If one follows the news reports. Police officers do not have the rights and protections afforded to all people who are in the United States. Media outlets put people on air that want the police officer to be publicly flogged and then hanged in the public square. The officer, on the other hand, cannot try […]
Category Archives: police brutality
The scorecard for the law enforcement response
Law enforcement agencies, especially in the larger cities, have contingency plans in place to address civil unrest. The implementation of those plans, sadly, come from the orders of elected officials who hide in their offices. The situation on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles is a perfect example. The law enforcement response […]
The Politilaztion of Law Enforcement
In a shocking recent move, Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore has banned the blue line flag from being displayed by any member of LAPD. He claims that his decision is based upon a number of complaints from the community claiming that the flag is racially biased and indicates a belief in totalitarianism. The reality […]
The First Amendment Audit
There is a disturbing new trend being found on social media called “First Amendment Audit.” This involves males who enter public buildings to get video of something. The person demands the name and identification number of those they come into contact with, but refuse to provide any information about themselves. These individuals believe they are […]
Kentucky v Hankison
The jury in the case of former Louisville, Kentucky police detective Brent Hankison has come in and it found the officer not guilty of the three charges in the case. He was charged with firing his weapon into the apartment of Breonna Taylor with those rounds ultimately entered the next apartment placing the innocent residents […]
A travesty
A jury in the Federal trial of three former Minneapolis officers found them guilty of violating the civil rights of George Floyd. The Justice Department successfully argued that they failed to provide medical aid to Mr. Floyd and that constituted a violation of his civil rights. Nowhere in US Code Section 1983 is there a […]
The conviction of Kim Potter
This must begin with the statement that the death of Duante Wright was tragic and avoidable. However, the criminal conviction of the police officer who caused the death raises a number of issues which will likely be addressed at the appellate level. The family of Mr. Wright has suffered an irreparable loss, that is unarguable. […]
A challenge to police use of force
The Wisconsin Law Review has published a paper titled, “The Invisible Rules That Govern Use of Force” authored by Ion Meyn. Having just read the sixty-five page report, it is filled with errors, misquotes, and bias as it challenges the policies of law enforcement agencies. The problems: (1) The article uses the phrase “rule-resistance” countless […]
Media with an agenda
CNN was once a professional news organization created by Ted Turner. It is now a partisan provider of biased and inaccurate reporting designed to change the narrative of law enforcement. On Sunday, May 1, CNN aired a one hour piece titled, “United Shades of America.” It was narrated by an African-American male who exhibited a […]
An interesting question
I received a text from a former law enforcement officer that said: “Ok,,,is it just me, or has the world of LE collapsed in on itself? I do not recall there being so many excessive use of force incidents and certainly not so many cases where a child is shot and killed. What the hell […]
Another twist
A Columbus, Ohio police officer involved in a deadly shooting has been indicted by a Grand Jury. The indictment charges the former officer with Felony Murder, Felonious Assault, and two counts of Dereliction of Duty. The case was presented to the Grand Jury by the Ohio Attorney General. On December 22, 2020 officers Adam Coy […]
Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t
Two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were killed and three others wounded in Sunrise, FL where they were serving a search warrant for Child Pornography. The suspect was also killed. The specific role of the five agents is unknown as to whether they were part of the tactical response or there as investigators. That is […]
The Capitol Fiasco
The fiasco at the U.S. Capitol last week obviously failed miserably and there are calls from Democratic members of Congress for heads to roll. Those cries were made after the Capitol Police Chief and the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate had also both announced their resignations. In a television interview Chief Michael Sun told […]
A new strange case
In what gets ever stranger, a Grand Jury in Oklahoma City has indicted a Blackwell, Oklahoma Police Lieutenant for second degree murder in the shooting death of a 34 year old female who had fired at police officers and others. It is reported that the Grand Jury based their decision on the number of shots […]
A WIN for Cops
The United States Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling has found that a Tuscon, AZ. police officer who shot and wounded a female armed with a knife IS protected by qualified immunity and cannot be sued civilly for alleged violation of her Civil Rights. The Court slapped the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who reversed […]
Nashville Police Officer charged in shooting
A twenty-five year old Nashville, Tennessee police officer has been charged with felony Criminal Homicide after shooting a twenty-eight year old suspect. The facts of this case are convoluted as Nashville Police became involved in a vehicle pursuit of a carjacking suspect who was able to elude them. A police radio broadcast was initiated and […]
This is outrageous
Violent protests broke out in Chicago after a police shooting that were based upon LIES promulgated by the group Black Lives Matter. It was claimed that the individual shot was unarmed when, in fact, pictures show he had a holstered semi-automatic handgun on his right side as well as extra magazines on his belt. It […]
A video that needs to be shown to all Law Enforcement
The Louisville, Kentucky Police Department released two body camera video of a police shooting that should be shown in every police agency in the U.S. It is a textbook example of handling a crisis situation Officer 1 is in a foot chase of a suspect carrying a screwdriver. When the suspect turns around and faces […]
A time for a change in tactics
Few will dispute that the right to peacefully protest is constitutionally protected. But walking down the middle of an urban street or standing in the lanes of an Interstate highway is conduct which is not protected. Urban cities across the country have taken a “hands off” approach to demonstrators and the result is chaos. Like […]
The circus returns to Cincinnati
The re-trial of a former University of Cincinnati police officer charged with Murder started Thursday in a Hamilton County, Ohio courtroom. It actually started the day before when the defense filed a Motion for Dismissal alleging that Prosecutor Joe Deters violated the Court’s gag order in an attempt to poison prospective jurors by doing a television interview.
Mr. Deters was too busy to personally attend the hearing on the motion sending his first assistant to apologize for the “mistake” of his boss. Judge Leslie Ghiz, who previously worked for Mr. Deters, ruled that she could not dismiss the case because “the community would not be served.”
The second day of the case presented other motions for the Judge to rule on. The defense requested that an undershirt, worn under the ballistic vest, which had a Confederate flag should be excluded from evidence. Judge Ghiz ruled that the prejudice would outweigh the probative value. The Judge also excluded a defense expert who did an animation from the body cam stating that it would make an imperfect event into a perfect event. The jury will still see a video enhancement which broke the event into milliseconds.
The jury will be picked after the Memorial Day holiday and the trial is expected to last about three weeks. There are cries of racism as the small number of African-American jurors in the pool have claimed hardships. The Black Lawyers Association is calling for the jury pool to include any person who possesses a driver’s license rather than only registered voters.
Mr. Deters, who led the prosecution in the first trial, assigned the presentation of the case to two of his senior prosecutors. The trial will be live-streamed on the websites of all of the local television stations and the jury will be sequestered for their deliberations.
New blogs will be posted each day to update the events of the day.
Thoughts on police training
American police training is recognized throughout the world as the best. Recruits are given intense training in a short period of time. In Scotland, police cadets attend (and live at) the Scottish Police College for five years before they ever see the streets. In England, officers receive eighteen months of training in pursuit driving on […]
Cops being held to a different standard
A homeowner gets involved with a group of juveniles on his lawn. A confrontation occurs and the homeowner pulls a firearm from his waistband and fires a single shot into the ground. No one is injured in the confrontation. At best this is a local news story unless the homeowner happens to be an off […]
Police Shootings of “Unarmed” suspects
The media’s use of the word “unarmed” in the high profile cases of police shootings as a catch phrase is simply inaccurate and enflames tragic incidents of police use of deadly force. It indicates that the suspect was not in possession of a firearm which, looking at two of the incidents, is simply wrong. In […]
Are police held to a different standard?
There has been an outcry across the country that police officers receive special treatment in the decision of whether criminal charges are appropriate in a use of force case. Police officers are, by necessity, given a different standard that other citizens for a valid reason. If a police officer were held to the same standard, […]