Forum Post: Curbing Police Brutality:WHAT WORKS?
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 24, 2011, 2:45 p.m. EST by hjames
(8)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Liqun Cao, Ph.D. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology
The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report:
This project was supported by Grant No. #98-IJ-CX-O064 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. November 30, 1999
Curbing Police Brutality:WHAT WORKS? 40 pages http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/192518.pdf mirror
http://www.multiupload.com/LHDBEYUBVC
mp3 audio65 minutes
http://www.multiupload.com/L8GA971QS9
INTRODUCTION
Police officers have been granted the privilege of using “non-negotiable coercive force” (Bittner 1970) to control citizens’ behavior and ensure public order. While the authority to use such force is not a problem, its proper application is “the central problem of contemporary police misconduct”
THEORY AND HYPOTHESES The study of police brutality is important since it illustrates fundamental conflicts that arise from policing in a democratic society. Given the importance of the issue in improving police and community relations, many theories have been proposed for curbing the damaging behavior of police.
Officers intent on using excessive force will.
It is city councils that enable them by not imposing some constraints on the types and degree of law suits that city's are willing to pay out for. City that make it clear that they will not pay for excessive force will have lower instances of it to pay for.
Police have always known that their excessive force will be settled in law suits by cities. It empowers them to act with impunity.
The only long term solution is to research your community's insurance policies for paying out excessive force settlements. then go to a sympathetic city council member(s) and get the policy changed to be less tolerant of excessive force.
these suits also include gag orders. Once you settle with the city you no longer have a right to tell people about how you were abused by police. I was the only one of 89 people who, in 1971, was arrested and brutalized by Philadelphia police at a visit by Richard Nixon. I am the only person who, today, can tell you about the casual violence done by police. and about how they teamed up with construction trades union people who would incite a violent altercation only to have police step in to protect the union thugs from the "PEACE" demonstrators.
Remove the gag order clause and police will no longer be able to hide behind the false appearance of not having ever done anything wrong in the past. Allow the electorate to be informed about these events.
Thanks, its good to have people like you - here.
Analyzing ows and the way it operates- there is one very big flaw !!! They refuse to train their demonstrators- i don't think they want there people to understand how non violent resistance works. Other activist organizations insist their members go thru a training program. ------------------- sending demonstrators in without legal and how to avoid the police is putting those demonstrators at high risk.
Your absolutely right.
And there is so much more that can be achieved in protest if the participants are educated so that they can creatively use the event to the best ends rather than aimlessly throwing themselves at situations that most people know will cause a reprisal from police.
Thank you!!!
A statement from Memphis authorities reaffirming their policies relating to their citizens' right to lawfully protest, could help prevent another abuse of power. Quotes below are from the epilogue of the book "Protectors of Privilege: Red Squads and Police Repression in Urban America" by Frank Donner (a civil liberties lawyer)
"...Mayor Wyeth Chandler ordered the police to burn all the files of the Domestic Intelligence Unit (DIU, as the local red squad was called) and to abolish the unit altogether."........"In compliance with the mayor's order, 180 boxes of files were reportedly destroyed on September 10, 1976, at the very time the ACLU was in court to obtain a restraining order to preserve the files..."..............."embarrassing documents were unearthed in the basement of a building formerly used by the red squad that had escaped the mayor's destruction order..."...........(result:) "...a restrictive settlement decree used as a model in other litigation and legislative efforts." Source: Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=FR1ogMhofc0C&pg=PA348&lpg=PA348&dq=memphis++Wyeth+Chandler+destroys+files+kept+on+citizens&source=bl&ots=Ia1MVqF-Uv&sig=dBd_54kwj0uQ_ddhEDIMn0P4qyE&hl=en&ei=kbeNTpzKKsuPsAKzopCgAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
If you are entering a potential police violence situation:
carry a 12"x18" cloth flag in a ziploc with some water and
put it over your face when they start to spray
Father dies after police stop daughter's CPR
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Father-dies-after-police-stop-daughter-s-CPR-2422514.php
what a sad story- i feel so sorry for them.
It would be best if we could focus in only on the bad cops- those who feel that they are above the law- but all the other cops and the system covers for them- We have no choice other then saying all cops are bad- If a cop see another break the law and does nothing then he also is guilty of the same crime- see post above Women, Violence and Nonviolent Change
A good cop is a bad cop under bad leadership.
When the cops orders come from Washington DC. they are following bad leadership- they need to do what they took an oth to do SERVE AND PROTECT- the people and not just serve the 1%
I don't think that you can blame leadership for every incident. It boils down to empathy, something known to be lacking in less intelligent people.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ambigamy/200905/empathic-intelligence-put-yourself-in-their-shoes-unlace-yours
I think IQ testing and a minimum BA majoring in psychology should be mandatory for law enforcement. It will cost more in pay but how many more officers could you hire if you didn't have all of these court cases?
The military requires an ASVAB, why don't we have the same in place for officers?
My Grandmother says locks keep good people honest. There is a culture of police misconduct, the "good" cops turn sour real quick without even realizing. Regarding psych tests, I knew this crazy guy, his claim to fame was he tested the most "normal" of his military group.
They don't WANT cops with high IQs, just high enough to follow orders without questioning them. Same goes for many jobs.
Of course. The police can do whatever they want to you and get away with it (they cover for each other). A cop can shoot and kill you and it's fine. His buddies will cover for him and say you were resisting or went to grab for the cops gun. However, you shoot and kill a cop even if in self defense and YOU will get the death penalty. Sound fair? The COP works for the corrupt system. YOU do not. Cop wins.
Cop works within the system. You do not. Cop loses.
I had to read that a few times?- You are correct- we can't loose. Its a game where they tell their rules- and we can play the game under whatever rules we want- we out number them- can run faster, have sentry's. superior communication, we are smarter. better organized. we are organized in smaller groups and react faster.
The snake is fast and lethal, but the mongoose faster and more accurate. Be the mongoose.