'Cops are not Going to Protect You. Go Buy a Gun. Learn To Defend Yourself.' - Professor Griff speaks on Alton Sterling Shooting in Baton Rouge

Study Shows Police Use of Force Is More Likely on Blacks [no need for belief in stats. your own personal experience will do]

NY Times 

The vast majority of interactions between police officers and civilians end routinely, with no one injured, no one aggrieved and no one making the headlines. But when force is used, a new study has found, the race of the person being stopped by officers is significant.

The study of thousands of use-of-force episodes from police departments across the nation has concluded what many people have long thought, but which could not be proved because of a lack of data: African-Americans are far more likely than whites and other groups to be the victims of use of force by the police, even when racial disparities in crime are taken into account.

The report, to be released Friday by the Center for Policing Equity, a New York-based think tank, took three years to assemble and largely refutes explanations from some police officials that blacks are more likely to be subjected to police force because they are more frequently involved in criminal activity.

The researchers said they did not gather enough data specifically related to police shootings to draw conclusions on whether there were racial disparities when it came to the fatal confrontations between officers and civilians so in the news.

The study’s release comes at a particularly volatile time in the relationship between the police and minority communities after high-profile fatal police shootings of African-American men this week in Louisiana and Minnesota prompted widespread outrage.

Portions of the episodes, both captured on video and released publicly, have intensified calls for police reform as many departments across the nation have been slow to deploy body cameras or to mandate changes in officer training standards after the high-profile deaths of a number of African-Americans at the hands of police officers in the past two years.

African-American activists who have demanded greater police accountability since the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., set off days of rioting, said Thursday that the study was critical to the conversation, but far from surprising.

“It’s kind of like, ‘Is water wet?’” said Aislinn Sol, organizer of the Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter. “But what we gain with each study, each new piece of information is that we are able to win people over who are on the fence. The evidence is becoming overwhelming and incontrovertible that it is a systemic problem, rather than an isolated one.”

The organization compiled more than 19,000 use-of-force incidents by police officers representing 11 large and midsize cities and one large urban county from 2010 to 2015. It is the sort of data the Obama administration and the Justice Department have been seeking from police departments for nearly two years, in many cases, unsuccessfully.

The report found that although officers employ force in less than 2 percent of all police-civilian interactions, the use of police force is disproportionately high for African-Americans — more than three times greater than for whites.

The study, “The Science of Justice: Race, Arrests, and Police Use of Force,” did not seek to determine whether the employment of force in any particular instance was justified, but the center’s researchers found that the disparity in which African-Americans were subjected to police force remained consistent across what law enforcement officers call the use-of-force continuum — from relatively mild physical force, through baton strikes, canine bites, pepper spray, Tasers and gunshots.

“The dominant narrative has been that this happens to African-Americans because they are arrested in disproportionate numbers,” said Phillip Atiba Goff, a founder and president of the Center for Policing Equity, based at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “But the data really makes it difficult to say that crime is the primary driver of this. In every single category, the anti-black disparity persists.”

The study found that the overall mean use-of-force rate for all black residents was 273 per 100,000, which is 3.6 times higher than the rate for white residents (76 per 100,000) and 2.5 times higher than the overall rate of 108 per 100,000 for all residents.

For those who were arrested, the mean rate of use of force against blacks was 46 for every 1,000 arrests, compared with 36 per 1,000 for whites.

The Obama administration has been nudging police departments to adapt de-escalation tactics and to fix broken relationships with poor and minority communities across the nation, which typically experience far more intensive policing because of what are frequently higher crime rates.

But because police departments often refuse to release use-of-force data that would illustrate such trends, the federal government has had a difficult time in determining whether police departments are employing force less often.

The federal government cannot generally compel police departments to hand over such material, and many local agencies say they do not require officers to submit use-of-force reports.

Other departments say they lack the resources to collect such information, and others acknowledge privately that they fear that the release of their data would subject them to unwanted scrutiny from the public and the federal government.

But when the Justice Department has had the ability to review use-of-force records, it has found evidence of abuse.

In Seattle, federal investigators found that one out of every five use-of-force episodes had been excessive.

In Albuquerque, the Justice Department determined that most police shootings from 2009 to 2012 had been unjustified.

Researchers for the center said Thursday that the compilation of the use-of-force material after years of failed efforts to determine whether racial bias was present represented a significant success. The data is so closely held by police departments that the agencies that cooperated with the project did so anonymously.

Though the 12 municipalities that provided data were not named, they represented a large urban county in California and 11 cities spanning the nation with populations that range from less than 100,000 to several million, with an average population of 600,000.

The center said that given the diversity of the municipalities — six are predominantly white, one is predominantly black or Latino, and five have populations in which no single racial or ethnic group represents 50 percent or more of the population — that the findings are likely to hold true for most other cities.

[I-phone 4?] Sounds Like More Bullshit: CNN Reports, an "anonymous," "Homeless man" "with a cell phone" called 911 in Alton Sterling Murder

BNBA 

After Alton Sterling, 37, refused to give him money, a homeless man called 911 and claimed that Sterling brandished a gun, which may have touched off a deadly shooting that highlights the perils of encounters between Blacks and police.

From CNN:

Sterling was selling CDs outside the Triple S Food Mart early Tuesday in Baton Rouge, the official said, when the homeless man approached him and asked for money.

The man was persistent, and Sterling showed him his gun, the official said.

“I told you to leave me alone,” Sterling told the man, according to the official.

The homeless man then used his cell phone to call 911, the official said.

Officer In Philando Castile Shooting Identified

BNBA

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension have released the names of the officers involved in the shooting death of Philando Castile.

Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser have been placed on administrative leave following the incident. Yanez, who has been on the force for four years, was identified as the officer who opened fire on Castile.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton actually used the word 'racism' while talking to press about the police killing of the 32-year-old Black motorist [but did he mean white supremacy?]

ColorLines

Murderers With Badges, Licensed to Kill: Nation Reels from Alton Sterling's Death at Hands of Police

Democracy Now

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a second video has surfaced showing the fatal police shooting of father of five Alton Sterling, who was fatally shot by police early Tuesday morning. Sterling was a 37-year-old African-American. The two officers involved are both white. The video shows Sterling pinned to the ground by two white police officers. We speak to Arthur "Silky Slim" Reed, founder of Stop the Killing, a youth mentoring program based in Baton Rouge. His organization provided the first cell phone video of the police shooting of Alton Sterling.

In Alton Sterling’s Baton Rouge, “Blue Lives Matter”

The Intercept 

LOUISIANA GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS called for a federal civil rights investigation on Tuesday into what was at that point the latest fatal police shooting of a black man in the United States.

But in May, Edwards signed a bill into law that makes targeting a police officer a hate crime. Passage of such bills at the state level is a top priority for a national organization called Blue Lives Matter, which was formed in response to the Black Lives Matter movement .

Alton Sterling, 37, was shot in the chest at point-blank range by Baton Rouge police early Tuesday morning; witnesses captured the event on video. Philando Castile, 32, was shot after police stopped his car outside St. Paul, Minnesota; his girlfriend livestreamed his death on Facebook.

But it is the civil rights of police officers that Edwards was concerned about in May, as if theirs were being routinely violated.

“I’m not aware of any evidence that police officers have been victimized that would justify them giving special protection,” Marjorie R. Esman, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, told The Intercept.

Under the law, a defendant convicted  of a misdemeanor could face an extra six months in prison and a $500 fine. A defendant convicted of a felony could get an extra five years in prison with hard labor and a $5,000 fine.

The new law places police officers, firefighters, and EMTs under protection from hate crimes — an umbrella term that spans beyond direct assault. Aviva Shen writes at ThinkProgress:

Now that police are a protected class, this language [meant to enhance penalties for attacks against houses of worship] could be used to target any damage done to squad cars or protests on police property, like the sit-in at the Minneapolis Police Department over the death of Jamar Clark, or the Black Lives Matter blockade of the Oakland Police headquarters in California.

Lamar Advertising, based in Baton Rouge, donated more than 300 billboards that appeared across the country bearing the slogans #BlueLivesMatter and #thankublu.

“We wanted to recognize the local police departments and men and women that put their lives on the line every day,” Stephen Hebert of Lamar Advertising told WVIT-TV.

Laws similar to the one in Louisiana have been proposed in Kentucky, Tennessee and Chicago. Last year in Coon Rapids,Minnesota — just north of Minneapolis, where Castile was killed Wednesday — hundreds of supporters held a Police Lives Matter rally.

In Washington, lawmakers in the House and the Senate have both introduced a “Thin Blue Line Act,” which would strengthen penalties for attacks on law enforcement.

The ACLU’s Esman said police are not the group of people who need attention: “Right now, here in Louisiana, we are dealing with the fact that the police have killed a black man who was minding his own business.”

Young Black Man Gets New Trial Based on Violation of Sixth Amendment Right

Innocence Project 

In 2013, a young man named Justin Marshall was convicted of the 2009 killing of a 64-year-old landlord of an Iowa City apartment building; he was sentenced to life in prison. But last year, when an appeals court ruled that informant testimony used to seal Marshall’s conviction should not have been allowed at the trial, his conviction was overturned. And in a split 4-3 decision last Thursday, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision, entitling Marshall to a new trial.

Marshall was just 19 when he was arrested for the deadly shooting of John Versypt. According to the Associated Press, there was no physical evidence or eyewitnesses linking Marshall to the crime. The prosecution’s case rested on the testimony of three informants, one of them named Antonio Martin—a jailhouse informant who had previously worked with federal prosecutors on drug cases in exchange for a reduced sentence in his criminal case. Martin elicited a written confession from Marshall after the two men were placed in adjacent cells at the local county jail. In the written statement, Marshall said that he’d killed Versypt by accident and that he hoped that his admission would get him a lesser charge.

New Report says UK entry into Iraq War not justified

[JURIST]

The findings of the seven-year inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot [official profile], into Britain's role in the invasion of Iraq [JURIST backgrounder] were delivered [statement] on Wednesday in the form of a scathing verdict against former prime minister Tony Blair [Britannica profile] and his administration, which stated that the war was based on "flawed intelligence and assessments" and had been launched before "peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted." More specifically, the Chilcot Inquiry [report materials] concluded that the "judgements about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction—WMD—were presented with a certainty that was not justified," "There was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein," and "[t]he planning and preparations for Iraq after Saddam Hussein [Britannica profile] were wholly inadequate." While stating that determination of whether the military action was legal is the prerogative of an international court, the inquiry concluded that "the circumstances in which it was decided that there was a legal basis for UK military action were far from satisfactory." Chilcot's statement reminded that a UN Security Council majority was lacking at the time of the invasion, and further concluded "that the UK was, in fact, undermining the Security Council's authority" by proceeding with military action. As for the post conflict period, Chilcot's statement concluded that, "[t]he Government's preparations failed to take account of the magnitude of the task of stabilising, administering and reconstructing Iraq, and of the responsibilities which were likely to fall to the UK." Stating that a vital purpose of the inquiry is to identify the lessons that can be learned from the Iraq experience including "management of relations with allies," Chilcot remarked that, "[t]he UK's relationship with the US has proved strong enough over time to bear the weight of honest disagreement. It does not require unconditional support where our interests or judgements differ."

CNN's Don Lemon Highlights The Media's Bias When Reporting On Black Victims And Criminal Records

MediaMatters

CHARLES COLEMAN JR.: I think it's important to remember because oftentimes what we have happen is we have human beings that are turned into hashtags overnight, and this really brought it home, as you said because what so many people don't realize is that these are fathers, these are brothers, these are sons. Alton Sterling was the father of five people. There was a baby in the car in Minnesota. Eric Garner was a father. We oftentimes don't realize the extent of broken lives that are affected by violence against innocent citizens because --I want to be clear about something -- people may say, well, there was weed in the car or Alton Sterling was on probation, and he shouldn't have had a gun. But at the time that these encounters happened with law enforcement, these are innocent people. 

DON LEMON (HOST): There are no perfect victims. I'm not perfect, you're not perfect. No one in this room is perfect. Everyone has indiscretions, transgressions. Everyone has things that they maybe are not so proud of. Most people have gotten into a car, maybe had a little bit too much to drink. And weed, come on, what is weed now? And then you end up talking about the victim's record, which is what I brought up last night in Baton Rouge, and I brought it up for a reason, because no one is perfect. Everyone has an issue. And all we have to look to is in New York City, recently -- I don't know if you saw this -- all of the kids who were arrested for the cocaine bust at the Duane Reade, all of them very wealthy white kids, or whatever, but they don't pull out their criminal records or talk about their histories. But we do in these cases. These are human beings.

Puerto Rico Control Board: A Dangerous Increase of Colonialism - Island of Non-Whites to be Run by Elite Right Wing White Folks

Democracy Now

Black Indian - In This Thing ["vote for your mind and elect yourself"]

"Blue Lives Matter" Has No Place in Hate Crime Laws

Jurist

Last month, Louisiana passed a "Blue Lives Matter" amendment to its hate crime statute. Under the newly-amended law, it is now a hate crime in Louisiana to target someone's "person or property" for a crime "because of actual or perceived employment as a law enforcement officer or firefighter." The definition of "law enforcement officer" under the amended law is expansive and includes active or retired law enforcement officers, peace officers, wildlife enforcement agents, correctional officers and parole and probation officers.

According to state Republican Senator Lance Harris, who sponsored the bill, additional measures were needed to protect state officers in Louisiana. Citing police shootings in New York and Texas, the Louisiana senator explained: "if you're going to have an extensive hate crime statute then we need to protect those that are out there protecting us on a daily basis."

In signing the bill, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards echoed these sentiments: "The men and women who put their lives on the line every day, often under very dangerous circumstances are true heroes and they deserve every protection that we can give them. They serve and protect our communities and our families. The overarching message is that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Louisiana."

First, Louisiana—and another 36 states—already have laws that increase penalties for police assaults. In Louisiana, for instance, battery involving an officer has greater penalties than a typical battery. In states that retain the death penalty, killing a police officer can be an aggravating factor that elevates the crime to a capital case. As these laws demonstrate, attacks against officers are in many instances already punished more severely than other kinds of crimes.

Second, attacks against police officers, particularly lethal ones, against police officers are at their lowest rates in decades. Nationally, fatal shootings of officers have decreased from an average of 127 in the 1970s to around 57 per year between 2000 and 2009. In 2015, 42 officers were fatally shot compared with 49 in 2014. In Louisiana, in 2015, there were nine officer fatalities and no officer fatalities so far this year. While even one officer shot and killed in the line of duty is tragic, there is no empirical evidence that lethal attacks, specifically targeting law enforcement officers, are on the rise.

Third, Louisiana's hate crime law already contained language that seemingly applied to crimes against police officers because of their occupation. Prior to the amendment, Louisiana law already provided enhanced punishments to people who "select the victim...because of actual or perceived membership or service in, or employment with, an organization." In other words, Louisiana's hate crime law included crimes committed because of actual or perceived employment with an organization, which would likely cover crimes targeted against law enforcement.

So why the hate crime amendment?

The first hate crime laws were enacted in the mid-1980s. Now nearly every state and the federal government has some form of hate crime law. These laws, in varying degrees, distinguish "ordinary" crime from those crimes motivated by specifically designated prejudices. Hate crime laws typically provide enhanced penalties for crimes motivated, in whole or in part, by bias or prejudice based on a victim's actual or perceived group affiliation. Some jurisdictions—including the federal government—have designated a hate crime as a separate substantive offense. Most hate crime statutes protect against groups that have historically been targets of bigotry; hate crime statutes across all states most commonly prohibit crimes based on race, religion and ethnicity.

Hate crime laws are popular because they send a largely symbolic governmental message that crimes motivated by certain types of bigotry will not be tolerated. As one scholar explained, hate crime laws are largely perceived as expressing:

Strong social condemnation of bias crimes...[C]ondemnation of hate crimes implies a general affirmation of the societal value of the groups targeted by hate crimes and a recognition of their rightful place in society. Hate crimes legislation is seen as reinforcing the community's commitment to equality among all citizens.

And therein lies the rub. If hate crime laws send a message of equality and inclusion, then hate crime laws also can send messages of intolerance and exclusion.

Take, for instance, the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990 (HCSA), which requires law enforcement agencies to collect hate crimes data and report their finding to the FBI. The HCSA mandated the collection of data about hate crimes motivated by bias based on sexual orientation. But conservative senators balked at the inclusion of sexual orientation. And the only way that the HCSA was passed was with the inclusion of compromise language, insisted upon by conservative senators, including Senator Jesse Helms, which stated that "nothing in this Act shall be construed . . . to promote or encourage homosexuality." In other words, the HSCA, designed to capture the scope of hate crime in the United States, was accompanied by a governmental message of bigotry toward members of the LGBT community.

This message of inclusion and exclusion continues today. Some states passed hate crime laws that include race, ethnicity and religion, but explicitly do not include sexual orientation or gender identity. And let's be clear, members of the LGBTQ community are targets of hate crimes. If the recent Orlando massacre at a gay club did not already prove that terrible truism, then just take a look at the FBI hate crime data, which shows that LGBT people are twice as likely to be targeted as African-Americans, and are targeted more frequently than Jews. When a state passes a hate crime law but omits sexual orientation and gender identity from its hate crime protections, a governmental message is arguably being communicated and it is not one of equality and tolerance for all. [MORE]

Judge: 14K Cases Possibly Affected by Tainted Lab Work

ABC News

Nearly 15,000 drug cases might have been undermined as a result of allegedly shoddy work by a forensic lab technician, according to a New Jersey judge.

Superior Court Judge Edward Jerejian held a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Bergen County to outline the process for vetting conviction challenges. Jerejian said the courts are expecting hundreds, if not thousands, of cases.

Jerejian's order stipulates that cases involving suspended lab technician Kamal Shah will continue to be heard in their original counties. Cases where the defendant has already been convicted will be forwarded to Jerejian for review.

Shah, who worked at a state police crime lab in Little Falls, is accused of not properly conducting laboratory analyses, peer reviews or administrative reviews of drug evidence. He was suspended by the lab in January after colleagues allegedly witnessed him "dry-labbing" a drug sample, or writing a lab test without conducting an analysis.

Following Shah's suspension, the state attorney general's office informed county officials of his removal and recommended that they contact defense attorneys involved in cases in which Shah either conducted the drug tests himself or signed off on them as a peer-review analyst.

County prosecutors have been identifying the cases involving Shah to resubmit drug samples for re-testing. Assistant Attorney General Michael Williams said his office has re-tested 160 priority drug cases so far. None were deemed faulty.

Many defense attorneys have already filed motions to have their clients' convictions thrown out and guilty pleas withdrawn.

Kevin Walker, a spokesman for the state's Office of the Public Defender, said that his office has consulted with national crime lab experts and officials are considering filing a motion to challenge drug-testing protocol at the state's police labs.

Shah's attorney declined to comment. Shah has yet to be criminally charged.

Professor Griff speaks on the Jesse Williams Speech at the BET Awards