Police Behaving Badly 10.25.16

More than 800,000 people serve as local and state law enforcement officials in the United States. These police officers are charged with upholding and enforcing the law, maintaining order, and providing general services. To carry out these duties, police officers possess certain powers, granted by the state. If the situation calls for it, police officers can frisk, detain, and arrest civilians, as well as seize property. In addition, depending upon the situation, police officers are empowered to use force to defend themselves or civilians (the amount of force extends along a spectrum from police presence through deadly force). Given the powers that police officers have, it is incumbent upon them to maintain a level of professionalism in the course of their duties and to wield their powers responsibly and ethically. Unfortunately, there are countless examples of cops engaging in a range of irresponsible, unethical, immoral, and/or illegal activities from bribery and unjustified arrests to illegal search and seizure and the use of excessive force. Here are five examples of

Police behaving badly

WATCH: Cops pull innocent family from home at gunpoint because dad has dreadlocks like murder suspect

The family was in bed when police surrounded their home with rifles and pulled the man and his wife, their son, 10, and daughter, 13 out of their home with their hands up.

The father, Eric, apparently matched the profile of the man they were searching for; however, Nabors was also a victim of racial profiling by police.

He told ABC News, “I stepped out and I took not even three steps out the door, and I see a whole bunch of people running saying, ‘He’s got a gun.’”

He continued, “I didn’t have nothing on me, nothing in my hand, I don’t own a gun. After they searched me, then they told me what they were looking for. ‘We’re looking for a black male suspect with dreads for a possible homicide in DeKalb.’”

Nabors said the police did not believe he was innocent until running his name through their system. His daughter Briana told ABC 7 Chicago, “It’s terrifying to see like all the guns being pointed at me and my family and my brother.”

The kids’ mother Deana Brown told the station, “I feel like it could have been better done. They could have had better intel, they could have had a better description before they put my family through all of this.” The family is now considering whether to file a lawsuit.

Lawsuit? What could they possibly sue for? Everyone knows all black people look alike, so it was an honest mistake on the part of the cops. They shouldn’t be punished bc their decisions were influenced by anti-black stereotypes.

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

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 Oklahoma police officer shoots and kills family dog with an AR-15 during boy’s fifth birthday party

“There’s something wrong with Opie,” Eli Malone cried out to his mother as he and his fellow party guests watched from a window as his dog lay bleeding on the ground, gasping for air.

“We had just brought the kids in to give them cake and ice cream,” a distraught Vickie Malone told the Daily News. “We weren’t even in the house five minutes and then bang!”

The family went out to the yard to find their 3-year-old American Bulldog, Pit Bull mix, Opie, clinging to life and a reportedly remorseless officer on the other side of the fully-fenced property.

“Ma’am I just had to shoot your dog,” an officer, identified by family members as Josh Franklin, reportedly told Malone’s daughter Crystal.

He just “had to” shoot the dog. Uh huh. I’m sure some rational, reasonable explanation will be forthcoming. Right?

Franklin reportedly explained to the family that the dog had tried to attack him through the fence. At the time of the incident, he offered no other reason for the shooting, the family said.

The dog tried to attack him through the fence. Yeah, not buying that. The link includes an image of the fence in question, as well as the dog, and that excuse is not flying for me.

“The dog cannot jump the fence,” Malone said. “The gates to our yard are tied with wire and shoe string. The dog could maybe have gotten his head through the fence but he wouldn’t have been able to open it.”

A video taken by Youngblood shortly after the shooting shows the dead dog well within the bounds of his enclosure.

Moore maintains that the dog’s shooting was justified.

Of *course* he maintains that position. What a shitheel.

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Florida police officers fatally shoot a man eating chicken wings in his backyard

The officers had been responding to a domestic violence call made by the man’s sister, Deborah Frazier, who claimed that a fight had broken out between her brother, Gregory, and her daughter.

When the officers arrived at the scene, the argument had ended and Gregory Frazier, 56,  was in his backyard eating a container of chicken wings and french fries. When the officers ordered Frazier to get on the ground, he responded, “Leave me alone.” After being prompted again and responding the same way, the officers fired.

Pastor Miguel Rosa, a neighbor who lives next door, told the New Times that he remembers hearing at least five shots fired, and said that he initially believed that the sound he was hearing was fireworks.

I am sure there will be people who crawl out of the woodwork to defend the actions of the cops. Even in this story, which should be as clear cut an example of excessive use of force by police, people will defend them by saying “he should have complied”. Even *if* it were mandatory to comply with orders from police, why should the punishment for disobeying ever be extrajudicial execution?

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BUSTED: Cops caught on video pepper-spraying handcuffed biracial girl — after a car hit her 

The Hagerstown Herald-Mail reported Wednesday that a Facebook video of police manhandling the 15-year-old girl has got the police department scrambling to explain itself.

Attorney Robin Flicker met with the girl and her mother on Monday and posted video of the disturbing attack on his Facebook page.

According to Flicker, the girl — who is the daughter of a white mother and a black father — was riding her bike on Sunday afternoon when she was struck by a car. She hit her head on the pavement and blacked out for about 30 seconds.

She came to somewhat dazed, checked herself for injuries and then got back on her bike and attempted to ride home. Passersby stopped her and urged her to go to the hospital when police and an ambulance team arrived.

The girl said she didn’t want to go to the hospital and tried to leave. Police officers reportedly grabbed the girl — who is only five feet tall and weighs about 105 pounds — and hauled her bodily off the bike.

An officer lifted the girl’s hands above her head from behind and slammed her face into a wall. Her chin smashed into a window-sill, at which point the girl reportedly became terrified and began to struggle with officers.

Handcuffed and shoved into the back of a police cruiser, the girl refused to pull her feet into the vehicle so officers could lock her in. This is where the upsetting video begins.

That we live in a country where police officers think such abusive behavior is in any way justified makes me sick.

That we live in a country where many people will defend such actions makes me even sicker.

This was a teenage girl they abused! And of course I’m sure they won’t face any repercussions for their brutality.

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 Records: SAPD ousts officer for forcing ex-girlfriend to have sex, threatening citizens

Before I go any further, I just need to rage over that headline, which *should* read “Records: SAPD ousts officer for raping ex-girlfriend, threatening citizens“.

An officer with the San Antonio Police Department is on indefinite suspension after being reprimanded three times for inappropriate behavior, including allegedly forcing his ex-girlfriend to have sex with him, according to suspension documents.

Officer Lance E. Little displayed behavior that has “brought reproach and discredit” to the San Antonio Police Department, which includes alleged sexual assault, being intoxicated in public view and threatening violence against a civilian, according to the records, which are heavily redacted.

SAPD spokesman Jesse Salame said in an interview with mySA.com that an indefinite suspension is “tantamount to firing.” He also said Little’s reported behavior “does not adhere with our core values.”

“He does not have a badge, he does not wear a uniform anymore,” Salame said.

Again, it should read “[…] allegedly raping his ex-girlfriend […]”.

And I see nothing in the article about him being charged with any crime. So this is another story where a police officer gets off the hook for behavior that should result in him being charged with a crime (and ideally found guilty and thrown in jail for an unspecified period of time no shorter than 3 years, IMO).

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Police Behaving Badly 10.25.16
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3 thoughts on “Police Behaving Badly 10.25.16

  1. 3

    Let’s replace “bad apple” with “disgrace to the uniform.” As in: “The exact same uniform that you — senior law enforcement leader — wear.”

    The whole point of a uniform-honor-culture is to make everyone accountable for the worst behavior of the worst people who are allowed to wear the uniform…and thus to harness the power of peer pressure to enforce higher standards of behavior.

    Let’s remind the folks in law enforcement that, when they say, “a few bad apples,” they’re effectively saying: “This uniform I wear is just an outfit; if somebody wearing the same outfit happens to do bad things, that’s nothing to do with me.” If the uniform means anything — and it’s supposed to — it means that the conduct of others wearing it has *everything* to do with you.

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