Law Enforcement
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A Chicago Man Was Shot Twice by Police. His Crime Was Walking Between Train Cars
For a group that is meant to de-escalate situations, the police seem to be straight up terrible at it. Unfortunately, their failings often result in someone getting hurt if not flat out killed. NBC News reports that the two officers responsible for shooting 33-year-old Ariel Roman have had their police powers stripped. Last Friday, Roman…
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NYPD Officers Caught on Video Brutally Taking Down Young Black Man Who Is Not Resisting for Allegedly Smoking a Joint in Public
Another day, another video of police inflicting violence on the very people who pay the salaries they earn to protect and serve the public. “Velvet” (her stage name, and the only name by which she wishes to be identified) told The Root she had just gotten off the L train and was on her way…
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NYPD ‘Stop-and-Frisk’ Numbers Up 22 Percent in 2019
The controversial “stop-and-frisk” policy of the New York Police Department has spent a great deal time in the news lately as former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg—who is currently running for president—has been repeatedly called to task for the policy he supported up until recently. Bloomberg did an about-face on the policy back in November, as…
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About Damn Time: Instead of Tickets, Minnesota Police Department Will Now Issue Vouchers to Repair Broken Taillights
As a black man in America whose survival instincts require me to avoid police at all costs, I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about how a broken taillight or brake light can invite harassment, an introduction to our criminal justice system, or worse. Thankfully, police officers in Minneapolis have come to their senses—presumably—and will now…
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Can Vallejo Police Be Trusted to Investigate an Officer-Involved Shooting?
When an officer shoots and kills someone, whether on-duty or off, there is usually an investigation into the shooting to determine whether there was any wrongdoing on the part of the officer involved. History has shown us that police officers are rarely held accountable for their actions when it comes to the use of deadly…
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Here’s How Many People Police Killed in 2019…We Think
On Oct. 14, 2019, 12-year-old Akeelah Jackson was returning to her St. Louis home from a Family Dollar store. As she crossed the street, an unidentified St. Louis County police officer was pursuing a traffic violation at 59 mph on a street zoned for 30 mph, according to the St. Louis American. When the car…
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LAPD Accused of Falsifying Records, Wrongfully Identifying Residents as Gang Members: ‘An Officer’s Integrity Must Be Absolute’
Black people have enough problems without police unnecessarily complicating our lives, and it makes it extra disturbing that more than a dozen police officers in Los Angeles just got caught doing exactly that. The Los Angeles Times reports that officers within LA’s elite Metro Division are under investigation for falsifying information that was collected during traffic…
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Racist Cop Who Kicked in Black Woman’s Door Resigns
I can hear the bass strumming along with the words: Another one bites the dust. Another one bites the dust. Michael J. Reynolds, the white New York Police Department officer who broke into a black woman’s home in Tennessee during and apparent drunken rage and threatened her and her sons, has resigned from the police…
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West Virginia Cadets Fired After Flashing Nazi Salute in Class Photo
Hail Hitler? Hell, no! West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced Monday he has approved the recommendation to fire all of the corrections cadets who participated in a Nazi salute during a class photo taken in November. The report, conducted by the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, revealed that cadets of Basic…
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70-Year-Old Woman Tased Three Times, Arrested by Florida Deputy Attempting to Enter Her Home: 'I Was Scared'
Barbara Pinkney of Bradenton, Fla., has been left distraught and traumatized after a horrific encounter with Manatee County sheriff’s deputies. CBS News and WFLA report that on Dec. 26, deputies came to the 70-year-old’s home to serve an arrest warrant to her grandson, Tevin Turner, on a probation violation for carrying a concealed weapon. “We…