SINGLE BIGGEST SOLUTION TO ELIMINATE POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER

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SINGLE BIGGEST SOLUTION TO ELIMINATE POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER

The single, most important action we can take to eliminate police brutality and murder is to decriminalize non-violent misdemeanor offenses.

I drafted a bill I call, “The Duante Wright Act” (in deference to the horrific, needless killing of Duante Wright) which would decriminalize all non-violent misdemeanor offenses. If a person fails to appear for a misdemeanor court date, then that person’s driver’s license is suspended until the absentee shows up to court to resolve their misdemeanor case.

The great majority of police excessive force complaints would have never occurred had all non-violent misdemeanor offenses been decriminalized. I cannot emphasize this enough.

The math reflects the reality of the situation:

*15 million arrests a year;

*80% or more of those 15 million arrests are misdemeanor arrests;

*decriminalizing all non-violent misdemeanor offenses would in fact categorically eliminate 75-80% of all 15 million arrests made in America each year;

*would categorically and literally eliminate the great majority of ALL POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER currently going unchecked.

I was the victim of extreme police brutality and I have spent a long time thinking about these issues.

This is why I believe “The Duante Wright Act” could and should be the single best, fastest and most direct route towards ending police brutality and murder in America.

A majority of 911 calls DO NOT REQUIRE dispatching armed, uniformed officers. The great majority of 911 calls are non-violent, … MORE >>>

In the first six months of health care professionals replacing police officers, no one they encountered was arrested

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DPD Chief Pazen, who is fond of the STAR program, says it frees up officers to do their jobs: fight crime.


Chris Richardson and Carleigh Sailon with the Mental Health Center of Denver (left and right) and Spencer Lee, a Denver Health paramedic, stand in front of the Support Team Assisted Response’s new van. June 8, 2020. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

A young program that puts troubled nonviolent people in the hands of health care workers instead of police officers has proven successful in its first six months, according to a progress report.

Since June 1, 2020, a mental health clinician and a paramedic have traveled around the city in a white van handling low-level incidents, like trespassing and mental health episodes, that would have otherwise fallen to patrol officers with badges and guns. In its first six months, the Support Team Assisted Response program, or STAR, has responded to 748 incidents. None required police or led to arrests or jail time.

The civilian team handled close to six incidents a day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, in high-demand neighborhoods. STAR does not yet have enough people or vans to respond to every nonviolent incident, but about 3 percent of calls for DPD service, or over 2,500 incidents, were worthy of the alternative approach, according to the report.

STAR represents a more empathetic approach to policing that keeps people out of an often-cyclical criminal justice system by

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Stop Overpolicing

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What is “overpolicing?”

“Overpolicing” is when a municipality and police dept. maintain an arrest policy which includes repeatedly arresting low-level, non-violent offenders.

“Overpolicing” is usually driven by arrest quotas. Police officers are required to make a certain number of arrests or citations, such quotas being instrumental in funding a municipal budget.

Retired and ex-police officers admit driving to minority neighborhoods to make arrests and to meet their quotas.

Police departments usually eat up about half a municipality’s budget.

National data shows that of more than 10.5 million arrests made every year: the bulk are for noncriminal behavior, drug violations, and low-level offenses.

Since 1980, arrests for drug violations have increased by 170 percent, and racial disparities in enforcement have grown even more stark.

Since the police murder of George Floyd and others, a growing movement for police accountability also exposed systemic problems with everyday policing practices and community policies.

Aggressive enforcement of low-level offenses, especially in communities of color, causes long-term damage to those communities and their relationship with police.

“There’s a growing understanding that the problems of policing are not limited to a few high-profile deaths but are the result of a broader problem of over-policing,” said Alex Vitale, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College and author of a book that argues for alternatives to policing rather than police reform.

“The solution to this is not making police arrests friendlier or more professional. It’s to quit relying on arrests … MORE >>>

Since 2015: 48 Black Women Killed by the Police. And Only 2 Charges.

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Since 2015: 48 Black Women Killed by the Police. And Only 2 Charges.
For many, the grand jury announcement in Breonna Taylor’s case was more of the same, underscoring the need for systemic change.

“The system that killed Breonna Taylor is not set up to provide justice or reparations for the killing of Breonna Taylor.”
— Andrea Ritchie, author of “Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color”

After more than 100 days of protests demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a grand jury’s decision on Wednesday to not bring charges related to her death against the police officers involved landed with a thud for those who had hoped for more, and stronger, charges.

On March 13, a little after midnight, three police officers punched down the door of Ms. Taylor’s apartment in Louisville, Ky. using a no-knock warrant in a late-night drug raid. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fearing an intruder, reached for his gun and let off one shot, wounding an officer. Another officer and the wounded officer returned fire, while a third began blindly shooting through Ms. Taylor’s window and patio door.

The two officers who shot Ms. Taylor six times face no charges, while a former police detective, Brett Hankison, was indicted on a charge of “wanton endangerment” for firing recklessly into a neighbor’s apartment.

“The decision before my office is not to decide if the loss of Breonna Taylor’s life was a tragedy

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NUMEROUS DEPARTMENTS HAVE DUTY FOR COPS TO INTERVENE WHEN FELLOW OFFICERS USE EXCESSIVE FORCE

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NUMEROUS DEPARTMENTS HAVE DUTY FOR COPS TO INTERVENE
When Fellow Officers Use Excessive Force

The 3 officers who watched Derek Chauvin choke the life out of George Floyd will soon go on trial for doing nothing to stop the murder. We surveyed a number of police departments around the country to see if they allow/encourage officers to step in when another officer — even if it’s a senior officer — crosses the line … like what happened in the O.C. this week.

What we found was interesting. Virtually every department we contacted said they have a policy in place requiring officers to intervene when another cop uses excessive force. The question is, of course, are these regulations really followed? Here’s what we found.

MIAMI PD — “The MDPD has a policy on an officer’s duty to intervene. This policy is specific to seeing another officer using force that is clearly beyond that which objectively is reasonable … they are mandated to take action and stop these acts from taking place.”

INDIANAPOLIS PD — “Officers are required to take appropriate action when they are aware of violations of department policies. It does not matter the rank or seniority of the people involved.”

Play video content5/25/20
EXCESSIVE FORCE
Facebook/ Darnella Frazier
NYPD — “All members of the service must intervene to stop another member of the service from using excessive force. Failure to intervene in the use of excessive force, or report … MORE >>>

COP REPEATEDLY PUNCHES BLACK MAN IN FACE (Grand Rapids Michigan)

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4/22/2021 8:52 AM PT
OFFICER SAYS YOU’RE LUCKY YOU’RE NOT DEAD – STUPID COP BEATS HIM IN THE FACE – VICTIM YELLS, “I CAN’T BREATHE!”

A Grand Rapids cop punched a Black man in the face at least 6 times during his arrest that was, at least initially, for littering … according to the police.

The video comes from body cam footage of a March 26 incident in Michigan where Grand Rapids PD officers pulled over Diabate Hood. According to reports, Hood had 2 other men in the car with him, but he refused to step out like his passengers.

The full video shows Hood apparently trying to flee from cops by jumping from the driver’s seat and sliding out the passenger side door, but 3 officers immediately pounced on him … and that’s where the violence begins.

As you can see … Hood is being held down by the 3 cops, and one begins delivering several blows to his face. As he screams, the other officers can be heard yelling “stop resisting.” Moments later, Hood claims he can’t breathe as officers hold him down.

According to Grand Rapids police … the traffic stop was part of its Operation: Safe Neighborhoods program in response to an uptick of violent crime in the area, and claim they had “timely and accurate intelligence” to justify it.

In fact, Grand Rapids PD Chief Eric Payne says … “This is the police work that

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The Police Murder of Andrew Brown Jr. – Shot In the Back of His Head by N. Carolina Deputies

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On April 21st, 2021 in the small town of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Andrew Brown Jr. was shot to death by three Pasquotank County Sheriff deputies, as deputies appeared at Brown’s home to serve a search warrant and arrest warrant for Andrew Brown Jr.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II and Superior Court Judge Jeff Foster refused to release the body cam footage or any additional footage of the murder.

Only one family member and family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter were allowed to see 20 seconds of one of the officer’s body camera. Chantel said the bodycam video showed Brown posed no threat to police during Wednesday’s incident. She said the video showed Brown in his car in his driveway with his hands on the steering wheel; Cherry-Lassiter specifically stated at no point did Andrew Brown threaten or harm the seven or eight deputies present in his driveway. Cherry-Lassiter emphasized the reason Brown drove awway was because the deputies were firing at him and Brown was trying to evade sheriffs’ gunfire.

A couple of days later, the County attorney appeared in local court and told the judge that Brown backed into officers with his vehicle and struck officers when Brown drove away from the officers.

Sheriff Tommy Wooten said that the video could be released in the next few days, and the Elizabeth City Council voted unanimously to petition the Pasquotank County Sheriff to release body camera video.

NPR:

A North

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Police Are Trained to Kill – Not to Wound or Disable

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A reporter asked Columbus, Ohio Chief of Police Michael Woods why didn’t the officer shoot her (16-yr. old b/f Makhia Bryant) in the leg or shoot to wound instead of to kill?

“Firearms training is you fire until the threat is over. Training is you fire until you stop the threat. We don’t train to shoot the leg because that’s a small target. We train to shoot center mass – what is available to stop that threat. There was a threat of deadly force going on, so the officer is trained to shoot center mass, the largest part of the body available to them.”

Columbus, Ohio Chief of Police Michael Woods


“No! You ain’t shoot my f—ing baby,” a man at the scene is heard screaming after Reardon fires four shots and hits Bryant.

“Are you f—ing serious?” the man, who was not identified, is heard screaming. “You shot my baby. Are you f—ing kidding me? Are you f—ing serious?”

“She had a knife,” Reardon is heard saying. “She just went at her.”

“She’s a f—ing kid, man,” the man responds. “Man, are you stupid? A f—ing kid?”


Bodycams from the other officers at the scene capture the chaos that followed the shooting, with bystanders berating cops.

“You are a selfish son of a bitch for shooting that girl,” one man tells cops.



Another reporter asked Columbus Chief of Police Woods, “Why didn’t the officer at least warn her that … MORE >>>

The Police Murder of Daunte Wright

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Cochran Law Firm managing partner Brian Dunn appeared on MSNBC, during Daunte Wright’s funeral and shamelessly, strongly and repeatedly blamed blacks running from police as the cause and justification for police to kill blacks evading police.

Dunn, a civil rights attorney who sues and wins lots of money from municipalities for police brutality against blacks, KNOWS BETTER!

Brian Dunn KNOWS what every civil attorney knows: a person who is evading police has a constitutional right to evade police as long as that person is not threatening death or serious bodily harm to the officer or others.

Says who? Says the U.S. Supreme Court in Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985) “Held: The Tennessee statute is unconstitutional insofar as it authorizes the use of deadly force against, as in this case, an apparently unarmed, nondangerous fleeing suspect; such force may not be used unless necessary to prevent the escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. Pp. 7-22.”

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