Chidike Okeem ― Are Police Officers Gangsters?

(HipHopRepublican.com)

Perhaps the most insufferable chant that erupts whenever a police officer is caught red-handed in murderous violence or malpractice of any stripe is: “All Police Officers Aren’t Bad!” Curiously, however, we never hear similar arguments about black people whenever a black criminal captures the interest of the national media. Lamentably, black criminals are treated as ambassadors of black culture and are used as justifications for the existence and continuation of abusive policing. Despite the protestations of many who claim that cops face a barrage of calumny and an insurmountable degree of abuse from unappreciative citizens, there is no problem of reasonable people believing that all police officers are evil. There is, however, a problem of many people failing to condemn bad police officers, even when they are caught engaging in the most reprehensible and immoral behavior. There is a failure of people to recognize the insidious culture of the blue wall of silence—the idea that cops are not supposed to report their fellow officers when they see bad behavior.

Police are treated with such preposterous veneration in America that they are even considered exempt from critique by the sitting president of the United States. When, in July 2009, Sgt. James Crowley imprudently arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates outside of his own Cambridge, Massachusetts residence, President Obama correctly said that the officer acted stupidly. This led to crazed denunciations of Obama from the American right for even daring to question the conduct of a police officer—as if criticizing a police officer is tantamount to questioning a deity. The attacks that Obama received for making that remark demonstrates the unwillingness of some to admit that police officers are capable of wrongdoing where black citizens are concerned—even when that black citizen is one of the most celebrated black intellectuals in the nation. Shamefully, in order to be considered Constitution-loving patriots in the United States, black Americans are expected to smilingly surrender constitutional rights, gleefully embrace the inconveniences created by aggressive policing, and enjoy the barbarism of police brutality.

Read more: http://www.hiphoprepublican.com/chidike-okeem-are-police-officers-gangsters/

Jonathan Blanks — Reasonable suspicion: Are police lying in use of force cases?

This post is the second in a series examining the official policies and informal practices within police departments that may lead to tolerance of police violence. 

via Rare Magazine:

"During any given criminal case, certain facts in police testimony that appear to be banal or happenstance—such as the placement of a hand or someone dropping a bag of drugs—seem reasonable when taken by themselves. 

But looking at police testimony in similar cases, if some facts continue to appear in case after case, an observer may come to a disquieting conclusion: police are lying. 

“Testilying” is the colloquial term for the police practice of lying on official documentation or in court under oath (i.e., perjury). Typically, testilying is used to justify searches in drug cases that would otherwise be deemed illegal. 

The exclusionary rule, established in Mapp v. Ohio (1961), states that evidence gathered from a search that violates the Fourth Amendment cannot be used in court against a defendant. If, however, a police officer testifies that he saw the drugs dropped into plain view, he has probable cause—and thus, legal permission—to conduct a search without a warrant. 

Some criminal justice observers think it may be the most common manifestation of police misconduct. "

Read complete article here

Jonathan Blanks ― On the NYPD Tragedy and Its Aftermath

Jonathan Blanks, a black Libertarian writer and researcher in Washington, D.C., offers his opinion on the recent murder of two police officers in New York City and the reactions that followed.

"As most people, I am horrified and saddened by the murder of the two police officers in Brooklyn yesterday. My heart goes out to the family, friends, and colleagues of officers Wenjian Lui and Raphael Ramos. But the reaction by some self-styled allies of the NYPD are nothing short of inexcusable. This sentiment may be best illustrated by former New York governor George Pataki:

Like Eric Holder, I have immediate family that served honorably and proudly in law enforcement. To assert that people like Holder (and me) who criticize police practices and want police to be better than they are should be held responsible for the acts of a murderous lunatic is reckless and unforgivably insulting.

Need the preening, self-important politicians be reminded: the United States is a country where free speech is an essential tool by which the government for, by, and of the people is held accountable. To say that those who criticize the police are responsible for the random violence inflicted upon some officers by an evidently suicidal man is to express a sentiment that is not only baseless and malicious, but fundamentally un-American in implication."

Read complete article here