Chicago Cop used his Discretion to Shoot Fleeing Black Man in the Back After Marijuana Stop: Charged with Attempted Murder

From [HERE] A Chicago Amtrak police officer now faces first-degree murder charges after a fatal shooting of a Minneapolis man.

Officer LaRoyce Tankson turned himself over late Thursday after 25-year-old Chad Robertson died on Wednesday, one week after he was shot.

Tankson and his partner had stopped Robertson and two other individuals who were smoking marijuana and asked them to put out the marijuana cigarettes. Robertson complied, and the group was informed that they were not allowed to smoke cannabis outside before they were allowed to leave. However, shortly after that, Tankson and his partner approached the group again and ordered them up against the glass wall of an elevator shaft.

Robertson then fled as officers began to pat the three of them down, and Tankson drew his firearm and shot one round toward Robertson. The bullet entered his his left posterior shoulder and lodged in his neck.

“I’m very pleased that he’s been charged with first-degree murder,” Robertson’s aunt, Theresa Love Williams, said Friday. “Now that he’s been charged, we need to get a conviction. So we still have a fight ahead of us.”

Tankson was scheduled to appear in court at noon on Friday.

Judge: Black Man Beaten by a Gang of White Philadelphia Cops was Stopped For No Legitimate Reason: All Evidence in Criminal Case Dismissed

From [HERE] A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that police illegally stopped a 22-year-old unarmed black man in Philadelphia before a dozen mostly white officers surrounded him and beat him in an encounter captured on video .

Common Pleas Judge Kai Scott on Wednesday ruled that drugs police seized from Tyree Carroll cannot be admitted as evidence because the arresting officer wasn’t legally permitted to stop and search Carroll, Newsworks.org reported (http://bit.ly/2lVBT4W).

A spokesman for the Philadelphia district attorney said prosecutors haven’t decided whether to appeal to Superior Court.

Carroll was supposedly riding his bike the wrong way down a one-way street in Germantown when he was stopped by a plainclothes police officer April 3, 2015, shortly before midnight on East Locust Avenue.

Apparently cops stopped him and then threw him off the bike, and put him in a chokehold. [MORE]

Police, though, said Carroll was stopped over a suspected narcotics violation. Carroll was on probation at the time from a marijuana-possession conviction - something police knew nothing about as they approached him in the street.

In order for the police to stop you the Supreme Court has ruled that police must have reasonable articulable suspicion that there is criminal activity afoot and that you are involved in the activity. Police may not act on on the basis of an inchoate or unclear and unparticularized suspicion or a hunch - there must be some specific articulable facts along with reasonable inferences from those facts to justify the intrusion. The court found that his right to be free from unreasonable detention by law enforcement was violated, and because the search was conducted through exploitation of that illegal detention, all evidence seized must be suppressed as a fruit of the illegal stop.

After calling for backup, more than a dozen white officers arrived on the scene, several flocking around him to kick, punch and shout obscenities at Carroll.

As one officer approached a restrained Carroll, the officer said, "Here comes the Taser," but police maintain that it was never used on Carroll.

Scott rejected the argument made by Assistant District Attorney Whitney Golden that since Carroll bit an officer, it didn’t matter whether the initial stop was legal. The bite, Golden argued, gave police the right to arrest Carroll for assault.

Carroll’s defense attorney, Michael Wiseman, called that logic “mind-boggling.”

Wiseman said without the evidence, the district attorney’s office will be forced to dismiss the case.

At a hearing on Tuesday, Carroll covered his ears as the judge watched a video of the beating that has been viewed nearly 200,000 times on YouTube. [MORE]

Last July, when the cellphone video of the violent police response was released, the department announced it was launching an Internal Affairs investigation into the April 2015 incident. No officers were found to have committed any wrongdoing, according to a source who read a report on the completed probe.

Nancy Carroll says her grandson Tyree "was treated like a dog" when he was arrested in April. [MORE] 

Racist Suspect Wisconsin Governor Rewards White Guards Who Were Fired for Excessive Force at Youth Prison with Cash Payments

From [HERE] For the second and third times, Gov. Scott Walker’s administration has given cash settlements to guards who it determined had used excessive force on juvenile inmates, state records show.

The payoffs — including one totaling $9,000 — were reached as the FBI continues a criminal investigation of Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, which share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last year reported officials at the prison complex trained staff improperly, failed to preserve video evidence, didn't document serious incidents and often shirked their duty to report matters to parents, police and social service agencies.

State Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) said he wants the Walker administration to explain why it is cutting deals after disciplining employees.

"Either they had a weak case going in or they had a strong case but they suddenly lost their backbone," he said. "Neither one is good."

The two most recent payments follow a $6,000 settlement reached in October with former guard Scott McKenna, who was fired after other guards said they saw him push a 15-year-old girl against a wall with his hand on her neck.

Newly released video from a hallway surveillance camera shows McKenna storming into the girl’s room and hurling blankets and a mattress into the hall as his co-workers look on. The video does not show McKenna’s interactions with the inmate or what happens in the cell.

At the time of the incident, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department recommended that prosecutors charge McKenna with child abuse and strangulation. More than two years later, they have not decided whether to do that.

The most recent settlement, for $9,000, went to Travis Taves, a former guard with the nickname Iceman who was fired in January 2016 for using unjustified force on two juvenile inmates.

Taves said he had planned to work at Lincoln Hills for another 20 years but agreed to the settlement so he could move on with his life after being put on paid leave for a year and then fired.

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Don’t Hold Your Breath: Fate of Federal Case Against NYPD for Murder of Eric Garner Unclear w/ Racist in Whitehouse

In Racist System YOU Can be Legally Executed by White Cops Anytime, Anyplace in Front of Cameras & Witnesses.  From [HERE] A federal civil rights investigation into the police chokehold death of Eric Garner has been moving forward in New York, but its future is uncertain as a U.S. attorney general with a law-and-order bent takes over the Justice Department.

Two people with inside knowledge of the probe say a federal grand jury in Brooklyn met as late as last week to hear testimony about Garner's deadly confrontation with New York Police Department officers on Staten Island in 2014.

Garner's dying words, "I can't breathe," became a slogan for the Black Lives Matter movement.

In recent weeks, officers who were present when Officer Daniel Pantaleo wrapped his arm around Garner's neck have testified before the grand jury, according to the people, who were not authorized to discuss the secret proceedings and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Whether such testimony continues may depend on internal Justice Department politics.

The federal inquiry, which began after an all white state grand jury declined to charge Pantaleo in 2014, already stalled once last year when prosecutors based at the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn expressed doubt that there was enough evidence to make a criminal case against the officer. [MORE] and [MORE]

Their hesitation resulted in the Justice Department, in the waning months of President Barack Obama's term, dispatching Washington-based prosecutors to New York to forge ahead, according to a third person with knowledge of the case, who also was not authorized to discuss the inquiry and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

It is unclear whether new Attorney General Jeff Sessions will take an interest in the case. Both the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to discuss it Friday. Pantaleo's attorney, Stuart London, also had no comment.

But Sessions has the power to freeze the investigation and order a review by Civil Rights Division under new leadership for the unit "that reflects his ideology," said former federal prosecutor David Weinstein.

Sessions had been a vocal critic of the Obama administration's aggressive response to allegations of police misconduct.

No Charges Filed Against NYPD Thug Cops Who Cracked Latino Teen's Skull During Bogus Arrest for Non-Existent Marijuana

From [HERE] and [HERE] A college-bound Latino teen is suing the city, saying cops threw him 15 feet onto a concrete landing, fracturing his skull, in a false arrest over an alleged marijuana sale.

Bobby Lopez, 19, who had been admitted to La Guardia Community College, claims undercover officers tackled him to the ground in front of his West 17th Street apartment on Aug. 16, 2016, the Manhattan Supreme Court suit says. 

Cops claimed they’d witnessed Lopez hand his older brother three baggies of marijuana and try to flee when they moved in to arrest him, according to court papers.

But criminal charges against the two were tossed, and Lopez’s attorney Ugochukwu Uzoh says surveillance footage of the incident clears his client. Apparently, marijuana was never found. 

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis, a professional liar, issued a statement Wednesday after Eyewitness News contacted the NYPD: 

"The officers, who were assigned to the Narcotics Division, were attempting to take the subject into custody in connection with a drug charge when the suspect attempted to flee. One of the officers grabbed the suspect's shirt as he tried to get away and the suspect fell down a stairway pulling the officer along with him. The officers' actions were reviewed by the office of the Manhattan District Attorney and they determined that there was no criminal conduct. The NYPD is conducting an internal review of the incident, as is the case whenever a prisoner is injured while in custody."

However, surveillance camera video shows an undercover NYPD officer tackle Lopez down steps and slam him into the sidewalk at the entrance to his apartment building. He did not fall down steps and he does not appear to be attempting to flee in the video. The suddenness and force behind the officer's takedown knocked him out cold.

The suit, for unspecified damages, says cops didn’t immediately call for medical attention even though Lopez was unconscious. He later underwent emergency life-saving surgery to remove part of his skull, according to court papers.

Lopez claims he suffered permanent head injuries in the August 16, 2016, incident in Chelsea and spent days in the hospital -- near death. He said police used excessive force in his arrest.

"I remember waking up in the hospital," Lopez said.

He suffered brain damage and now struggles to perform basic functions like bending over and looking at bright lights, Uzoh said.

Reporter: "You held the door for them?"

Lopez: "Yes, and after that, lights out."

Lopez was 18 years old at the time, and said he doesn't remember anything about the arrest. He was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency brain surgery, which required the removal of part of his skull.

"I prayed basically 12, almost 24 hours. I did not leave my son's sight," said Lopez's mother, Enid Mora.

For a time, he was handcuffed to his hospital bed and arraigned there, charged with selling marijuana and resisting arrest. 

"They had nothing on me," Lopez said. "When they injured me all I had was my wallet and my cellphone."

Weeks later, the surveillance video -- which showed no resistance -- surfaced and suddenly the charges were dropped.

"We provided the video to the DA's office and that's when the DA, after reviewing the video, eventually agreed that Mr. Lopez did not do anything wrong and dismissed the charges," said Ugo Uzoh, Lopez's attorney.

Lopez spent weeks recovering. His plans to enter college as a freshman have been put off. He is no longer able to play basketball. An indentation in his head is a permanent reminder of his encounter with the NYPD. 

Reporter: "Has this changed your life, do you think?"

Lopez: "Physically, yes. I love playing basketball and I couldn't play now, I can't play, a risk, a basketball to the head could kill me. And I love drawing -- me keeping my head down too long to draw starts to give me a headache." 

Lawsuit Claims Chicago Police Unlawfully Detained & Interrogated Elderly Black Woman for 6 Hours Causing Heart Attack

From [HERE] An elderly Black woman claims she suffered a heart attack while being interrogated by Chicago police for several hours, despite the fact that she was not suspected of any crime. 

Charlotte Brent-Bell, 68, sued the city of Chicago and two police officers, Joseph Struck and Pamela Childs Laughlin, in Chicago federal court on Friday, claiming an unlawful interrogation caused her to be hospitalized.

On Aug. 15, 2016, Brent-Bell says she was taken from her home on the South Side of Chicago without any explanation from police and was detained at the police station, where Struck and Laughlin interrogated her for more than six hours.

During the time that Mrs. Brent-Bell was at the police station, the Defendants knew she was in need of medication. They knew this because Mrs. Brent-Bell told them repeatedly. Nonetheless, Defendants denied Mrs. Brent-Bell timely access to her medication. [MORE]

Once she arrived at the police station, Brent-Bell alleges she was placed in an interrogation room and her cellphone and medications, which were inside her purse, were confiscated without her permission.

Struck and Laughlin illegally searched her cellphone and afterwards asked her to sign a form giving them permission to search it, which she refused to do, according to the complaint.

“At no time did defendants have any reason to suspect Mrs. Brent-Bell of any crime,” the lawsuit states. “Indeed, defendants all told Mrs. Brent-Bell that she was not suspected of any crime.”

Brent-Bell claims she was also denied access to a lawyer while she was detained.

“Defendants never ceased their questioning in response to Mrs. Brent-Bell’s requests for an attorney,” the complaint states. “Defendants never read Mrs. Brent-Bell her Miranda rights. At no point did Mrs. Brent-Bell agree to speak with defendants. On the contrary, she repeatedly invoked her right to remain silent. Defendants disregarded Mrs. Brent-Bell’s invocation of her right to remain silent, and they continued with their questioning.”

Throughout the day, Brent-Bell began to feel progressively ill, with symptoms of dizziness, nausea, and chest pain, she claims.

“As a result of defendants’ unlawful detention and interrogation, Mrs. Brent-Bell blacked out and became unresponsive,” the complaint states. “She had suffered a heart attack.”

According to the complaint, Brent-Bell was rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for four days after having surgery. She says her health problems continue to this day.

She also claims she was never charged or suspected of any crime.

“The City of Chicago had notice of a widespread practice and custom by Chicago Police Officers under which individuals not reasonably suspected of any criminal activity, such as Mrs. Brent-Bell, were routinely stopped, seized, arrested, detained, questioned, and/or interrogated against their will,” the lawsuit states.

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Baltimore Settles Anthony Anderson Case: White Cops Murdered Black Man by Slamming Him on His Neck b/c They Thought He Had Heroin

From [HERE] and [MORE] Baltimore City has agreed to pay $300,000 to the family of Anthony Anderson, the Black man whose 2012 death became a focal point of the issue of police brutality well before the Freddie Gray case exploded in demonstrations and a riot.

The Board of Estimates has placed the settlement on the agenda for approval at its Wednesday meeting.

The settlement will release the city from a $20 million wrongful death case filed by Anderson’s family in federal court against the Police Department and three detectives in the now-disbanded Violent Crime Impact Section.

The suit was filed after then-State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein exonerated the three plainclothes detectives, who he said followed proper police procedure when they arrested Anderson in a vacant lot at Montford Avenue and Biddle Street on the night of September 21, 2012. Bernstein is a racist suspect. 

Bernstein’s ruling infuriated many in the black community and helped lead to the surprise challenge – and even more surprising election victory – of Marilyn J. Mosby, the current state’s attorney, in 2014.

In September 2012, police confronted Anderson in East Baltimore, suspecting a drug deal. Officers said Anderson refused to follow orders and put drugs in his mouth. They said an officer then bear hugged Anderson and tackled him to the ground. At first police attempted to say that he died from asphyxiation after choking on drugs. Police changed their story after an autopsy showed otherwise. 

An autopsy report provided by the family showed that he suffered fractures to eight ribs, contusions to his left lung and a ruptured spleen. The state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.

At issue in Anderson’s death was the use of a “bear hug” tackle by Officer Todd A. Strohman in the vacant lot after officers suspected Anderson of carrying drugs upon leaving a corner liquor store.

The bear hug broke eight of Anderson’s ribs and ruptured his spleen, causing internal bleeding that, combined with a pre-existing medical condition, led to the 46-year-old’s death.

Witnesses who saw the arrest have reported that he was slammed on his head by a white plainclothes officer who approached him from behind.. “Picked him up and slammed him on his head,” one witness explained. “Guy never looked back or anything. He didn’t even see the police coming,” Keith Johnson, who witnessed the arrest, said. Witnesses say Anderson was leaving a bar on Biddle Street, walking across the lot when he was confronted by plainclothes police. [MORE] Witnesses also say the plainclothes police never announced themselves or ordered him to stop. 

"Tthey grabbed him they pinned his arms to the side, and they came straight up, and slammed him on his neck, collar-bone like,” said Dereck Jackson of East Baltimore. Other witnesses have given similar acounts of Anderson being slammed down on his head. [MORE]. They say he went limp, and believe he already was dead when an ambulance picked him up. [MORE] 

The 86-page complaint alleges officers handcuffed Anderson then kicked him “in the ribs, stomach, back and chest for several minutes maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.”

The arrest was also witnessed by Anderson’s mother, daughter and son, who charged in their federal lawsuit that Strohman and Officers Gregg B. Boyd and Michael J. Vodarick “repeatedly kick[ed] Anderson in the ribs, stomach, back and chest for several minutes maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.”

In their account, the officers said that Anderson had been carrying baggies of heroin and swallowed several gel caps after they ordered him to stop. They said they believed his noticeable physical distress – he slumped over while in handcuffs and struggled to breath – was due to a drug overdose.

By the time paramedics arrived, Anderson was unconscious. He was revived after paramedics gave him Narcan, a drug that counteracts a drug overdose, but he quickly slipped back to unconsciousness in the ambulance.

He died a few minutes later at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

While police initially attributed the death to drugs, the state medical examiner [actual doctors] ruled Anderson’s death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma.

The city has paid more than $13 million to settle lawsuits alleging police misconduct since 2011. In 2015, the city agreed to pay $6.4 million to the family of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old whose death a week after sustaining a severe spinal injury in the back of a police van prompted unrest in the city.

Last month, the city and the U.S. Department of Justice signed a consent decree, which if approved by a federal judge will mandate reforms aimed at restoring community trust in the police department and ensuring that officers work within the bounds of the Constitution. [consent decrees and lawsuits have no effect on the system of white supremacy/racism]. 

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To Get Another All White Jury, White Federal Judge Hooks Up Michael Slager w/a Statewide Jury Pool: White Cop Shot Black Man Over & Over on Video in Broad Daylight

What is White Collective Power? From [HERE] A white federal judge on Monday granted a request from the attorneys of a white North Charleston police officer Michael Slager for a statewide jury pool for his federal civil rights trial in the shooting death of a black motorist.

The order signed by U.S. District Judge David Norton is a blow to prosecutors who had asked that the jury be selected only from the Charleston and Beaufort areas.

Slager, whose trial on state murder charges in the death Walter Scott during a traffic stop in April 2015 ended in a mistrial, faces federal charges of deprivation of rights under the color of law, use of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and misleading investigators following the shooting.

Slager’s attorney, Andy Savage, has argued repeatedly as he prepares for the upcoming civil rights trial that extensive pretrial publicity about the case warranted reliance on a statewide jury pool to ensure the former police officer gets a fair trial.

Federal prosecutors pushed back at this assertion, arguing that there are sufficient safeguards in place in federal court to ensure Slager an impartial jury, and that reliance on a statewide pool of jurors would be overly burdensome and would unnecessarily increase the cost of the trial.

Further, wrote attorney Eric Klumb in a motion filed in January, “There is no evidence to suggest that the extent of publicity in the Charleston and Beaufort area exceeds that in the remaining areas of the state.”

Judge Norton’s order says jury selection for Slager’s federal trial will begin on May 9 in Columbia, South Carolina, and the trial will begin in Charleston the following week.

The shooting of Walter Scott, occurred on April 4, 2015, in North Charleston, South Carolina, following a daytime traffic stop for a non-functioning brake light. Scott was fatally shot by Michael Slager, a white North Charleston police officer in the back from a distance multiple times as he was running away from him. Slager was charged with murder after a video surfaced contradicting his police report and showing that he planted a gun by Scott's dead body. 

A state judge had declared a mistrial on December 5 after jurors failed to reach a verdict following 22 hours of deliberation. The jury was made up of 11 white jurors and one black juror. [why would the prosecutor, who was white, allow a nearly all white jury to be emapaneled? Think Michael Brown/Eric Garner/Rodney King/etc. prosecutions of white cops.] [MORE]

Slager is also scheduled to be retried on state murder charges beginning on August 28.

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[If They Lie Once Can You Believe Anything Else they say?] Video Shows White Nashville Cop Lied About Killing Jacques Clemmons

From [HERE] The Nashville NAACP is demanding answers from the Metro Nashville Police Department following Friday's deadly police shooting. They argue that the police department unfairly targets black people and called Friday's deadly shooting "questionable circumstances."

Jocques Clemmons, 31yr old black man, was shot and killed by Officer Joshua Lippert, a racist suspect cop, last Friday at the Cayce Homes public housing development. 

At 12:55 p.m., on Friday, Feb. 10, Officer Lippert, a white cop, approached Clemmons after a failure to observe a stop sign. Clemmons, driving a gray SUV,  pulled into a parking lot on South Sixth Street in front of the James A. Cayce Homes parking lot. Lippert, driving in an unmarked police car, pulled into the parking lot driveway behind the SUV. Lippert had observed the infraction from a different direction than Clemons was driving. Clemons was unaware that the cop was pulling him over. 

Police said the uniformed patrol officer walked up to Clemmons, who was stepping out of his SUV, to talk to him about the traffic violation. Police initially said Clemmons then body-checked officer Lippert. Specifically, the cops stated, "Clemmons suddenly rushed Lippert and collided into his body." In another released statement police said Clemmons "abruptly charged at Officer Lippert making full body contact." [MORE]

But footage released by police on Tuesday shows Clemmons run toward the officer, before stopping short and running in the opposite direction away from the cop with Lippert in pursuit. In other words, the cops lied about Clemmons being the initial aggressor by claiming he assaulted the cop. [MORE]

The new video was not available to police until Monday due to a broken Metro Development and Housing Agency computer server, police claimed.

Police said Clemmons appeared to be holding something in his waistband during the chase. When the officer caught up with his suspect, they claim the two struggled again, and a fully loaded .357 Magnum dropped onto the concrete.

In contrast, the police also claim that Clemmons had a gun in his hand and refused to drop it when Lippert told him to, police said. Lippert believed he was in danger and opened fire, police said. Clemmons was struck twice in the lower back and once in his left hip, police said.

The video shows Lippert fired on Clemmons when Clemmons had his back turned to the officer and went to run in between two parked cars.

He later died in surgery. The entire incident lasted just over one minute.

Police also said they recovered a gun from Clemmons after he was shot. [MORE] However, Clemmons' family questions whether he even had a gun. Police posted a picture of the gun they say Clemmons was holding on Twitter.

In a statement, police speculated that, since it's illegal to carry a weapon after being convicted of a felony, Clemmons may have tried to run because he was on probation. [MORE]

Monday afternoon, Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson held a press conference to announce new surveillance video from Cayce Homes that shows an unidentified person getting out of the front passenger side door of Clemmons car before the confrontation. Police are looking for that person to ask questions about the incident.

Monday afternoon, the FBI was asked to monitor the investigation into the shooting death of Jocques Clemmons. 

"It's difficult to say to our officers, 'Don't stop someone, don't make a traffic stop for people who violate the law including running stop signs,'" said Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson. [just don't murder them after the traffic stop - write them a fucking ticket like a good public servant should & move on].

Lippert, who has been with the police department five years, is on routine administrative duties while that investigation is pending. Lippert has spent 20 days suspended for various police code violations, including two instances involving physical use of force, according to Metro police records.

In October 2015, Lippert used physical force to pull a black motorist from the vehicle during a traffic stop, even though the driver said he'd be willing to get out in the presence of a supervisor. Lippert was also reprimanded for having the man's car towed without giving him a chance to park the car or turn it over to someone else.

In another case, the officer was reprimanded when he "created the necessity to use force against an intoxicated subject" who was being arrested, according to the disciplinary record. That subject was white. [MORE]

Clemmons' family and the local NAACP are demanding a thorough and transparent investigation from a citizen review board. They are also asking that all police officers get body cameras that will remain on at all times. His family questions why police had to use deadly force instead of tasering Clemmons. They say if he were a white man, he may still be here today.

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[Cops Sensitive Like Condom] Trump's executive order is based on a myth. Police are the safest they've been in decades

From [HERE] Dummy Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday vowing to aggressively enforce existing laws and develop even harsher penalties for "crimes of violence" committed against law enforcement officers. 

The attorney general will "review existing federal laws to determine whether those laws are adequate to address [officers'] protection and safety," the order reads. "[Following] that review, [the attorney general will] make recommendations to the president ... including, if warranted, legislation defining new crimes of violence and establishing new mandatory minimum sentences for existing crimes."

The executive order gives new credence to the false narrative of police officers under siege, and calls for action to fight this fake scourge in partnership with the newly confirmed Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The order comes during the safest period for U.S. law enforcement in decades. Although officer fatalities in the line of duty rose to 135 in 2016 — compared with 123 in 2015 — those numbers don't even come close to what they've been for most of the last 60 years.

Here are some figures: The average number of officer deaths since 2012 is 124 per year. From 1961 through 2011, it was 182, peaking at 280 in 1974. Even during the most fatal year of the past decade and a half — 2011, when 177 officers were killed in the line of duty — only 73 were killed by firearms. Traffic-related incidents have been the leading cause of on-duty officer fatalities during this period, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

But Trump's decision isn't based on data or necessity. Trump won the White House on a wave of anti-protester sentiment and antipathy toward the Black Lives Matter movement. He's stood by police even as demonstrators nationwide have rallied against law enforcement racism and violence. In September, Trump secured an endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the United States. The president's "law and order" platform hinges largely on the false claim that crime is skyrocketing nationwide.

Police unions across the country, meanwhile, have peddled the myth that U.S. law enforcement officers are in unique danger today. They cite two high-profile fatal shootings — that of five police officers in Dallas in July and of three in Baton Rouge the same month — as evidence, but mostly, they've levied their complaints against protesters and former President Barack Obama, who they claimed, without any evidence, was anti-police.

The difference is that the protesters' grievances are supported by actual statistics: According to the Guardian's police killing database, law enforcement officers killed 2,238 people between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2016. In each of those years, black victims were killed at more than twice the rate of whites. Protesters who've tried drawing attention to this disparity have been routinely dismissed by police, right-wing pundits and politicians alike.

On the other hand, the fears expressed by police officers and their unions are rooted primarily in myth. Many states already have increased penalties for crimes against officers, for one thing. And unlike the epidemic of police shootings of civilians, police deaths have yielded proactive legislation. In Louisiana, a "Blue Lives Matter" bill was adopted in May that made police officers a protected class under the state's hate crime statute. Other states have considered similar bills. And in early 2017, at least five other states introduced or passed laws that criminalize nonviolent protest.

Of course, Trump's executive order should come as no surprise, considering the fabricated notion of America as a crime-ridden hellscape has been central to his rise. But as police are given increased protections, civilians' rights are being slowly eaten away. For a president who claims to be an advocate for "the people," Trump has certainly proven himself a much fiercer fighter for the state. [MORE]