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"Before you can fairly assess the legitimacy of the ongoing protests or the quality of the government’s response, you must understand the relevant facts. And the most relevant fact is that America’s criminal justice system is rotten to its core."
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Showing posts with label Police Accountability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Police Accountability. Show all posts
Can Big Data Stop Bad Cops?
" This article is part of an ongoing examination by The Washington Post of fatal shootings by police. In 2015, The Post began tracking cases nationwide and compiled a database of all fatal shootings by officers in the line of duty. The project has expanded this year to include details about the officers involved. View the 2016 database here.
The Justice Department’s investigation of Baltimore police this month rebuked the agency for an entrenched culture of discriminatory policing. Deep within their findings, Justice investigators singled out a core failure: Baltimore’s system for identifying troubled officers was broken and existed in name only.
In Baltimore, Justice found that critical disciplinary records were excluded from its early intervention system, that police supervisors often intervened only after an officer’s behavior became egregious and that when they did, the steps they took were inadequate....
...The problems with Baltimore’s early intervention system are not isolated to police in that city. In numerous departments nationwide, police have failed to use early intervention systems effectively, Justice has found. Since 1994, 36 civil rights investigations by Justice discovered that local agencies had deeply flawed early intervention systems or no system in place at all, according to a review of those investigations by The Washington Post."
View the DOJ Report
" This article is part of an ongoing examination by The Washington Post of fatal shootings by police. In 2015, The Post began tracking cases nationwide and compiled a database of all fatal shootings by officers in the line of duty. The project has expanded this year to include details about the officers involved. View the 2016 database here.
The Justice Department’s investigation of Baltimore police this month rebuked the agency for an entrenched culture of discriminatory policing. Deep within their findings, Justice investigators singled out a core failure: Baltimore’s system for identifying troubled officers was broken and existed in name only.
In Baltimore, Justice found that critical disciplinary records were excluded from its early intervention system, that police supervisors often intervened only after an officer’s behavior became egregious and that when they did, the steps they took were inadequate....
...The problems with Baltimore’s early intervention system are not isolated to police in that city. In numerous departments nationwide, police have failed to use early intervention systems effectively, Justice has found. Since 1994, 36 civil rights investigations by Justice discovered that local agencies had deeply flawed early intervention systems or no system in place at all, according to a review of those investigations by The Washington Post."
View the DOJ Report
Chicago Rarely Penalizes Officers for Complaints, Data Shows
"In
18 years with the Chicago Police Department, the nation’s
second-largest, Jerome Finnigan had never been disciplined — although 68
citizen complaints had been lodged against him, including accusations
that he used excessive force and regularly conducted illegal searches.
Then,
in 2011, he admitted to robbing criminal suspects while serving in an
elite police unit and ordering a hit on a fellow police officer he
thought intended to turn him in. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. 'My bosses knew what I was doing out there, and it went on and on,' he
said in court when he pleaded guilty. 'And this wasn’t the exception to
the rule. This was the rule.'
Mr. Finnigan is one of thousands of Chicago police officers who have
been the subject of citizen complaints over the years but have not been
disciplined by the department, according to data
released this month by the Invisible Institute, a nonprofit journalism
organization, and the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic of the University of
Chicago Law School. Such information is rarely made public and has come
to light in Chicago only after a decade-long legal battle by the institute and the clinic."
Watching the Watchmen: Best Practices for Police Body Cameras
"Coverage of recent police killings has prompted a much-needed debate on law enforcement reform, and proposals for police body cameras have featured heavily in these discussions. Body cameras undoubtedly gather valuable evidence of police misconduct, and although research on the effects of body cameras is comparatively limited there are good reasons to believe that they can improve police behavior.
However, without the right policies in place the use of police body cameras could result in citizens' privacy being needlessly violated. In addition, poorly considered police body camera policies governing the storage and release of footage might be too costly to implement.
This paper examines the research on the costs and benefits of police body cameras, arguing that the devices can, if properly deployed and regulated, provide a valuable disincentive to police abuses as well as valuable evidence for punishing abuses when they occur."
"Coverage of recent police killings has prompted a much-needed debate on law enforcement reform, and proposals for police body cameras have featured heavily in these discussions. Body cameras undoubtedly gather valuable evidence of police misconduct, and although research on the effects of body cameras is comparatively limited there are good reasons to believe that they can improve police behavior.
However, without the right policies in place the use of police body cameras could result in citizens' privacy being needlessly violated. In addition, poorly considered police body camera policies governing the storage and release of footage might be too costly to implement.
This paper examines the research on the costs and benefits of police body cameras, arguing that the devices can, if properly deployed and regulated, provide a valuable disincentive to police abuses as well as valuable evidence for punishing abuses when they occur."
Weaning America Off Violent Crime Stats: http://t.co/6Ovah9rxaM
— Crim Library UTL (@CrimLib) September 25, 2015
What Good is a Video You Can't See?
"Police body cameras are meant to be a tool of public accountability. But even experts can't agree on how to make sure that happens.
Body cameras were introduced as a tool of public accountability, but making their videos available to the public might be too fraught, too complex, and too expensive to actually put into practice.
Much of the ambiguity around body cameras comes down to this: Despite their general popularity, despite being the only policy change called for by the family of Michael Brown, body cameras are a little weird. They are both a way for the public to see what police officers are doing and a way for people to be surveilled. If a body-cam program, scaled across an entire department, were to release its footage willy-nilly, it would be a privacy catastrophe for untold people. Police-worn cameras don't just capture footage from city streets or other public places. Officers enter people's homes, often when those people are at their most vulnerable"
"Police body cameras are meant to be a tool of public accountability. But even experts can't agree on how to make sure that happens.
Body cameras were introduced as a tool of public accountability, but making their videos available to the public might be too fraught, too complex, and too expensive to actually put into practice.
Much of the ambiguity around body cameras comes down to this: Despite their general popularity, despite being the only policy change called for by the family of Michael Brown, body cameras are a little weird. They are both a way for the public to see what police officers are doing and a way for people to be surveilled. If a body-cam program, scaled across an entire department, were to release its footage willy-nilly, it would be a privacy catastrophe for untold people. Police-worn cameras don't just capture footage from city streets or other public places. Officers enter people's homes, often when those people are at their most vulnerable"
The Police Are Still Out of Control
"...Today the combination of an excess of deadly force and near-total lack of accountability is more dangerous than ever: Most cops today can pull out their weapons and fire without fear that anything will happen to them, even if they shoot someone wrongfully. All a police officer has to say is that he believes his life was in danger, and he’s typically absolved.... In some ways, matters have gotten even worse. The gulf between the police and the communities they serve has grown wider.... The automatic weapons and bulletproof vest may protect the officer, but they also insulate him from the very society he’s sworn to protect. All that firepower and armor puts an even greater wall between the police and society, and solidifies that 'us-versus-them' feeling."
"...Today the combination of an excess of deadly force and near-total lack of accountability is more dangerous than ever: Most cops today can pull out their weapons and fire without fear that anything will happen to them, even if they shoot someone wrongfully. All a police officer has to say is that he believes his life was in danger, and he’s typically absolved.... In some ways, matters have gotten even worse. The gulf between the police and the communities they serve has grown wider.... The automatic weapons and bulletproof vest may protect the officer, but they also insulate him from the very society he’s sworn to protect. All that firepower and armor puts an even greater wall between the police and society, and solidifies that 'us-versus-them' feeling."
Ontario never should have enacted G20 summit security law, Ombudsman’s report says
Anna Mehler Paperny
In their haste to bump up G20 security, Ontario authorities kept silent on a convoluted amendment to 71-year-old legislation that was “illegal” and “likely unconstitutional,” abrogating the Charter rights of thousands of people in the process, says Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin.Toronto police Chief Bill Blair, who requested the regulation, misrepresented it after officers were trained according to an incorrect interpretation of the law, Mr. Marin said. The chief then refused to speak with or provide information to the Ombudsman investigating its execution.
Police spokesman Mark Pugash argues Mr. Marin was overstepping his jurisdiction by making the request. And Chief Blair, for his part, says he did everything in his power to ensure his officers applied the law correctly.
"I certainly made no effort to deceive anyone or to withhold information," he told CTV Tuesday.
Beaten protester urges chief to seek out responsible officers
Ontario's Special Investigations Unit is trying to identify the man with the bicycle in this image from a video of police officers subduing Adam Nobody on June 26, 2010 during the G20 protests in Toronto.
by Jayme Poisson
Last week, a quirky G20 protester with the last name Nobody accepted an apology from Toronto’s top cop.
“Now that he’s apologized is he going to look for the people who did this?” said Adam Nobody, referring to Police Chief Bill Blair.
“Police officers will be held accountable where there is evidence of misconduct,” Blair had said earlier that day.
On the front page of the Star Tuesday, an officer’s face peeks through a raised visor. The image came from newly obtained video footage that shows the same officer repeatedly beating Nobody with a baton.
DiManno: Make it right, Chief Blair
The officer captured beating Adam Nobody on video is shown at centre taking down photographer Colin O’Connor June 26 at Queen’s Park
by Rosie Dimanno
There are recognizable faces. There are identifiable names.
And that should make quick work of holding at least a few brutalizing police officers to account for their despicable conduct during the G20 Summit protests.
In the hands of so accomplished a career professional as Police Chief Bill Blair — former morality cop, former drug cop, former organized crime cop, former major criminal investigations cop and former head of detective operations — this evidence should cue up a slam-dunk piece of detecting.
Break the case wide open, as they say.
The Star has done much of the leg work for you, chief.
We are in possession of a videotape that shows cops whaling on Adam Nobody. We also have 13 still photographs of a separate incident, the tackling of National Post freelance photographer Colin O’Connor. One Toronto police officer, clearly identifiable, is a central character in both episodes.
Here is a Detecting for Dummies primer to help you get your man, chief:
National civil liberties group demands accountability
Police fire tear gas near the temporary detentiion centre on June 27th, 2010. Ian Willms for The Globe and Mail
As workers dismantled the security perimeter in downtown Toronto on Monday, and the city began assessing the aftermath of the G20 summit, a group of more than 1,000 people gathered for a loud but peaceful protest outside police headquarters.
A series of speakers denounced the aggressive tactics of police over the weekend, following a series of violent skirmishes and a record number of arrests.
While the police have defended their actions, saying the show of force was necessary after militant demonstrators vandalized businesses and set cruisers ablaze, other groups are demanding answers.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it will release a postmortem on Tuesday, outlining what it claims are serious breaches of civil rights and insisting on compensation for those they say were victims.
Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 45, February 9, 2009.
This Bulletin is published by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, a group of individuals and organizations in Toronto interested in police policies and procedures, and in making police more accountable to the community they are committed to serving. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca***
In this issue:
1. Making police data public
2. Policing Toronto subways
3. The release of non-crime information
4. Minor charges clog courts
5. Subscribe to the Bulletin***
1. Making police data public
The extraordinary series about racial profiling published in the Toronto Star in 2002 was made possible because Toronto police gave a Star reporter access to the data in police computers on arrests and stops by police for a number of years. The data had been altered so none of those arrested could be identified.
The Star articles concluded that police in Toronto practiced racial profiling. (See Bulletin No. 4, October 2003.) A few years later the Star reporter asked under the Freedom of Information Act for the latest data, but this time the Toronto Police Services Board replied it had no obligation to provide the information since to make the data anonymous, it would have to run a special computer program. Even though the Toronto Star agreed to pay the cost of running this program, the Board refused to release the information. The matter went to arbitration (the arbitrator said the information should be released), and then to the Divisional Court (which said the information should not be released - see Bulletin 40, March 2008.)
A decision by the Court of Appeal this January has said the Board must release the information. The appeal court concluded that its interpretation of the Freedom on Information Act and its regulations "strongly supports the contention that the legislature contemplated precisely the situation that has arisen in this case. In some circumstances, new computer programs will have to be developed, using the institution's available technical expertise and existing software, to produce a record from a machine readable record, with the requester being held accountable for the costs incurred in developing it. That interpretation makes good sense: far more so, in my respectful view than the one suggested by the [Toronto Police Services] Board." The case is `Toronto Police Services Board vs Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and James Rankin [the Star reporter],' and can be found at http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2009/january/2009ONCA0020.pdf .
Read on...
Lots of interesting news from the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition in their latest Bulletin. Including the decision from the Court of Appeal that the Toronto Police Services Board had to release data on arrests and stops under a Freedom of Information Act request. This opens up lots of data to criminological researchers. Read the whole Bulletin. Tom
In this issue:
1. Making police data public
2. Policing Toronto subways
3. The release of non-crime information
4. Minor charges clog courts
5. Subscribe to the Bulletin***
1. Making police data public
The extraordinary series about racial profiling published in the Toronto Star in 2002 was made possible because Toronto police gave a Star reporter access to the data in police computers on arrests and stops by police for a number of years. The data had been altered so none of those arrested could be identified.
The Star articles concluded that police in Toronto practiced racial profiling. (See Bulletin No. 4, October 2003.) A few years later the Star reporter asked under the Freedom of Information Act for the latest data, but this time the Toronto Police Services Board replied it had no obligation to provide the information since to make the data anonymous, it would have to run a special computer program. Even though the Toronto Star agreed to pay the cost of running this program, the Board refused to release the information. The matter went to arbitration (the arbitrator said the information should be released), and then to the Divisional Court (which said the information should not be released - see Bulletin 40, March 2008.)
A decision by the Court of Appeal this January has said the Board must release the information. The appeal court concluded that its interpretation of the Freedom on Information Act and its regulations "strongly supports the contention that the legislature contemplated precisely the situation that has arisen in this case. In some circumstances, new computer programs will have to be developed, using the institution's available technical expertise and existing software, to produce a record from a machine readable record, with the requester being held accountable for the costs incurred in developing it. That interpretation makes good sense: far more so, in my respectful view than the one suggested by the [Toronto Police Services] Board." The case is `Toronto Police Services Board vs Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and James Rankin [the Star reporter],' and can be found at http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2009/january/2009ONCA0020.pdf .
Read on...
Lots of interesting news from the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition in their latest Bulletin. Including the decision from the Court of Appeal that the Toronto Police Services Board had to release data on arrests and stops under a Freedom of Information Act request. This opens up lots of data to criminological researchers. Read the whole Bulletin. Tom
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