Posts Tagged ‘ police abuse ’

"One could argue that police brutality is a new prison normal and that what is actually an unnatural situation has become normal because people have adapted, adjusted their expectations. Just as people have come to regard 3% inflation as normal, they come to regard police not being held accountable for violating the law as normal, and they come to regard police brutality as normal. If a person were to argue that, it would be a pretty strong argument as well. Another factor, though, could be outrage fatigue." (05/12/12)

"[A] woman calls the police to tell them that there is an online scam. They say they will send a police officer to talk to her. She tells them she won't be home and to call first so she can be there. They ignore her. The officer goes to the home, when she is away, and then jumps over her fence ignoring the trespassing signs and warnings that there is a guard dog. When the 11-year-old dog appears he sho[o]ts it to death." (12/28/12)

"This will continue until we take a zero tolerance policy with police. First, any penalty that applies to private citizens for violating the law ought to be doubled for police officers. They should be held to a higher standard if they are going to be the enforces of the law. Second, all damages should be paid by the officers and not by the taxpayers—even if this means they lose their homes and doughnut collection. Finally, we have to abolish all laws that are being used by the police to harass individuals videotaping the officers." (12/18/11)

"Qualified immunity has become so expansive that it frequently fails to correct these constitutional violations. Simultaneously, law enforcement is increasingly funded by separate revenue streams that are not directly answerable to local voter intent. Big money is coming in from asset forfeitures and federal law enforcement grants. Each dollar acquired outside of the legislative appropriation model is one less piece of control that the citizenry wield." (11/29/11)

"Want to know where your tax money is going, Mr. and Mrs. America? It goes to pay off settlements in police brutality lawsuits. Read up on it some time. Google 'taser + sodomized,' for instance. But that's a subject for another day." (11/06/11)

"Marine Scott Olsen made it through two tours in Iraq without an injury, but back home in the United States he was critically wounded by a police riot. Heavily-armed police injured Olsen and other unarmed citizens on Oct. 25 when they attacked the non-violent Occupy Oakland." (10/27/11)

"The police, like government as a whole, are fundamentally unaccountable to the public. They can coerce tax dollars from us, so it really doesn’t matter to them if they destroy our property, constitutional rights, or even our lives. Until government agencies face real consequences for this kind of sloppy work, you can expect it to continue." (10/25/11)