THE POLICE PROBLEM

He's finally arrested.

Minneapolis police are now facing heavy criticism for not arresting Sawchak before the shooting even though he had multiple complaints.

Members of the Minneapolis City Council, including Mayor Jacob Frey, pointed blame at the Minneapolis police department for not acting on any of the prior complaints against Sawchak and failing to arrest him immediately after the shooting. https://newsone.com/5658819/white-man-shoots-black-neighbor-minneapolis/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21422219

Revealed: officers appear to hold Michael Kenyon, 30, to hot pavement in July, causing third-degree burns

On 6 July 2024, a day when temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, reached 114F (45.5C), Michael Kenyon was walking to his local store to buy a soda when two officers of the city’s police department stopped him.

They hastily told him he was being detained, Kenyon recalls, without clearly stating why. Two more officers arrived.

Surveillance footage from across the parking lot, which was viewed by the Guardian, shows the 30-year-old on the pavement soon after, with several officers on top of him and holding him down. Once they lift Kenyon off the ground after roughly four minutes, he appears limp.

Three changes created this shift: Overdose deaths became a national crisis. Law enforcement agents grew more effective at targeting physicians and pharmacists they thought were over-providing opioids. And legislatures and pharmacies pressured pharmacists to use prescription drug monitoring programs, known as P.D.M.P.s, big data systems funded in part by the U.S. Department of Justice.

P.D.M.P.s are surveillance technologies initially created for law enforcement. They generally compile personally identifiable information about all controlled substances (not just opioids) dispensed to patients in a state and feed it back to law enforcement and health care providers. Law enforcement uses P.D.M.P.s to track physicians, pharmacists and patients, and health care providers use them to track medications patients receive. P.D.M.P.s lack privacy protections applied to other health care data.

Use of P.D.M.P.s changed pharmacists’ routines and relationships by incorporating surveillance into patient interactions. When pharmacists refuse to dispense opioids to patients who need them or call the police on patients, they route them toward illegal drug supplies or into law enforcement territory. The result: people with substance use disorders are dying at alarming rates, and some patients with untreated chronic pain are turning to suicide. Pharmacists protect themselves from becoming law enforcement’s targets, but they put their patients in harm’s way.

Archived at https://ghostarchive.org/archive/8XrQU

Your privacy is important. Protect yourself from Google with the FreeTube app.

The Supreme Court denied hearing Novak's case Feb 2023 effectively making parody illegal in the United States.

Archive link:

https://archive.ph/9gx9I

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21621324

Body camera video shows two Phoenix officers violently assaulting Tyron McAlpin, a deaf man with cerebral palsy

Medlock also ordered Noel, 53, to pay $270,000 in fines and more than $3 million in restitution to the agencies affected by his actions, telling the former sheriff he had “tarnished the badge and failed everyone in law enforcement.”

Prosecutors accused Noel and his family of spending millions of dollars for personal purchases that included travel, gifts, clothing and vehicles, the News and Tribune reported. Medlock said in June that Noel had used the firefighter association’s funds as a “personal piggy bank.”

The Indiana State Police conducted dozens of searches that uncovered questionable payments for classic cars, college tuition and an aircraft.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/14227257

The video posted by Cavender claims that deputies were dispatched to "speed" through Cobb County to respond to Sheriff Owens' issue at a nearby Burger King. The video appears to depict the deputies running red lights and using their sirens.

When deputies arrived at the fast food restaurant, the sheriff leaned out of the driver's side window and spoke to a recording deputy.

"Hey, do me a favor," Sheriff Owens said. "I need to get- all I need is the owner's name of whoever owns this damn facility, or the manager."

The sheriff explained how he was given an incorrect order by a Burger King employee, asked for it to be replaced, and was denied.

“Even if these sources of data bias could be identified and corrected, however, there may still be some group-based differences that are not attributable to data bias. If so, groups may experience different risk scores and categories that would not necessarily indicate bias. Further, it is often difficult (or impossible) to discern whether some observed group-level differences in data are genuine or reflect some sort of systemic bias.“

The victim, G.H., is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who met Officer Rodney Vicknair of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) in May 2020 when she was just 14 years old, according to a copy of the lawsuit filed in a Louisiana federal court by her mother and obtained by Inside Edition Digital.

At the time, Vicknair had been dispatched to the scene of a sexual assault and took G.H. to a local children’s hospital so a rape kit could be performed, according to the suit.

Soon after the second rape Vicknair was arrested and later confessed to raping G.H. He died in prison earlier this year from a brain tumor, having served less than a year of his 14-year sentence.

"On an attempted burglary, we understand that an individual attempted to gain entry into the residence," the sheriff explained. "Once inside, the homeowner produced a firearm in self-defense and shot the individual. At this time, the individual is deceased."

Authorities revealed that Horton also lived in the neighborhood, about a half-mile from the scene, and may have been experiencing a mental health episode or under the influence of narcotics.

Investigator Horton was honored as "Officer of the Year" at the "Crime is Toast" breakfast just days earlier, on Sept. 24.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20550626

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20549021

For decades, California police departments that want to sever ties with officers for misconduct have agreed to let them resign and to keep the bad behavior confidential in order to avoid lawsuits. But as a result, hundreds of officers have landed new jobs in law enforcement with no records of their past misconduct. John Yang speaks with investigative reporter Katey Rusch for more.

Shawn Jordan was sentenced Wednesday to 10 weekends in jail and 10 years probation. He pleaded guilty to raping the teen in 2022 in South Bristol.

Shawn Jordan also was sentenced to 10 years probation under an initial plea agreement. Jordan pleaded guilty earlier this year to raping the girl in 2022 in South Bristol.

A Travis County jury found Austin police officer Christopher Taylor guilty of deadly conduct Saturday. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

“We hope this outcome continues to help the DeSilva family with their healing process,” Travis County District Attorney José Garza said in a statement. “Our office is grateful to our dedicated staff who worked tirelessly to hold the defendant accountable and seek justice for the victim and their family. We further hope this verdict allows the community to heal and that we can move forward together."

Taylor was indicted for the killing of Mauris DeSilva, a 46-year-old neuroscientist, in July 2019.

Taylor and another officer, Karl Krycia, responded to 911 calls about DeSilva having a mental health crisis and holding a knife to his own neck at a downtown condominium.

The officers fatally shot DeSilva after he refused to drop the knife, KUT previously reported.

Taylor was originally indicted for the murder of DeSilva, but the charge was lessened to deadly conduct just a week before testimony began.

"The Austin Police Department respects the criminal justice process and understands this is a difficult time for all who have been impacted," APD said in a statement.

A judge will decide Taylor's sentencing date on Oct. 15.

Taylor was also indicted for the killing of Michael Ramos, an unarmed Black and Hispanic man, in April 2020.

Taylor was tried for murder in that case in 2023, but it ended in a hung jury. A grand jury declined to re-indict him for murder in that case, but he could be retried on lesser charges.

    (archived link)

The Detroit PD is a case study in misuse of powerful surveillance tech. The department is notable for being involved in no less than three wrongful arrests, due to misuse/abuse of its facial recognition tech. The city has already paid out a $300,000 settlement in one of these cases. Worse, two of the three cases involve the same so-called “detective,” which means one of their investigators should definitely never be allowed to use the tech again.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/texas/comments/1fvvgad/blue_alert_at_453_am/

Georgia State Police officers stopped Amir Meshal, a professional truck driver, for a minor traffic infraction. During the stop, the officers received notice that Meshal was on the FBI’s No Fly List. Despite clear language on the notice instructing the officers not to detain Meshal based on his presence on the list, they handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a patrol car while they sought and waited for guidance from the FBI. While they waited, the officers searched the inside of Meshal’s truck and questioned him about his religion and his international travel. After determining that his truck was free of contraband and receiving the all-clear from the FBI, the officers released Meshal with a warning citation for the original infraction. He was detained for 91 minutes in total.

When [Officer] Janufka returned to the patrol car to tell Meshal that “narcotics- and explosives detecting canine teams were on their way,” Meshal asked “if he was being detained because he is on a watchlist.” Janufka responded, “Exactly. So, you know what’s going on?” Meshal then “explained that he had been detained in 2007 in Somalia by Kenyan authorities working with federal law enforcement agencies, and that he ended up on the No Fly List after refusing the FBI’s requests to work as an informant.” Janufka responded, “This is over my head. I’m getting instructions on what to do.”