The Day Ferguson Cops Were Caught in a Bloody Lie

Or the Zimmerman nonsense where the DOJ open up an 800 number to take claims of Zimmerman being a racist after spending god know how must having FBI agents coming out of his ass for a year or so without results.

Texts Show How Desperate Crooked Cop Had Become
Source: Gliniewicz's wife, son are now under investigation
By Arden Dier, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 5, 2015 8:06 AM CST

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(Newser) – Illinois police on Wednesday confirmed police officer Charles "Joe" Gliniewicz orchestrated a "carefully staged suicide" after stealing money from the Fox Lake Police Department's Explorer program over seven years. Lake County Major Crimes Task Force commander George Filenko says the probe points to "criminal activity on the part of at least two other individuals," and a source tells NBC Chicago that Gliniewicz's wife, Mel, and son, DJ, are under investigation. Their names surface again in a Sun-Times report, which identifies them, via a source, as the "Individual 1" and "Individual 2," respectively, who exchanged revealing texts with Gliniewicz. New Village Administrator Anne Marrin had been pressing Gliniewicz about the Explorer program up until the day before his death, and texts allegedly make reference to her.

"This situation right here would give her the means to crucify me if it were discovered," Gliniewicz wrote. When Individual 2 expressed hope that Marrin "decides to get a couple of drinks in her and she gets a DUI," Gliniewicz replied, "Trust me, I've thought it through. Many scenarios, from planting things, to the Volo bog"—the latter being local parkland, per the Sun-Times. Meanwhile, the 100 Club of Chicago, which offers money to the families of officers killed in the line of duty, has for the first time in its history asked for its $15,000 back. "In this case it was not a line-of-duty death. That is clear," the charity's CEO says, per the Chicago Tribune. However, four girls who raised at least $5,000 for Gliniewicz's children say the money will still go to the intended recipients. "None of this is the children's fault," a parent says.

Tarantino: Police Brutality Is ‘Ultimately’ ‘A Problem of White Supremacy’
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by Ian Hanchett4 Nov 20158,794

Director Quentin Tarantino defended his comments that have triggered boycotts from police unions, and argued police brutality “ultimately what I feel is a problem of white supremacy in this country” on Wednesday’s “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC.

Tarantino explained his statement that triggered the boycott by saying, “Well, we were at a rally that was dealing with unarmed people, mostly black and brown, who have been shot and killed, or beaten, or strangled by the police, and I was obviously referring to the people in those type of situations. I was referring to Eric Garner. I was referring to Sam DuBose. I was referring to Antonio [Lopez Guzman]. I was referring to Tamir Rice. That’s what I was referring to.”

He added, “in those cases in particular that we’re talking about, I actually do believe that they were murder. Now, in the case of Walter Scott, who was the man running in the park and was shot in the back, and the case of Sam DuBose, I believe those were murder, and they were deemed murder. And the reason — and the only reason they were deemed murder is because the incidences were caught on video. However, if they had not been caught on video, they — the murderers would have gotten away with their murder. In the case of Eric Garner, and the case of that Tamir Rice, I believe that those were murders, but they were exonerated.”

When asked about the “vitriol” with which his comments were received, Tarantino answered, “Yeah. I was surprised. I was under the impression I was an american and that I had 1st Amendment rights, and there was no problem with me going to an anti-police brutality protest, and speaking my mind, and just because I was at an anti-police brutality protest doesn’t mean I’m anti-police. And basically, there was a lot of people at that rally, and we were all crying for — we were crying for a lot of things, but there was one thing in particular, which was, stop shooting unarmed people. We want justice, but stop shooting unarmed people, but they don’t want to deal with that. They would rather start arguments with celebrities than examine the concerns put before them by a citizenry that has lost trust in them.”

Tarantino was then asked how he ended up attending the march. He answered that the group who put in, #RiseUpOctober, “got in touch with me, because I had made statements in some interviews, you know, along the way, that had suggested that I’m on their side when it comes to this issue of, you know, ultimately what I feel is a problem of white supremacy in this country.”

Tarantino said that the timing of his comments coming within a week of the shooting of NYPD officer Randolph Holder “was very unfortunate. And his death, that officer’s death, is a tragedy. I acknowledge that 100%, and my heart goes out to him, and goes out to his loved ones. However, the point of the rally was to bring these families, we had over 40 families, not 40 people, but 40 different families that this has happened to come out and tell their stories and say their loved one’s name, and that’s what’s not being told — talked about. And so what? Because that happened we’re going to say, ‘Oh no, no. Don’t tell your story. I know we flew you out here. We’re going to fly you back. We’ll do it another time. It’s just not convenient.'”

After seeing a speech against him on the House floor by Representative Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)
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, Tarantino responded that Poe was mischaracterizing what he said, and added, “They’re being inflammatory. They’re slandering me. I’m not a cop hater, but Patrick Lynch — that’s the way they attack me is calling me a cop hater. That’s the way that Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke (D), who is on Fox all the time says that I’m putting police in danger by standing up for the rights of unarmed citizens who have been killed by the police, but at the same time, they say that about anybody who acknowledges that there’s a problem in law enforcement in this country right now, is considered by law enforcement part of the problem, whether that be me, whether that be [New York City Mayor] Bill DeBlasio (D), whether that be President Barack Obama, who, in the case of both [New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President] Patrick Lynch and David Clarke have accused all three of us of this action.”

He continued, “it’s much easier to feign outrage, and start arguments with celebrities than it is to deal with the fact they’ve — the citizenry has lost trust in them. Also, — but there’s also another thing going on, absolutely. There was 300 people in that march. They’re not dealing with the issues that we were talking about, which you would think they’d want to deal with, at least to some degree or another. No, they want to demonize me, they want to slander me, imply that I’m saying things that I didn’t say. And then — but, and for what reason? And the reason is because they want me to shut up, and they want to make sure that no other people like me, prominent citizens, will stand up for that side.”

Tarantino further stated that he hasn’t gotten any pressure from the film industry to apologize, and that he hasn’t spoken to any police officers since his statement, “I’m hoping that that is going to start happening sometime, you know, I’m hoping that’s going to start happening sometime in the next week or so. And I agree with you about these mouthpieces saying what they’re saying. They’re calling for a boycott. And, you know, and maybe that boycott will happen, but maybe it won’t. Because I actually have a whole lot of police officers who are big fans of my work, and they’re not going to take Patrick Lynch’s word on what I said. They’re going to read what I said. They’ll watch this show. They’ll hear what I have to say, and I think that they’ll make up their own mind, and we’ll see what happens.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

Of course he won't get any pressure from the film industry to apologize, they support all left leaning positions regardless of how good or bad the position is.

Tarantino is a great director and all, but that doesn't make his opinions any better then anyone else's. I don't believe it to be a white power trip. I think it more of a power trip in general. Cops want their authority respected and heaven help anyone that doesn't jump to it. I think black cops are just as likely to shoot someone as white cops and it's a training and rights issue.

We should be able to talk facts on stuff like this. Apparently no one has cared enough to find out.

So you hate cops so must that you are happy that a man committed suicide who have children at home.

Police Are Three Times More Likely to Kill a Black Person Than a White One — When Will the Madness Stop?

America is years away from a level playing field when it comes to racial equality.
By Chris Sosa / Care2
November 3, 2015

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Swiss police cordon off the site of a shooting in Wilderswil, southeast of Bern, on November 3, 2014

We’ve all seen the histrionic social media posts attempting to denigrate Black Lives Matter and racial equality efforts by claiming whites are the "real" victims. While the constant barrage of awful police brutality incidents involving Black Americans would seem to refute this, anti-Black conservatives often claim to have the stats on their side. Fox News has gone so far as to suggest that Black Lives Matter is the real culprit, suggesting it's a "murder movement" and a "hate group."
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Let’s take a look at what the actual numbers show. First of all, the memes are incorrect by default. We actually have no idea what the exact number of people who die at the hands of police each year is. The data we’re seeing is a subjective estimation based upon volunteer reporting, because we don’t actually keep accurate statistics for these deaths. What we do know is that the number we're getting is too low.
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However, using the flawed data we do have, we can work with those statistics to attempt getting an idea about the racial percentages. Using numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Politifiact highlights: “Over the span of more than a decade, 2,151 whites died by being shot by police compared to 1,130 blacks."

By now, your far-right friends may just throw up their hands and go, “Well, that settled it!” But, unfortunately for them, these stats actually prove that advocates against racial injustice are clearly correct.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the country is 77 percent white (62 percent if you remove white Latinos) and only 13 percent Black. Despite a lack of easy, concrete data on the issue, Politifact finds through its analysis of existing data that police are around three times more likely to kill a Black person than a white one.

The disparity doesn’t end with police killings. Black Americans face a consistently racist outcome in any interaction with the criminal justice system. Black folks are thrown into jail at roughly six times the rate white people are incarcerated. They're imprisoned at 10 times the rate of whites for drug offenses. And Black individuals convicted of crimes are left in prison for nonviolent offenses almost as long as whites are for actual violent offenses.

Despite the equivocation of white supremacists who try to conceal the real experiences of Black Americans, the numbers are devastating.

We have a responsibility to correct the record when anyone tries to make the preposterous claim that white Americans are somehow victimized as a group in any way. Being Black in America is demonstrably dangerous.

While a needed uprising against systemic racism is taking place, we have many years of work to do before any claim can be made that the U.S. operates on a level racial playing field.

77-Year-Old Blind Man Calls 911 for Help, Cop Shows Up, Beats & Arrests Him for No Reason

Instead of helping the man in need, the officer escalated the situation to violence.

By Matt Agorist / The Free Thought Project
November 1, 2015

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Denver, CO — Philip White was traveling back home from a conference on technical advancements to assist the blind on May 22, 2012, when he missed his bus in Denver. White, who was 77 at the time, and blind, called the police after the bus station security guard told him he had to leave the station. This call would prove to be detrimental.

White was told that the bus was full and he couldn’t get on board. He only wanted to discuss options with staffers at the terminal, but he eventually was told by a security guard that he was “trespassing” and he’d have to leave the terminal, according to court documents.
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“Philip White missed his bus to the mountains, when he asked Greyhound staff for help in catching the next bus home, he was told by a security guard he was trespassing and had to leave the Greyhound Bus Depot,” said White’s attorney Mari Newman. “This is a Master’s Degree holder and long-time educator who was set upon with excessive force as police violated his civil rights, all over a bus ticket.”

After being told to leave, White declined and then called the police. Officer Kyllion Chafin of the notoriously brutal Denver police department showed up.

Though White had placed the call to police, Chafin escalated the situation to violence. White, who did not know Chafin was a police officer since he couldn't see him, asked to feel Chafin’s badge to confirm he was an officer.

“He told me ‘You aren’t touching me,’” said White.

According to KDVR,

The cop grabbed his arms, forcing them behind him, then cuffed him so tightly he suffered nerve damage in his fingers — or eyes, for him. He was then slammed into the ticket counter leaving his head bleeding.

When Sgt. Bob Wykoff arrived, instead of trying to defuse the situation and offer the blind man help, without reading White his Miranda Rights, he began to videotape a bus station interrogation without White’s consent.

White was then brought to the downtown jail where he sat for eight hours before police realized they had no reason to keep him. He was then released, bloodied and bruised, without charges.

“I thought they would have killed me if they thought they could get away with it,” said White. “I always trusted cops, but now my confidence in them is shaken. I felt so bad I wanted to leave the USA.”

On Friday, Denver taxpayers were held liable for Chafin’s violence. A jury awarded White $100,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages.

Chafin faced zero discipline and his department defended his brutal actions.

“We respect the court and we respect the jury’s decision,” said Sonny Jackson, a police spokesman. “We reviewed the case. We didn’t find any violations of policy. We are always looking for ways to improve.”

Incompetent Cops Arrest Innocent Deaf Woman, Kidnap, Sedate and Humiliate Her

Cops were on the scene for 45 minutes and never bothered to request a translator.

By Andrew Emett / The Free Thought Project
October 31, 2015


A deaf woman reached a $750,000 settlement this week after an NYPD officer lied about her disability and refused to provide a legally mandated translator before wrongfully arresting her. Although the cop was responsible for wrongfully arresting the deaf woman and violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, taxpayers will bear the burden of the settlement.

On Sept. 11, 2011, Diana Williams and her husband, Chris, who are both deaf, attempted to evict tenants who had failed to pay rent. After the tenant’s boyfriend allegedly gestured that he had a gun, Chris Williams called for the police using a video relay service that should have tipped off the dispatcher to send a translator along with the responding officers. When NYPD officers arrived at the scene without a translator, they began questioning the hearing people while ignoring the deaf people.
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Officer Christopher Romano and his partner spoke only to the tenant’s hearing roommate and her boyfriend, while ignoring Diana and Chris Williams. The cops were on the scene for 45 minutes, yet Romano never bothered to request a translator. Although several deaf tenants in the building offered to translate for Williams, who cannot hear, speak English or read lips, Romano rejected their help and decided to arrest her based on the false account from the tenant’s boyfriend.

After cuffing Williams’ hands behind her back, Romano was unable to explain the arrest to her deaf family members before taking her away. Although Williams clearly needed an interpreter, Romano checked the “No” box on the arrest report asking if an interpreter was required. He also checked “No” on separate paperwork asking if Williams had a disability.

In a deposition, Romano falsely insisted he spoke with Williams before arresting her.

When Chris Williams arrived at the precinct with a sign language interpreter, the NYPD threatened to arrest them if they didn’t leave. Her arm shackled to the wall, Diana Williams began hyperventilating. When the cops transferred her to another precinct, she desperately attempted to write “Hospital” on the dirty window of the patrol car with her finger but only managed to spell out “HOSP.”

hosp

At Richmond University Hospital, Williams was able to communicate with an interpreter who agreed to tell the cops her side of the story. In response, one of the officers reportedly signed, “Bullshit.”

After spending the night in handcuffs, Williams was returned to the hospital where her breathing continued to get worse. Instead of giving her access to another interpreter, Williams was injected with a sedative and awoke again at the precinct. Held for 24 hours, she was finally released without charges.

“The NYPD needs to know how to treat deaf people,” Williams asserted. “One woman officer made fun of me, waving her hands at me when I tried to speak. Another woman officer grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall when I reached to pat her hand — that’s how deaf people signal we want someone’s attention…they didn’t even know that basic thing.”

Perhaps when young black men are as likely not, repeat not, to be parts of criminal gangs as whites and also to stop murdering other young black men in numbers far far greater then whites or other groupings.

Police are the least of the dangers that face young black men n fact the greatest danger to young black men are other young black men.

Such homicides are the leading cause of deaths in that group ahead of accidents and diseases unlike all other groups in society.

Lesbian Couple Says Cop Arrested Them for Kissing in Public

A Hawaiian vacation turned into a five-month legal ordeal for one same-sex couple.
By Kali Holloway / AlterNet
October 29, 2015

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Photo Credit: Associated Press / Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero, a lesbian couple from Los Angeles, say they were harassed and thrown in jail by a cop while on vacation in Hawaii—all because he didn’t like the sight of the same-sex couple kissing in public. The two have filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging discrimination, and the Honolulu Police Department says it has opened an internal investigation.

Speaking with Hawaii News Now, the couple said that on the second day of their vacation on Oahu, they stopped in a local grocery store. As they perused the aisles they held hands, and at one point, kissed. That’s when Honolulu police officer Bobby Harrison (who, just for the record, wasn’t on duty, but was shopping while wearing his uniform) allegedly started to badger them.
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"He was like, you girls, you girls can't do that in here," according to Guerrero.

The two women claim the officer continued to harangue them, even following them to the checkout counter and threatening to have them arrested for trespassing. The scene escalated when Harrison allegedly grabbed Wilson—who was calling the police on her cell phone—by the wrist. The two told the Chicago Tribune that Harrison got physical, “bumping his belly” against Wilson and stating, “You girls don't know how to act. You don't know the difference between a motel and a grocery store.”

"I got punched in the face by him," Wilson told HNN. "I split my nose open. We were on the ground."

Since Harrison didn’t have any handcuffs with him (again, he was off-duty), he had other employees detain the two while he found zip ties. "They took us down to the basement,” says Wilson, “where they continued to harass us about our conduct in the store, asking us if it was worth it, if we were happy where we are.”

The couple faced a felonious charge of assaulting a police officer and spent three days in jail. They say the $1,300 per person they spent on bail exhausted the funds they brought with them to Hawaii. Instead of returning home, the two women were forced to stay in Oahu as a condition of their release. With no money, they say they slept in a park, stayed with friends and even considered going to a homeless shelter. They ended up cleaning vacation rentals for money.

Charges were ultimately dropped, but not before the couple had spent five months on the island to comply with court orders. Wilson and Guerrero are now suing Officer Harrison, the city of Honolulu and the employees who aided in their arrest for reimbursement of costs and fees, as well as general and punitive damages.

Interestingly, HNN reports that surveillance camera footage of the incident from the store has, “disappeared.”

Hammond’s autopsy revealed that the teen was shot in the back of his left shoulder and his side.

By Matt Agorist / The Free Thought Project
October 28, 2015

As Tiller exited his vehicle, he ran to the side of Hammond’s car. Hammond was only attempting to leave the scene when Tiller acted as if his life was in danger and began firing as he screamed, “I’m gonna shoot your f*cking ass!”
Photo Credit: c/o The Free Thought Project

Seneca, SC — On July 26, Seneca Police Lt. Mark Tiller ran towards 19-year-old Zachary Hammond’s car with his gun drawn as Hammond’s date, Tori Morton, allegedly sold a few grams of marijuana to an undercover cop.
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According to Seneca Police Chief John Covington, Hammond drove toward Lt. Tiller in an attempt to murder him. Fearing for his life, Tiller shot Hammond twice at point-blank range killing him. But according to witness statements and Hammond’s autopsy, the teenager was not attempting to run down Tiller in the moments before his death.
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Hammond’s autopsy revealed that the teen was shot in the back of his left shoulder and his side.

In a letter from Hammond’s attorney to the FBI, a witness has recently come forward describing officers planting evidence under Hammond’s body and high-fiving his dead hand after the shooting. Although police found no weapon or drugs on Hammond, Chief Covington claims that a white powdery substance was found at the scene.

Tuesday, the much-awaited dashcam footage was finally released and it shows that the officer was indeed not in danger as he murdered Hammond.

As Tiller exited his vehicle, he ran to the side of Hammond’s car. Hammond was only attempting to leave the scene when Tiller acted as if his life was in danger and began firing as he screamed, “I’m gonna shoot your f*cking ass!”

Immediately after falsely claiming that his life was in danger, Tiller screams, “He tried to hit me.” This statement, according to the video evidence, is a blatant lie.

This teen was only trying to avoid having his life ruined for being caught with an “illegal plant.” Or, he was actually scared by a crazed maniac running toward him with a gun, screaming that he is “gonna shoot your f*cking ass.” Either way, the end result is tragic and unjust.

To add insult to this cop’s murder, 10th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams released a statement Tuesday, announcing that officer Tiller will not face state charges.

Below is a statement for City Administrator Greg Dietterick on behalf of Solicitor Chrissy Adam’s decision not to file charges against Seneca Police Lt. Mark Tiller in the shooting death of Seneca teen Zachary Hammond.

The past three months have been extremely difficult for the residents of Seneca, its city employees and the 45 members of its police force. While the effects of outside agitators to tear apart our community lingers, we are thankful the investigation has come to an end and shows Lt. Tiller was acting in self-defense. The night of July 26 was a tragic event for this community and I personally will always grieve for the Hammond family. I would like to thank the hard work of the local and state investigators who handled the cases expertly and professionally. I would like to thank Solicitor Adams, who suffered numerous personal attacks, for her diligence. I thank Chief John Covington for his courage and strength during these trying times as he and his family have been repeatedly maligned. I thank our Mayor and City Council for standing with us during this tragedy. It is now time to start healing Seneca.

The Free Thought Project is disgusted with the outcome in this case, and we are voicing our discontent. If you’d like to let them know that you are unhappy with their decision to watch a murder happen in broad daylight and on video, and still decide to let the killer free, please peacefully do so.

10th Judicial Circuit Solicitor: 864-260-4046

Seneca Police Department: 864-885-2718

Below is a shorter video with sound.



Update: Tuesday afternoon a second dashcam video was released showing the heartbreaking aftermath of the shooting. Police can be heard telling the dead body of Zach Hammond to “get on the ground.”

His date can be heard crying in disbelief after watching this young mandie for trying to purchase a plant that is legal in 5 states.

It true and once more time if true those months will end up enriching them by millions.

South Carolina Teen Who Filmed School Cop's Assault Is Arrested for 'Disturbing Schools'

This story keeps getting worse.
By Adam Johnson / AlterNet
October 27, 2015

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UPDATE: This has gotten much worse. Niya Kenny, 18, who filmed the now infamous arrest has been arrested herself for "disturbing schools." She's out on $1000 bail.
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WLTX reports that Kenny was trying to "stand up for her friend" when she filmed the assault, telling Loren Thomas of WLTX, "I was crying, screaming and crying like a baby. I was in disbelief." Both Kenny and her mother are understandably skeptical as to why she was arrested for "disturbing schools."
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"But looking at the video, who was really disturbing schools?" Kenny's mother told WLTX. "Was it my daughter or the officer who came into the classroom and did that to the young girl?"

*******

Ben Fields, the South Carolina police officer whose attack on a black student went viral in a video Monday, has faced previous abuse allegations.

Heavy.com posted a lawsuit that alleges Fields "recklessly targeted ... African-American Students With Allegations of Gang Membership." The suit, brought by Spring Valley High student Ashton James Reese, claims that Fields and a number of other officers violated his civil rights by targeting him and other students for "gang activity" where none existed. The lawsuit is currently pending and the trial is set for Jan. 27, 2016.

Another lawsuit from 2007 alleges Fields violated the civil rights of a man and woman in Columbia, SC. The man, Carlos Martin, says he and his wife were harassed by Fields in an apartment parking lot after making a "friendly gesture and greeting." Fields allegedly became enraged when Martin referred to him as "dude," though the lawsuit claims the term was used with "no disrespect." In his reply to the lawsuit Fields claimed Martin was playing "loud music" and became "boisterous" when he was approached. Both charges against Martin and his wife and the subsequent lawsuit were dropped.

Several students took to Twitter claiming Fields had a history of "slamming" people for years, including a pregnant girl in 2012.

Click to enlarge.

Columbia Mayor Steven Benjamin said in a statement about Monday's incident, “We cannot and will not accept this kind of behavior from any law enforcement officer and I firmly believe we need an independent investigation to get to the bottom of this incident and see that justice is done.”





Adam Johnson is an associate editor at AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter at @adamjohnsonnyc.

Citizens Forcing Police Accountability Is Working: Killer Cops Prosecuted at Record Rate
The days of unaccountable government killings seem to be numbered as killer cops have awakened a sleeping dragon.
By Matt Agorist / The Free Thought Project
October 26, 2015

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A once apathetic society, which had become so unquestioningly content with the status quo, is beginning to wake up. For over a decade, Americans stood by as police killings went largely unchecked. No one to count how many citizens had their lives taken by cops. But the days of unaccountable government killings seem to be numbered as killer cops have awakened a sleeping dragon.

Over the past two years, with Ferguson, Missouri, playing a key role, the American people have realized that some police officers are taking lives at an alarming rate — and they have taken action. Multiple independent sources, fed up with the failure of the federal government to track police killings, have begun tracking these killings independently. The Guardian, and now the Washington Post have been airing the dirty laundry the feds have kept under wraps for so long.
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Swarms of peaceful protesters have taken to the streets in the last two years as well, with people demanding that killer cops be charged. A new report out of Reuters suggests that to an extent, this demand is being met.

According to Reuters,

The number of U.S. police officers charged in fatal shootings has hit the highest level in a decade in 2015, new research shows, driven by greater scrutiny over use of deadly force.

Public outrage over the deaths of black men at the hands of police in New York, Missouri and elsewhere have spurred prosecutions. Police body cameras and bystanders’ videos also have helped bring cases, but even with the upturn, only a small percentage of police killings result in charges, lawyers and analysts say.

A dozen officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter this year resulting from shootings, up from an average of about five a year from 2005 to 2014, said Philip Stinson, an associate professor of criminology at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University. He sifted court records and media reports as part of research for the Justice Department on police crimes and arrests.

The above numbers do not include the six officers charged in the murder of Freddie Grey, as four of them have been charged only with manslaughter.

After watching grand jury after grand jury failing to indict killer cops—with some of the shootings caught on video—this spike in police officers being charged is heartening. However, it does not go nearly far enough. For every cop who is charged in the killing of an innocent victim, dozens more are not. For example, on Wednesday, a grand jury decided that Deputy Todd Raible, who shot and killed Derek Cruice did so because he is an apparent “hero” in the war on drugs, and they decided not to indict him.

While this spike in police prosecutions is not as high as we’d like to see, it shows that when Americans cast aside their apathetic tendencies, positive change can happen.

While holding police officers accountable for murder is a good thing, it is still only attacking a symptom of this country’s much larger sickness. As long as we continue to ignore the causes of police killings and gang violence, we will continue to see police killings and gang violence. It is time Americans stopped ignoring the war on drugs, which is the cause of much of this country’s ills. The drug war and subsequent recidivism it creates are the essential ingredients in police shootings and most gun violence. End the drug war and police killings will plummet — and so will gang violence.

Citizens Forcing Police Accountability Is Working: Killer Cops Prosecuted at Record Rate

The days of unaccountable government killings seem to be numbered as killer cops have awakened a sleeping dragon.

By Matt Agorist / The Free Thought Project
October 26, 2015

A once apathetic society, which had become so unquestioningly content with the status quo, is beginning to wake up. For over a decade, Americans stood by as police killings went largely unchecked. No one to count how many citizens had their lives taken by cops. But the days of unaccountable government killings seem to be numbered as killer cops have awakened a sleeping dragon.

Over the past two years, with Ferguson, Missouri, playing a key role, the American people have realized that some police officers are taking lives at an alarming rate — and they have taken action. Multiple independent sources, fed up with the failure of the federal government to track police killings, have begun tracking these killings independently. The Guardian, and now the Washington Post have been airing the dirty laundry the feds have kept under wraps for so long.
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Swarms of peaceful protesters have taken to the streets in the last two years as well, with people demanding that killer cops be charged. A new report out of Reuters suggests that to an extent, this demand is being met.

According to Reuters,

The number of U.S. police officers charged in fatal shootings has hit the highest level in a decade in 2015, new research shows, driven by greater scrutiny over use of deadly force.

Public outrage over the deaths of black men at the hands of police in New York, Missouri and elsewhere have spurred prosecutions. Police body cameras and bystanders’ videos also have helped bring cases, but even with the upturn, only a small percentage of police killings result in charges, lawyers and analysts say.

A dozen officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter this year resulting from shootings, up from an average of about five a year from 2005 to 2014, said Philip Stinson, an associate professor of criminology at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University. He sifted court records and media reports as part of research for the Justice Department on police crimes and arrests.

The above numbers do not include the six officers charged in the murder of Freddie Grey, as four of them have been charged only with manslaughter.

After watching grand jury after grand jury failing to indict killer cops—with some of the shootings caught on video—this spike in police officers being charged is heartening. However, it does not go nearly far enough. For every cop who is charged in the killing of an innocent victim, dozens more are not. For example, on Wednesday, a grand jury decided that Deputy Todd Raible, who shot and killed Derek Cruice did so because he is an apparent “hero” in the war on drugs, and they decided not to indict him.

While this spike in police prosecutions is not as high as we’d like to see, it shows that when Americans cast aside their apathetic tendencies, positive change can happen.

While holding police officers accountable for murder is a good thing, it is still only attacking a symptom of this country’s much larger sickness. As long as we continue to ignore the causes of police killings and gang violence, we will continue to see police killings and gang violence. It is time Americans stopped ignoring the war on drugs, which is the cause of much of this country’s ills. The drug war and subsequent recidivism it creates are the essential ingredients in police shootings and most gun violence. End the drug war and police killings will plummet — and so will gang violence.