Showing posts with label Ferguson Police Department. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ferguson Police Department. Show all posts
Friday, March 13, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Eric Holder: Shooting Of Police Officers In Ferguson 'Inexcusable And Repugnant'
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| AP Photo / Jeff Robertson |
Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement this morning in reaction to the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri.
“This heinous assault on two brave law enforcement officers was inexcusable and repugnant,” Holder says, condemning the violence against public safety officials.
The two police officers were shot as protestors gathered in front of the police station – the same day the police chief resigned.
Holder seemed particularly upset that the shootings took place after his department issued a report highlighting civil rights abuses in Ferguson.
“Such senseless acts of violence threaten the very reforms that nonviolent protesters in Ferguson and around the country have been working towards for the past several months,” he said.
Holder insisted he and his entire department would be willing to assist the police force in finding the responsible shooter.
Read the full story: www.breitbart.com
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The NBA consists of 76 percent black players. But blacks are just 13 percent of the country. Clearly, the league engages in racial discrimination against whites. Silly, right? Well, this is exactly what the sleight-of-hand Department of Justice pulled off to find that the Ferguson Police Department engages in "implicit and explicit racial bias"!
The report insults anybody who's ever studied the statistics - or logic.
The 105-page report concludes: "Ferguson's law enforcement practices are shaped by the City's focus on revenue rather than by public safety needs. This emphasis on revenue has compromised the institutional character of Ferguson's police department, contributing to a pattern of unconstitutional policing, and has also shaped its municipal court, leading to procedures that raise due process concerns and inflict unnecessary harm on members of the Ferguson community. Further, Ferguson's police and municipal court practices both reflect and exacerbate existing racial bias, including racial stereotypes. Ferguson's own data establish clear racial disparities that adversely impact African Americans. The evidence shows that discriminatory intent is part of the reason for these disparities. Over time, Ferguson's police and municipal court practices have sown deep mistrust between parts of the community and the police department, undermining law enforcement legitimacy among African Americans in particular."
The Washington Post immediately put out an article headlined "The 12 key highlights from the DOJ's scathing Ferguson report." Per the Post, the "scathing" statistic first listed is this: Ferguson is 67 percent black, but blacks comprised 85 percent of the traffic stops and 93 percent of the arrests. Incontrovertible proof that the Ferguson PD engages in institutional racism!
Reporters, in describing the Ferguson report, used adjectives that include "shocking," "stunning" and "eye-popping."
But if Ferguson's numbers are "eye-popping," what adjective applies to the New York City Police Department. New York City is 25 percent black. However, of the traffic stops, blacks comprise 55 percent. The statistical "gap" is 30 points. In Ferguson, as stated, the black population is 67 percent, but 85 percent of the traffic stops. The statistical "gap" is 18 points -- far smaller than New York's 30-point "gap."
Why aren't Messrs. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Eric Holder marching on Times Square?
The answer is that the liberal former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who governed for 12 years, defends the aggressive policing of the NYPD -- and the resulting "statistical disparities." Bloomberg says: "Unlike many cities, where wealthy areas get special treatment, the NYPD targets its manpower to the areas that suffer the highest crime levels. Ninety percent of all people killed in our city -- and 90 percent of all those who commit the murders and other violent crimes -- are black and Hispanic. It is shameful that so many elected officials and editorial writers have been largely silent on these facts.
"Instead, they have argued that police stops are discriminatory because they do not reflect the city's overall census numbers. By that flawed logic, our police officers would stop women as often as men and senior citizens as often as young people. To do so would be a colossal misdirection of resources and would take the core elements of police work -- targeting high-crime neighborhoods and identifying suspects based on evidence -- out of crime-fighting. ...
"That the proportion of stops generally reflects our crime numbers does not mean ... that the police are engaged in racial profiling; it means they are stopping people in those communities who fit descriptions of suspects or are engaged in suspicious activity."
The National Institute of Justice is the research and evaluation agency of the DOJ. In 2013, the NIJ published its study called "Race, Trust and Police Legitimacy." Unlike when responding to dispatch calls, police officers exercise more discretion when it comes to traffic stops. Thus, the supposedly "racial profiling" cops can have a field day when it comes to traffic stops, right?
But according to the NIJ, 3 out of 4 black drivers admit being stopped by police for a "legitimate reason." Blacks, compared to whites, were on average more likely to commit speeding or other traffic offenses. "Seatbelt usage," said the NIJ, "is chronically lower among black drivers. If a law enforcement agency aggressively enforces seatbelt violations, police will stop more black drivers." The NIJ conclusion? Numerical disparities result from "differences in offending" in addition to "differences in exposure to the police" and "differences in driving patterns."
President Obama, backed by research from the left and from the right, said, "Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of school and 20 times more likely to end up in prison."
Richmond, Virginia, is a city of 214,000, with a black population of 50 percent. Eighty-six percent of black Richmond families are headed by a single parent. Of Ferguson's 67 percent black population, how many kids grew up in fatherless homes?
Whatever the answer, isn't this a far more relevant statistic?
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Ferguson: 2 Police Officers Shot After Chief Resigns
By Holly Yan and Greg Botelho, Mar. 12, 2015, CNN
The overnight shootings of two police officers in Ferguson was an "ambush," St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters Thursday morning, saying the gunshots were directed at the police.
Police investigating the overnight shooting "perhaps" have some leads on who shot them, but no one is in custody, Belmar said.
Belmar said he wouldn't add details about those possible leads, saying detectives need time to work the case. Identifying the shooter or shooters is the No. 1 priority of St. Louis County police, he said.
Whoever shot the officers was there "for whatever nefarious reason it was" to inflict harm, Belmar said.
Belmar also gave details about the officers' injuries:
-- One of them -- an officer from Webster Groves, Missouri -- was shot "at the high point" of his cheek, under his right eye, and the bullet is now lodged behind one of his ears, Belmar said.
-- The other officer struck, from St. Louis County, was shot in his shoulder and the bullet came out the middle of his back, according to Belmar.
The two police officers were standing next to each other in front of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department when they were hit around midnight, Belmar said.
Authorities believe a handgun was used to shoot the two officers, Belmar said, "based on the way the shots sounded and the injuries to the police officers."
The overnight shootings of two police officers in Ferguson was an "ambush," St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters Thursday morning, saying the gunshots were directed at the police.
Police investigating the overnight shooting "perhaps" have some leads on who shot them, but no one is in custody, Belmar said.
Belmar said he wouldn't add details about those possible leads, saying detectives need time to work the case. Identifying the shooter or shooters is the No. 1 priority of St. Louis County police, he said.
Whoever shot the officers was there "for whatever nefarious reason it was" to inflict harm, Belmar said.
Belmar also gave details about the officers' injuries:
-- One of them -- an officer from Webster Groves, Missouri -- was shot "at the high point" of his cheek, under his right eye, and the bullet is now lodged behind one of his ears, Belmar said.
-- The other officer struck, from St. Louis County, was shot in his shoulder and the bullet came out the middle of his back, according to Belmar.
The two police officers were standing next to each other in front of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department when they were hit around midnight, Belmar said.
Authorities believe a handgun was used to shoot the two officers, Belmar said, "based on the way the shots sounded and the injuries to the police officers."
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Monday, March 9, 2015
Holder Says He's 'Prepared' To Dismantle Ferguson Police Department
Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday the Department of Justice is ready to take any and all steps that are needed to reform the Ferguson, Mo., police department, including the potential dismantling of the force.
Speaking to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base after a trip to South Carolina with President Obama, Holder said he was stunned by what the investigation uncovered, and will go to all necessary lengths to address racial bias and other systemic issues within the force. A Department of Justice report released Wednesday showed the police department demonstrated a pattern of racial bias and committed constitutional violations.
"We are prepared to use all the powers that we have, all the power that we have, to ensure that the situation changes there. That means everything from working with them to coming up with an entirely new structure," Holder said. When asked if that included dismantling the department, he said, "If that's what's necessary, we're prepared to do that."
Read the full story: www.washingtonpost.com
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