While some federal statutes specify criminal penalties for willful violations of civil rights and conspiracies to violate civil rights, the United States Department of Justice has been insufficiently aggressive in prosecuting cases of police abuse. Yet it must be fought locally: the nation's 19,000 law enforcement agencies are essentially independent.
N.Y. COURTS SLUR ROOT OUT IS FREE
The problem is national: no police department in the country is known to be completely free of misconduct.
It has a long history, and it seems to defy all attempts at eradication.
N.Y. COURTS SLUR ROOT OUT IS MANUAL
And it is to those efforts that this manual is dedicated. Rather, it arose out of our realization that, ultimately, it will take a strong and sustained effort by community groups to bring about real and lasting reform. This manual was not inspired by, nor is it intended to generate, animosity toward the police, or to promote the perception that all police officers are prone to abuse. In communities all across the United States people have organized to bring about change, and some of the most successful strategies are described in this manual, now in its 3rd printing. The fact that police abuse remains a significant problem does not mean there has been no progress. "They saw activity that appeared inappropriate," the Bloomfield Police Chief stated. The beating was so severe that a group of Bloomfield police intervened to stop it.
Several days earlier, Kevin Pruiksma, 27, died after being restrained by a sheriff's deputy. Lyndon Stark, 48, died of asphyxia in a cloud of pepper spray while handcuffed behind the back in a prone position. In December 1996, two men in two weeks died in handcuffs at the hands of the Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies in Florida.The media covered the issue extensively, calling particular attention to the fact that police abuse was not evenly distributed throughout American society, but disproportionately victimized people of color.īut six years later, police abuse is still very much an American problem, as the following examples from three recent months demonstrate: Political leaders condemned police use of excessive force and appointed special commissions to investigate incidents of brutality. The Rodney King incident projected the brutal reality of police abuse into living rooms across the nation, and for a while, the problem was front page news. No one who viewed that beating will ever forget its viciousness. An amateur video, televised nationwide, showed King lying on the ground while three officers kicked him and struck him repeatedly with their nightsticks. In the early hours of March 3, 1991, a police chase in Los Angeles ended in an incident that would become synonymous with police brutality: the beating of a young man named Rodney King by members of the Los Angeles Police Department. CONTROLLING THE POLICE - COMMUNITY GOALSĬertification and Licensing of Police Officers
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