Police tactics subject of broad review

[RKP5637]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/08/12/police-force-panel/13951033/?csp=breakingnews

WASHINGTON —The Justice Department is leading a broad review of police tactics, including the kind of deadly force that prompted recent protests in Missouri and New York, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday.

The review is being conducted as the department weighs creating a national commission to provide new direction on such controversial issues.

In addition to deadly force, the review is expected to examine law enforcement's increasing encounters with the mentally ill, the application of emerging technologies such as body cameras, and police agencies' expanding role in homeland security efforts since 9/11, said the official, who is not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

The review is slated to be completed early next year while authorities consider establishing a special law enforcement commission similar to a panel created by President Johnson to deal with problems then associated with rising crime.

Rather than violent crime, which has been in decline in much of the country, police are now grappling with persistent incidents involving use of force and their responses to an array of public safety issues, from drug overdoses to their dealings with the mentally ill and the emotionally disturbed.

The call for a broader federal policy review, while not directly tied to any specific incident, grew out of a meeting involving law enforcement advocacy groups and Justice officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder, the official said.

"Nobody has looked at the profession in any holistic way in more than 50 years,'' the official said.

[woo me with science]

1. The federal government is the one MILITARIZING the police departments.

Homeland Security is the source of the grants to local police departments for weapons and vehicles like tanks. All they have to do is STOP IT.

This is like claiming you support net neutrality while appointing Comcast to your administration.
Or claiming you care about inequality while pushing the TPP and TISA
Or making a big speech about reining in the military, while re-entering Iraq and arming Israel.
It's PR.

Military device used on Detroit protest against #WaterShutoffs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014852205

All The Infrastructure A Tyrant Would Need, Courtesy Of Bush And Obama - TheAtlantic
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022973186

The Militarizing of Local Police (through Federal Grants)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bradlockwood/2011/11/30/the-militarizing-of-local-police/

Another Day, Another 124 Violent SWAT Raids
https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/another-day-another-124-violent-swat-raids

Does your local government have a “black budget” too?
https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty-criminal-law-reform/does-your-local-government-have

Too many cops are told they're soldiers.
https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-free-speech-technology-and-liberty/too-many-cops-are-told-theyre-soldiers

One ongoing scandal in the criminal justice world, for example, is the fact that there's no reliable data on how often police officers fire their weapons at citizens. The federal government is supposed to collect these figures, but for whatever reason, it simply hasn't done so.

Towns don't need tanks, but they have them.
https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-free-speech/towns-dont-need-tanks-they-have-them

Full ACLU Report on Police Militarization
https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-police-report

[RKP5637]

3. Exactly, well said! My first thought was, is this going to be a white wash for police brutality!

And so many instances go unheard.

[Faux pas]

2. They are way beyond

out of control. Serve and Protect has gotten lost somewhere along the way, sickening!

[woo me with science]

4. +1000000 And disturbing as hell.

Mass surveillance, militarized police, intimidation of journalism, persecution of whistleblowers, propaganda machines...corporate government.

Fascism has come to America, and it's only going to get worse...

[RKP5637]

6. And many Americas still say, well, if I did nothing wrong I have nothing to be concerned about. So

many Americans are so damn naive.

[Faux pas]

8. I'm in shock

over the fact that the press has been locked out on this incident All of this is taking me right back to the 60's. I was a teenager then and couldn't believe that human beings were treated so badly.

Saw Phillip Agnew on msnbc (Chris Hayes I think) he's the head of Dream Defenders here's there site:
http://dreamdefenders.org/thecrisis/

I'm checking into how to get involved. The horror needs to STOP NOW.

[redqueen]

9. Thanks for sharing that link. nt

[Faux pas]

10. You're welcome! n/t

[RKP5637]

5. After 911, cops got a free pass to do what they damn well please with seemingly

little control or restraint IMO.

[Faux pas]

7. We're (as in you and I)

are in total agreement on that.

[lpbk2713]

11. First item I'd put on the list ...

Psychiatric evaluation for every employee that deals with the public.

And not just a wink and a nod from one good ole boy to another.

[RKP5637]

12. Exactly! IMO politicians should be on that list too! There are some real wackos in

politics and many citizens can't seem to sort that out when they vote.