American law enforcement has become zero tolerant, more violent, and militarized. Local, state, and federal teams of elite paramilitary special weapons and tactic (SWAT) units regularly patrol big city streets and break into homes unannounced in search of drugs. Officers on routine patrol carry high-powered semi-automatic weapons. Virtually every law enforcement agency in the country either has its own SWAT unit or has officers who are members of a multi-jurisdictional force. The barrier between the U. S. Military and domestic law enforcement has broken down. The police have become soldiers, and military personnel now function as civilian law enforcers.
Showing posts with label Policing Bulletins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Policing Bulletins. Show all posts
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Crime Bulletin: Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz Retires Under Pressure
Mayor Martin Chavez appointed Ray Schultz to the position of Albuquerque Police Chief in 2006. Three years later Mayor Richard Berry reappointed him to the job. Since Chief Schultz's reappointment, an unusually high percentage of Albuquerque police officers have been involved in cases of excessive force and police involved shootings.
Since 2010, Albuquerque officers have shot more than 35 citizens, 18 of the shootings being fatal. This is one of the highest per capita police involved shooting rates in the country. This year the city awarded $10 million to the family of an Iraq War veteran shot to death by an Albuquerque police officer. The victim of the shooting had post-traumatic stress disorder.
Critics of the Albuquerque Police Department blame the excessive law enforcement violence on a police culture of brutality. Last year, several Albuquerque officers were reprimanded for controversial social media postings that included one by an officer involved in a fatal shooting who described his occupation as "human waste disposal." Instead of protecting and serving, this officer saw his job as using deadly force to clear the streets of undesirables. Clearly unsuited for police work, this man should have been fired.
In March 2013, the embattled police chief announced that he would be retiring to, as they say, "spend more time with his family." In all fairness to Chief Schultz, because of police unions, firing a police officer has become extremely difficult, and in many cases impossible. Without the power to fire, police administrators do not have much control over the rank-and-file. This is particularly problematic in the era of militarized policing, and zero-tolerance law enforcement.
In the old days, civilian safety came first, officer safety second. Today the priorities are officer safety and job security.
Since 2010, Albuquerque officers have shot more than 35 citizens, 18 of the shootings being fatal. This is one of the highest per capita police involved shooting rates in the country. This year the city awarded $10 million to the family of an Iraq War veteran shot to death by an Albuquerque police officer. The victim of the shooting had post-traumatic stress disorder.
Critics of the Albuquerque Police Department blame the excessive law enforcement violence on a police culture of brutality. Last year, several Albuquerque officers were reprimanded for controversial social media postings that included one by an officer involved in a fatal shooting who described his occupation as "human waste disposal." Instead of protecting and serving, this officer saw his job as using deadly force to clear the streets of undesirables. Clearly unsuited for police work, this man should have been fired.
In March 2013, the embattled police chief announced that he would be retiring to, as they say, "spend more time with his family." In all fairness to Chief Schultz, because of police unions, firing a police officer has become extremely difficult, and in many cases impossible. Without the power to fire, police administrators do not have much control over the rank-and-file. This is particularly problematic in the era of militarized policing, and zero-tolerance law enforcement.
In the old days, civilian safety came first, officer safety second. Today the priorities are officer safety and job security.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Crime Bulletin: Getting past TSA with Fake Bombs
Recently, a TSA undercover inspector with a fake bomb in his pants got through two checkpoints at the Newark-Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. He was actually cleared to board a plane.
Had the bomb been real, it would have been powerful enough to blow a large hole in the aircraft which could have knocked the plane out of the sky.
In a New York Post expose, a former TSA officer revealed that many TSA employees don't have high school degrees, and were employed by the TSA because they weren't qualified for decent jobs in the private sector. Some, according to the Post article, have criminal records. Not only that, these federal employees entrusted with our safety consider the TSA job a joke. Many hope to use the job as a stepping stone to a better federal gig.
According to the whistleblower, undercover TSA inspectors carrying fake bombs and other weapons regularly get through security while security agents are patting down old ladies and harassing children in wheelchairs.
Trusting government employees to keep us safe from airplane bombers is like relying on meth addicts and pedophiles to babysit our children.
Had the bomb been real, it would have been powerful enough to blow a large hole in the aircraft which could have knocked the plane out of the sky.
In a New York Post expose, a former TSA officer revealed that many TSA employees don't have high school degrees, and were employed by the TSA because they weren't qualified for decent jobs in the private sector. Some, according to the Post article, have criminal records. Not only that, these federal employees entrusted with our safety consider the TSA job a joke. Many hope to use the job as a stepping stone to a better federal gig.
According to the whistleblower, undercover TSA inspectors carrying fake bombs and other weapons regularly get through security while security agents are patting down old ladies and harassing children in wheelchairs.
Trusting government employees to keep us safe from airplane bombers is like relying on meth addicts and pedophiles to babysit our children.
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