern floor speeches. But speaking to me in the lobby of the California African American Museum in Los Angeles—after I assured him I do not work for a porn site—he said that what he really wants to do is “start a grassroots effort to combat [police brutality].”

Perhaps he wanted to reduce the expectation that one can solve the persistent problem of police violence against communities of color through the electoral system. To me, though, it sounded as if he was genuinely disturbed by the recent spate of police killings of unarmed black men, from Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, to Ezell Ford and Omar Abrego in LA. It’s time, he said, for communities of color to go on the offensive.

“Right now, we’re acting like victims,” Jones-Sawyer told me. Indeed, he taught his own children to be passive around police to stay alive; to keep their hands at “ten o'clock and two o'clock on the steering wheel, look forward, don’t make any sudden moves.” But one day, he said, his oldest son challenged him: "Why's the responsibility on us to not get beaten and killed by police? Shouldn’t it be on the police to stop brutalizing us?"

His answer was glib, but not wrong: "Because you could die." But it did get him thinking.

“We need to stop that victim mentality and be more aggressive,” he now believes. That means not just teaching kids to be compliant, but to be vigilant; to not be meek in the face of injustice, to not stand by while a member of the community is victimized by members of law enforcement, so that “it becomes very difficult [for police] to behave that way”—so that they “know that the repercussions are going to come immediately, from anybody.”

“I don’t want to see another African-American father coming to a mic almost in tears because he’s had to train his son to be submissive during a traffic stop and he still gets arrested—and he still has a record,” he said.

There were plenty of tears at the September 12 hearing on “Solutions to Police Brutality,” as Jones-Sawyer, members of the NAACP national board, and fellow Assembly member Steven Bradford heard testimony from people of color who said they have experienced firsthand the brutality of local police. A young Latina woman, for instance, spoke of an officer slamming her head against a wall and then jamming his knee in her back, leaving her with five slipped discs over what was a false arrest—one she was later charged with resisting.

Film producer Charles Belk recounted how, after dining at a restaurant in Beverly Hills, police there mistook him for a bank robber and arrested him while he was walking to his car. Despite his innocence, Belk had to spend thousands of dollars on legal fees to get that arrest off his record, which Assemblyman Jones-Sawyer told me has him considering introducing legislation to eliminate the cost of expunging a potentially career-killing false arrest.

“Officers used me as a punching bag,” another man testified. “This happened on the front lawn of my own home. It felt as if my innocence was taken,” he recalled. “How many times is this going to happen to us young black men before we as a community do something about it?”

One mother started sharing a similar story involving her son being brutalized, but wiping tears from her eyes, lost her voice 30 seconds in.

The stories painted a picture of LA police gone wild, but they were all anecdotes, and ultimately, apologists for police brutality could dismiss them as such. Unfortunately, hard data on police violence is hard to come by—and not knowing the full extent of the problem makes it hard to adequately address it, argued Peter Bilbring, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California.  “We know precisely how many shark attacks happen in American water,” he told the panel, “but we do not know how many civilians were shot by a United States law enforcement officer.”

So we can only guess. This much, however, is certain: Police in America are shooting to death a lot more people than police in any other developed nation. According to the FBI, there are about 400 “justifiable” police homicides annually in the US, though an effort to compile media reports on officer-involved killings indicates there are more than 1,100 people shot to death by police each year (that’s a 9/11 death toll every three years). In the last year for which there are records, police in Germany, a nation of 80 million, killed all of eight people. In Britain and Japan, with a combined population of 191 million, zero people were killed by members of law enforcement.

An effort to track homicides here in Los Angeles County, meanwhile, found that no criminal organization kills as many people as the police. Since 2000, members of local law enforcement have killed at least 589 people (the Los Angeles Times says 591)—or about one person every week—according to a new report from the Youth Justice Coalition, a grassroots organization run by and for young people of color who have been affected by state violence. Each year, from three to eight percent of all homicides are committed by members of the Los Angeles Police Department or the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office—and it’s only been getting worse.

“Law enforcement use of force resulting in death is higher now than when LA had twice many murders,” says the report, based on data from local media and the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office. Though the overall number of murders in 2013 was less than half the number in 2002, police killings—“officer-involved shootings,” in the agency-eliminating words of cops and journalists—rose from 36 to 44, or from three percent of homicides to seven percent. Though they make up less than ten percent of the population, nearly a third of those killed were Black.

The Youth Justice Coalition is petitioning California Attorney General Kamala Harris to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate police violence, arguing that local prosecutors depend too much on the cooperation of police for other investigations to properly investigate police wrongdoing.

That could be a good, practical first step, said Keyanna Celina of the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police, but that’s only a band-aid. What we need is more systemic change, she argued: an all-elected civilian board that can exercise complete control when it comes to hiring and firing members of local police departments, from the sheriff on down. “We want power in the hands of the people."

A lot of people applauded that line.

The cop crime wave continues and the federal government does nothing to stop it

Minneapolis City Council mulls police brutality settlement

Politics Brandt Williams

The Minneapolis City Council today will consider approving a $50,000 police brutality lawsuit settlement.

According to the complaint filed in federal court, in 2012, after a night of drinking and dining, Alicia Joneja was sleeping in the lobby of her apartment building because she forgot her keys; a neighbor called 911 out of concern for her.

Joneja alleged one of the responding officers, Heather Sterzinger, struck Joneja in the torso with one of her knees, slammed her head into the concrete floor and dragged her across the floor causing injuries to her leg and shoulder.

City attorneys deny Sterzinger used excessive force and they say Joneja resisted the officer's attempts to control her. City staff, though, are recommending the council approve the settlement.

The council will also vote to fund a pilot program for officers to wear body cameras. City officials hope the cameras will help reduce the amount of money it spends settling police misconduct lawsuits.

Since 2003, the city has paid out more than $21 million in officer conduct-related lawsuit settlements, judgments and claims.

The epidemic of mentally unstable cops continues

Man Files Multi-Million Dollar Police Brutality Suit Against Officer

Rochelle Ritchie

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Baltimore City man is seeking $5 million after he says a police officer beat him up for no reason at all—but he may get less than that if he wins.

Rochelle Ritchie has video of the incident and just how much the man could actually get.

According to the alleged victims’ attorney, once a judge takes a look at the case, he or she is more likely to drop the amount to $5 million.

The video tape shows the victim being punched in the face repeatedly. It shows the moment the man says he was attacked by an officer with the Baltimore City police department. The man in red is Kollin Truss and the officer his attorneys say is repeatedly punching him is Officer Vincent Cosom with Baltimore City police.

“This isn’t Baltimore justice; this is Baltimore horror,” said attorney Tony Garcia.

 In a 15 page complaint filed in circuit court, the events of that night are laid out from the moment Truss first encountered the officers to the first blow.

“The officer gets mad our client is looking down at the ground—not resisting–and the officer does what they call sucker punching the client,” said attorney Ivan Bates.

But the police department says Truss disobeyed the officer’s original orders to stop loitering.

In a statement of probable cause, when Cosom asked him to leave, he says Truss stated `[expletive] you. I will see you when I get outside.”

Video shows the moment Truss stepped outside and was approached by Officer Cosom again. Words were exchanged and a woman tried to pull Truss away.

The officer said Truss and the woman got into a verbal argument across the street and Truss pushed her three times. He says he went to make an arrest and that’s when Truss got into a fighting stance.

Still, Truss’ attorney says the officer’s actions were excessive.

“Too often we have seen this pattern before where a person is stripped of their dignity. They are asked to submit their rights and then charged by the person who assaulted him,” said Garcia.

Truss was charged with misdemeanors, including assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and alcohol intoxication. The charges were dropped.

The case was filed at the state’s attorney’s office but was thrown out.

The cop crime wave: PIP police officer arrested for cocaine, oxycodone possession, chief says

By Noah Cohen

 A Palisades Interstate Parkway police officer was arrested and charged with drug possession, the agency said Wednesday. NJ.com 

ALPINE — A Palisades Interstate Parkway police officer was arrested on drug charges two months ago as part of an internal affairs investigation, the department said Wednesday.

Lee Frazzano, a PIP officer for three years, was immediately suspended without pay following his arrest July 16, according to a statement released on the police department’s website. Frazzano was arrested for possession of cocaine and oxycodone, the agency said.

The statement was issued Wednesday night by PIP Police Chief Michael Coppola in response to an inquiry from NJ Advance Media earlier in the day.

“Our internal affairs unit received information that Mr. Frazzano had become involved in illegal narcotics thus prompting our swift and immediate action,” the statement said. “Mr. Frazzano was subsequently ordered to undergo a Reasonable Suspicion Drug Test to which he complied.”

Further investigation by the department revealed Frazzano was in possession of the narcotics, the statement added.

Coppola said he could not disclose details of the case, citing ongoing criminal and internal affairs investigations. He said the department issues media statements about major breaking news incidents, not every drug arrest.

“It is critical to understand that the allegations contained herein should not reflect on the exemplary professionalism of the members of this agency,” the statement said.

Frazzano was scheduled for a Sept. 24 hearing, a court representative said.

An attorney for Frazzano could not be immediately reached for comment.

Kimberly Redmond contributed to this report

City officers suspended over off-duty fight

By Josh O’Gorman

An alleged fight outside a bar between Red Sox and Yankees fans has led to the suspension of two Rutland City police officers while Vermont State Police investigate.

City Police Chief James Baker said Thursday Sgt. Gregory Sheldon and Officer Adam Lucia have been suspended with pay and relieved of their authority while state police investigate an alleged fight that occurred between Martin Syvertson, 43, and the two officers Sept. 9 at the Center Street Alley bar while the officers were off duty.

Baker said in a statement the incident was “self reported by one of the officers involved.” Although it is unknown which officer made the report, it triggered an internal investigation that continued until Thursday.

“In general, the practice is, if we receive an allegation that, on the surface, appears to be misconduct, not criminal conduct, we will open up an internal affairs investigation,” Baker said in an interview.

“If it’s an allegation of criminal conduct, we will, as a practice, ask for an outside agency — normally the Vermont State Police — to conduct the criminal investigation,” he said.

Baker said it is the city police department’s policy to temporarily stop internal investigations until criminal investigations are complete.

He referred the case to state police, an agency he led before taking his current position as chief of the Rutland City Police Department.

The criminal investigation was triggered by a sworn affidavit from Syvertson that was given to city police Thursday afternoon by Syvertson’s attorney, Matthew Branchaud.

In the two-page affidavit, Syvertson said he arrived at Center Street Alley at about 6:30 p.m. to play trivia. During the evening, Syvertson — who identified himself as a Yankees fan — tugged on a hooded Red Sox sweatshirt worn by a woman accompanied by Sheldon and said “Yankees Rule!!” according to the affidavit.

Syvertson wrote that later in the evening — the affidavit doesn’t specify what time — he was on the patio when Sheldon and the woman came outside to leave and, as they left, Syvertson said, “Let’s go, Yankees!”

The affidavit said the remark prompted a heated exchange between Sheldon and Syvertson that quickly went from verbal to physical.

“Sheldon and I were near the corner of the building, yelling at each other when he punched me in the face and threw me through a wooden fence that separates the pub patio from the actual alley,” Syvertson wrote.

In his statement, Syvertson said he was then hit several times by multiple men, including Lucia. The statement does not make clear whether Lucia had been at the bar with Sheldon.

Syvertson suffered a cut to his inner lip and cuts and bruises to his knees and elbows, according to photos supplied by his attorney.

Baker said Sheldon has been with the department for about 15 years, while Lucia has been a member of the force for about 2½ years. Baker declined to say whether either officer has previously been the subject of an investigation, saying he could not discuss any aspect of the case, “including any prior conduct that might look like this.”

“We receive a lot of complaints, and we look at them and most don’t even rise to the level of an internal investigation,” the chief said in the interview.

“But my message to the public is that any time there is an allegation of criminal conduct by the members of the Rutland City Police Department, it becomes important for our relationship with the community that we immediately react to that and start a criminal investigation,” Baker said.

“Officer Of The Year” For Protecting Women, Accused Of Using Police Resources To Stalk Women

The lesson to be learned here is that police are NOT immune from abusing these systems and it is up to us to watch the watchers and spread these stories of such horrid corruption.

Police officer Jarett Branson from Fort Collins, Colorado, was recently fired for using police resources to stalk women who were total strangers to him.  Ironically, in 2011, Branson received an “Officer of the Year Award” from “the Safe Space Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program”.

Branson was fired after one woman came forward and said that he had contacted her on multiple occasions, both at work and at home.  The woman was concerned about how Branson got her personal information, but with all of the private records that police have access to, the answer to that question is obvious.

A later investigation conducted by the police department revealed that Branson did in fact use police resources to find the woman’s phone number and address.  He reportedly encountered the woman while he was on the job and used records in the office to find more information about her.

Branson is now facing charges of stalking, first-degree criminal trespassing and official misconduct.  He was arrested this past Tuesday and is still awaiting bail.  The police department has not released any details about the specific complaints that were made by the victim, but the trespassing and stalking charges suggest that Branson may have behaved in a threatening manner on the woman’s property.

Whether this was an isolated obsession or a regular activity for Branson may never be known.  Anyone else who has been stalked or harassed by Branson, or has any information about these allegations, is being asked to call Fort Collins Police Services Internal Affairs at (970) 221-6831.

In August, we reported that two police officers from Fairfield, California were accused of using department databases to research women that they were talking to on internet dating websites.

There was also the case of former New York Police Department officer, aka “Cannibal Cop” Gilberto Valle, who was convicted of planning to kidnap and rape women before killing and eating them, who used the FBI database to do so. One year later, his conviction was overturned and he was set free.

The lesson to be learned here is that law enforcement is NOT immune from abusing these systems and it is up to us to watch the watchers and spread these stories of such horrid corruption.

Sun Gazette editorial: Who is policing the police in Fairfax?

Last week’s news, from The Washington Post, that the survivors of a Springfield man have been forced to sue the Fairfax County government in order to obtain information about the police shooting that left him dead will come as no particular surprise to anyone who has tried to pry loose information, even of the most benign nature, from the county police.

There are two sides to every story, and there is not enough information related to the August 2013 incident to say whether the shooting of an unarmed man was justified, or not.

What we do know is that, with increasing regularity, police across the nation, and in some cases locally, appear to be taking a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later approach to their job, often leaving innocent people dead or seriously injured.

Law enforcement is not easy in an increasingly urban environment like Northern Virginia, but residents have the right to be concerned about (a) the increasingly paramilitary nature of law-enforcement training and equipment, and (b) the trait of law-enforcement agencies in the area to hide behind legalities in refusing to provide a full accounting when things go awry.

Having watched both of these tendencies unfold in recent years across Fairfax, we have a simple question: Where is Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova on this issue, and where are her board colleagues?

The county’s elected leadership has the ability to force a change in attitude toward policing, and to address valid public concerns that what should be a culture of serve-and-protect appears to be morphing into one of us-vs.-them – and not just in places like Ferguson, Mo.

Bulova and her nine colleagues on the Board of Supervisors will be asking voters next year to bring them back for new terms. Between now and then, they’d better come up with leadership on the issue of transparency in the county’s public-safety arena. The public is taking notice of the deficiencies.

Second officer in Pembroke is suspended

By Sarah Willets

A second Pembroke police officer has been suspended from his position, and a Red Springs police lieutenant has been charged with drug crimes for a second time.

Pembroke Officer Dean Simmons was suspended with pay for 30 days effective Wednesday, according to Gary Locklear, the town’s attorney.

“He is suspended pending the results of an investigation,” Locklear said, declining to release any further details and saying it is a personnel matter. An SBI spokeswoman said the agency is conducting an investigation into the department, but would not say if Simmns is the target.

Locklear said Simmons has been with the Pembroke Police Department for about a year. Police Chief Grant Florita did not return a reporter’s call.

Earlier this week, Detective Reese Oxendine was suspended after he was arrested Monday. Oxendine is charged with two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery for events that allegedly occured earlier this year and led to a three-day suspension in March while the town investigated the allegations.

On Wednesday, Red Springs police Lt. George “Tommy” Thomas Wright, Jr. was arrested in Lumberton for fraudulently obtaining hydrocodone. He was jailed under a $25,000 secured bond.

According to a statement from the SBI, Wright “saw numerous doctors and dentists in Cumberland, Robeson, Hoke and Scotland counties complaining of back, neck or tooth pain to obtain hydrocodone.”

Wright was charged with five counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, four counts of level 3 trafficking and one count of level 1 trafficking by possession of opiates.

Wright faced similar charges in Cumberland County in July. At that time, he was charged with four counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, three counts of level 1 trafficking by possession in an opiate and one count of level 2 trafficking by possession of an opiate.

Wright, who had recently been made the head of Red Springs’ detective division, was put on paid leave. Red Springs officials declined to comment.

Four Officers Suspended in Mount Carmel Township

YOU would get arrested for this...they got sent home for a paid vacation

Posted 4:38 pm, September 12, 2014, by Nikki Krize,

MOUNT CARMEL TOWNSHIP — Officers blamed for misbehavior are off the job in Northumberland County.

Four officers in Mount Carmel Township are suspended after being blamed for throwing fireworks at another police officer on duty in a neighboring department.

And although it may sound like a prank, local leaders are taking it seriously.

Officers Michael Pitcavage, Matthew Filarski, Patrick McAndrew and David Stamets were suspended last week after an incident that happened on Labor Day, according to Mount Carmel Township’s police chief.

A township official says the four officers were off-duty when they were allegedly driving through Kulpmont and threw a lit firework at a Kulpmont police officer’s car.

“I do feel what they did was wrong as far as throwing something at a passing car. If you think about that lady who got hit by that rock, that officer could’ve wrecked too,” Terry Goguts said.

Authorities said the Kulpmont police officer then chased the four off-duty cops and pulled them over. No charges have been filed yet and the case was handed over to state police.

“They could have been reprimanded other ways I think than being suspended. We need our cops in our town,” Donna Kehler said.

The chief said because of the suspensions, the department went from six full-time and six part-time officers to four full-time and four-part time officers. But he said the Mount Carmel Township police department still has 24/7 coverage.

The two full-time officers were suspended with pay.

“Cops are held to a higher standard. But they’re a bunch of young kids out having a good time,” Kehler said.

“Why should somebody of that authority not get in trouble for it?” Theresa Freeman asked.

Pitcavage is the police chief of Kulpmont and McAndrew is also a part-time officer there. Both are still on the job in Kulpmont. Borough officials in Kulpmont said it is a personnel matter.

“I don’t think that’s right, I really don’t,” Joe Bender said.

Newswatch 16 was unable to get in touch with any of the suspended police officers.

They didn’t fire this guy, think about that. They didn’t fire him

and they got away with it.....where the hell is the federal government on this? All local cops take federal money WE HAVE A SAY IN WHAT THEY DO

Police officer suspended without pay pending investigation

by Chelsea Rabideau

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A Louisville Metro Police officer was suspended for 30 days without pay after an investigation. It’s the maximum suspension LMPD hands out.

 According to police records, Officer Timothy Boling admitted to texting a woman pictures of himself holding a gun to his head and chest. The SWAT team was called out and saw officers fire his gun. “SWAT officers did see him fire into the dirt,” said Special Investigations Major Don Burbrink, “He wasn’t really intending to hurt anybody. He was just frustrated is, I think, what it was, and was firing into the dirt. So, really, there was no victim per se.”

 Boling also admitted to driving his police car drunk and hitting a curb in June 2013. No criminal charges will be filed. After a lengthy investigation, Chief Steve Conrad punished him with 30 days without pay. “I don’t think a lot of people realize, that’s a substantial punishment,” Burbrink explained, “He lost his car for good. He’s not going to be able to have a take home car. He’s got other things that he’s got to do to continue to be employed here.”

 Major Burbrink also explained part of the reasoning behind keeping Boling on the force. “We’ve been through this once before, years ago. Another officer, similar situation and Chief White fired him and merit court gave him his job back and the circuit court gave him his job back and we ended up having to settle with him for a substantial amount of money because we didn’t feel comfortable bringing him back,” he said.

 Boling will be under close watch back at work. He’s also ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings weekly for the next two years. Any mistakes, and he could be fired.

Chicopee Police Officer Suspended After Alleged Relationship with Teenager

By Eva Zymaris - email

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WGGB) — A Chicopee Police officer has been suspended after he was caught in bed with a teenager.

Officer Michael Gendron, 43, was found in bed with a 17-year-old girl by her mother. A restraining order has been filed against Gendron, and he is prohibited to go near the teenager’s home, school, and workplace.

The family’s attorney, Daniel Kelly, has confirmed the relationship was going on when the teenager was 16-years-old. Detectives are now working to find out if the relationship started before then — before the legal age of consent.

Gendron is on administrative leave until the investigation is complete. He will appear before Mayor Kos for final disciplinary action.

APD officer suspended for 15 days

AUSTIN -- Police Chief Art Acevedo suspended one of his officers for 15 days. According to his disciplinary memo, Officer Wallace Johnson was rude to a man who turned in a purse he found, then failed to process it properly.

That purse belonged to a woman who was the victim of a purse-snatching. The memo says he violated department policies on courtesy, evidence processing and neglect of duty.

Johnson waived his right to appeal the suspension, which began Friday.

Federal government may actually do something about the crime cop epidemic

Senators: 'Police militarization' needs more oversight

Deirdre Shesgreen, USATODAY

An earlier version of this story included incorrect information from Sen. McCaskill about the status of an Oklahoma county sheriff's department.

WASHINGTON — The federal government is sending more than $1 billion a year to police departments across the country — in the form of equipment and grants — with little assessment of whether that aid is needed and with minimal follow-up on how the weapons or money is used, according to testimony at a Senate committee on Tuesday.

The hearing — co-chaired by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to probe "police militarization" in the wake of the police response to protests in Ferguson, Mo. — focused on three federal programs designed to help local police departments respond to drug crime and terrorist attacks. Lawmakers and witnesses suggested those programs have run amok, haphazardly doling out military equipment and federal funds and transforming some local police into paramilitary forces.

Pressed by McCaskill and others on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, federal officials who oversee the programs testified they had no way to track any "military-grade" equipment supplied by the government or purchased with federal dollars.

"How in the world can anyone say that this program has one lick of oversight?" McCaskill declared, specifically referring to a Pentagon program that gives surplus military equipment to local police at little or no cost.

She said the Defense Department has given away high-powered equipment — such as Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles — without any evidence that such tools are needed and with no assurance that local police know how to use them.

She said, for example, a one-officer agency in Michigan received 13 military assault rifles.

"That is almost comical, it's so out-of-bounds," she said.

Tuesday's hearing was sparked by the military-style police response to protests in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb, after an officer there fatally shot an unarmed 18-year-old African-American man. Images of the police in body armor and camouflage, driving armored vehicles, and carrying assault rifles inflamed tensions in the community and opened a national debate about "police militarization."

Tuesday's hearing focused on three separate programs that provide money and equipment to local police. The Pentagon program transfers extra equipment to local departments, while the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security provide grants to state and local law enforcement agencies.

Top officials from each of those agencies said the federal aid has helped law enforcement agencies prepare for terrorist attacks, respond to natural disasters and protect officers who would otherwise be outgunned by drug gangs and hostage-takers.

"During the height of Superstorm Sandy, Jersey Shore police drove two cargo trucks and three Humvees through water too deep for commercial vehicles to save 64 people," said Alan Estevez, a Pentagon official who oversees the military surplus program. "In Texas, armored vehicles received through the program protected police officers during a standoff and shootout with a gang member."

Estevez added, "We are buying down risk out there for our law enforcement agencies,"

Brian Kamoie, an administrator with the Department of Homeland Security, said federal counterterrorism funds provided to Boston proved to be critical when law enforcement there had to deal with the Boston Marathon bombings.

At the same time, Kamoie and others conceded that the three agencies have failed to coordinate with each other on what tools and funding they are supplying. And they said they had limited ability to assess how the weapons and money are used once it leaves Washington.

"We cannot manage local police forces," said Estevez, adding that the Pentagon doesn't have the capacity to train local law enforcement officers on how to use military equipment for civilian purposes.

He said the Defense Department relies on state coordinators to oversee the program. Those officials certify that local agencies need the items they're asking for and have "the ability to train themselves to use it."

McCaskill said there was a similar lack of oversight at Homeland Security and Justice, saying "it's impossible to tell how these federal funds are being spent."

Other lawmakers said the three programs have blurred the line between civilian police who are supposed to protect their communities and military forces geared for war.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., noted that the DOD has given out 12,000 bayonets and asked Estevez what purpose those would serve local police.

"I can't answer what a local police force would need a bayonet for," Estevez responded.

"I can answer: None," Paul said.

He and others suggested the three federal programs needed to be dramatically revamped, with some weapons taken off the available list.

"How did we ever get to the point where we think states need MRAPs?" asked an incredulous Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. The vehicles are valued at about $500,000 to $1 million apiece.

Two local law enforcement representatives testified that such items were necessary in certain situations, but they agreed that Congress should add restrictions to the program — such as training and accountability requirements.

"Anybody who thinks we're not going to have tactical teams or high-powered weapons in American policing is not paying attention to the reality of police officers," said Jim Bueermann, president of the Police Foundation, a law enforcement advocacy group.

He said Congress should tweak the programs to promote leadership and training, so law enforcement officials know when it's appropriate to use those tools and when it's not.

McCaskill said she would work with her Senate colleagues to craft bipartisan legislation that puts some limits on all three programs.

Smack'n the ole wife around. A cop hobby

Spring Hill officer arrested on domestic assault, false imprisonment charges

SPRING HILL, TN (WSMV) -

An officer with the Spring Hill Police Department has been arrested on domestic assault and false imprisonment charges.

Officer Eric Pinkerton was arrested by the Columbia Police Department and was taken into custody at the Spring Hill Police Department on Friday.

The police department fired Pinkerton after the arrest.

"This is the second incident Columbia Police Department has been involved with," Lt. Joey Gideon said.

This is Pinkerton's second arrest on domestic violence charges since January.

"SHPD notified us on Aug. 9 that one of their officers, Eric Pinkerton, had been involved in a domestic disturbance here in Columbia with his wife, so our Special Victims Unit got involved," Gideon said.

Pinkerton was told after this January arrest to stay out of trouble for a year and his case would be dismissed.

Gideon said the investigation is still ongoing.

"They are still collecting evidence, but the allegations were that he grabbed her by the hair and kept her from leaving the house for a short period of time," Gideon said.

Pinkerton had worked for the department since Oct. 27, 2008.

Human Rights Lawyer Arrested For Standing On NYC Sidewalk Waiting For Kids To Use Bathroom

Chaumtoli Huq

A human rights lawyer who was formerly the top attorney for Public Advocate Tish James was arrested for blocking the sidewalk following a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square while waiting for her children to use the bathroom.

Chaumtoli Huq, 42, was standing outside of Ruby Tuesday on July 19th when her husband and children went into the restaurant to use the restroom. Police officers told her to keep moving down the sidewalk.

"I'm not in anybody's way. Why do I have to move? What's the problem?" Huq told police, according to the criminal complaint obtained by DNAinfo.

Police officer Ryan Lathrop and his partner then pinned her against a wall and arrested her.

“At that point I didn’t know what was happening. I was just thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ and all of a sudden the officer flips me [around]…he [turns] my body and presses me against the wall of the restaurant,” Huq told DNAinfo. “He shoved my left arm all the way and kept pushing it and handcuffed me. At that point I just like instinctively yelled, ‘Help!’ because I was alone. I screamed, ‘Help!’"

In her lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court, Huq claims the NYPD acted with “unreasonable and wholly unprovoked force” and that their behavior was “characteristic of a pattern and practice of the NYPD in aggressive overpolicing of people of color and persons lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Huq, who is Muslim, says the officers searched through her purse without probable cause, and took her to the precinct before her husband and children had even returned from the restaurant. When her husband went to go find his wife at the Midtown South Precinct, officers became suspicious of him because he had a last name different than his wife's. "In America wives take the names of their husbands,” an officer allegedly told Huq.

Huq was charged with obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, and took an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal to the charges.

The day before her arrest, Huq had taken a leave of absence from the Public Advocate's office so she could focus her attention on human rights abuses against garment workers in her native Bangladesh.

“I was hesitant to bring a case. My job is to be behind the scenes, and help all New Yorkers,” she told the Daily News. But, upon reflection, she decided she could use her experience to "raise awareness about overpolicing in communities of color. I want there to be a dialogue on policing and community relations."