Is NYPD Running Wild? Patterns of Brutality Raise Questions About Mayor's Control...

[Brewman_Jax]

Is NYPD Running Wild? Patterns of Brutality Raise Questions About Mayor's Control of Police

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/154161/is_...of_police/

From the article:

Quote:A series of incidents last year, in some cases where police broke the law, has sullied the reputation of the NYPD. From the department’s handling of Occupy protesters and journalists, to officers’ participation in illegal gun sales and a ticket-fixing scandal, to rape charges and reports that allege the targeting of Muslims, the NYPD’s pattern of abuse, law-breaking, and poor judgment is raising questions about whether some of New York’s finest are operating as rogue units. A disturbing series of events, including beatings and the shooting death of an unarmed teenager in the Bronx, are causing some to wonder whether Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg are condoning the behavior or are unable to impose discipline on the department.

Along with the patterns of violence, new reports show that stop-and-frisk rates went through the roof in 2011, making it a record-breaking year for the controversial practice. Stop-and-frisks may only legally be used when police have reasonable suspicion someone has a gun, but they are widely abused, and have been targeted as the source of aggressive, race-based policing and what many consider to be illegal marijuana arrests.

So far, 2012 has proven no better. Already, six NYPD officers have already been stripped of their badges and placed on modified duty for their involvement in two incidents that took place early this year. On January 26, Bronx NYPD officers beat 19-year-old Jateik Reed after allegedly seeing him hold drugs. Jateik Reed was with two friends at the time of his arrest. For one of them, the beating was his introduction to police brutality.

In a previously unreported connection, a man named Will, who did not give his last name, was arrested and allegedly roughed up with Reed's family when they want to the police department to inquire about Reed on the day of his beating.


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Covered in the article are two extreme cases, but the maddening part is the frequency and regularity of the excessive and extreme use of aggressive tactics against POC. Not only that, but the helplessness the people of those neighborhoods feel because they know that they know that the police don't care about them or their rights and they don't have enough clout to stop them. Notice where this does not and would NEVER happen--majority white areas. We are far from "post-racial" and the police need to held accountable. Not only that, firings, arrests, and trials and jail need to start happening since taking money doesn't seem to work. Something is wrong when the police are more feared than any criminals.

[jaxx]

I'm sure they do background checks on police, but it seems to me they should be doing psychological tests too. Who has the mentality to be brutal, who reacts with force instead of sense? It's sad that too many people are put into a powerful job when they can't handle the power. Like Oakland, NYPD needs to have a deep looking into.....and changes made.