Police Abuse of Power Thread #20067b

gawwwwd

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/06/12/ill...wheelchair-man/

A Chicago police officer has been sentenced to 40 months in federal prison for beating a 60 year old man who was handcuffed and shackled to a hospital emergency room wheelchair.

Randy Miles had been brought in drunk and with stab wounds when Officer William Cozzi was called to investigate. In an attack that was caught on videotape, Cozzi shackled Miles and hit him eleven times with a sap. Cozzi then claimed that Miles had attacked him and even had him charged with resisting arrest before the existence of the videotape became known.

Cozzi will now lose not only his job but also his pension. Prior to the incident, he had served on the force for 15 years with no complaints of brutality. In his guilty plea, he claimed, “I let my frustrations get the best of me and made a terrible mistake in judgment.” However, the judge ruled that the beating was not spontaneous but deliberate.

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told reporters, “We will back up police officers who do reasonable things under the circumstances, but at the same time, everyone needs to understand … that when people cross the line and assault someone and then lie about it, that has to be addressed too.”

this thread makes me really angry. I can only watch so many videos of Cops blatantly taking advantage of their position /thread

Does anyone know whether or not cops undergo psychological evaluations before or during their time serving on the force? They should if they don't already.

  Wall Bird said:

Just a quick show of hands. Does anyone here like the police or, rather, feel as if they still do more good than harm?

I'm as disgusted by police brutality as anyone (and I've been on the recieving end of truncheons once or twice at demos) but I think the vast majority of the police do a decent job. Every murderer or rapist that's put in prison is a job well done for the police. Cops like this are still in the minority, I feel.

  Yegg said:

Does anyone know whether or not cops undergo psychological evaluations before or during their time serving on the force? They should if they don't already.

my intsinct says that if they do a psychological profile and it shows they are an empathy less sociopath who follows orders really well they are perfect for the force. The only people i know who wanted to be cops or became cops were deeply fucked up mentally.

One of them was a FPS addict alcoholic jock guy who before he enrolled in the police force got a restraining order against him for punching a girl out at a party. One other guy was possibly the most ostracized nerd in my entire school, he got picked on by so many people that it was just sad. He had no friends, and had a rat tail haircut at age 16 (this was about 1997). and now he's a very serious acting policeman.

Oh i forgot i know one more guy who tried becoming a cop but failed because he was traced back to as having bought an illegal silencer for his gun when he was younger and also he was one of those guys who looked like he never reached puberty even when he graduated high school. I lost track of him for a while and next time i saw him he looked REALLY fucking creepy. He looked still like he hadnt reached puberty but THIS TIME he was super pumped up like someone took an airhose and inserted it into his body. Like a dude who didn't reach puberty took some steroids or something to get some meat on his body.

So to make a long story short the ONLY people i've known who wanted to be police i would never let them near my home or near me in a emergency situation where i needed help.

  Iain C said:

Cops like this are still in the minority, I feel.

i wish i felt this way!

have you guys seen the video of the wheelchair bound paraplegic man who got arrested by a Sherrif and when he refused to 'get up' out of his wheelchair the cops thought it would be funny to see if he could walk Lebowski style and threw him off the chair. The video is available on the net but i couldn't find it. The man suffered 3 broken ribs from being thrown from the chair.

i love too how Americans think they live in the freest country in the world when

we have by far the highest incarceration rate . a higher percentage of our own population is in prison than any other country, 50% of these people are in jail for drug related charges, mostly non violent ones.

these vids are horrible yeah yeah yeah, but the cops have literally saved my ass twice in the past 2 weeks.

how so?

  essines said:

how so?

well I guess they only SAVED my ass once. Maybe next year I'll talk about that... The other time I guess it doesn't count when they came AFTER I got mugged... i dunno... I was knocked the fuck out, I don't remember shit. Stitches are almost dissolved on my eyebrow...

fat policeman tasers 72-year old granny

cops taser and shoot pet chihuahua

  Quote

American prisons and jails held 2,299,116 inmates as of June 30, 2007.[10] One in every 31 American adults, or 7.3 million Americans, are in prison, on parole or probation. Approximately one in every 18 men in the United States is behind bars or being monitored. A significantly greater percentage of the American population is in some form of correctional control even though crime rates have declined by about 25 percent from 1988-2008.[11] 70% of prisoners in the United States are non-whites.[12] In recent decades the U.S. has experienced a surge in its prison population, quadrupling since 1980, partially as a result of mandated sentences that came about during the "war on drugs." Violent crime and property crime have declined since the early 1990s.[13]

 

As of 2004, the three states with the lowest ratio of imprisoned to civilian population are Maine (148 per 100,000), Minnesota (171 per 100,000), and Rhode Island (175 per 100,000). The three states with the highest ratio are Louisiana (816 per 100,000), Texas (694 per 100,000), and Mississippi (669 per 100,000). [14] It's worth noting, the first 3 states are among states with lowest gun death rate, while the last 3 states, particularly Louisiana and Mississippi have the highest gun death rate in the nation. [15] This suggests a close connection between gun violence and incarceration rate.

 

Nearly one million of those incarcerated in state and federal prisons, as well as local jails, are serving time for committing non-violent crimes. [16]

 

In 2002, 93.2% of prisoners were male. About 10.4% of all black males in the United States between the ages of 25 and 29 were sentenced and in prison, compared to 2.4% of Hispanic males and 1.3% of white males. [17]

 

In 2005, about 1 out of every 136 U.S. residents was incarcerated either in prison or jail.[18] The total amount being 2,320,359, with 1,446,269 in state and federal prisons and 747,529 in local jails.[19]

 

A 2005 report estimated that 27% of federal prison inmates are noncitizens, convicted of crimes while in the country legally or illegally.[20] However, federal prison inmates are only a 6 percent of the total incarcerated population; noncitizen populations in state and local prisons are more difficult to establish.

 

The United States has the highest documented per capita rate of incarceration of any country in the world.[3][5]

I took my trucking course with a guy that was originally from Southern California, and he told us a story about an officer in a small town that killed a kid (younger than 15) and was let off with a suspension.  The kid was a relative of a known drug dealer, and the officer's defense was she had confused her gun with her taser.  The town subsequently went apeshit, and began toppling lightpoles onto police cars and setting fires.

It was a female officer? Well I guess they have to use some sort of discretion.

This is all over the news today btw, about police brutality, here in sunny England.

yeup, with tasers. surprise surprise.

You'd think there would be some kind of emotional management training sessions within the Police, I'm not even kidding. So if they become infuriated with a "criminal", they channel their anger so that they don't kick off in violent bursts at the person for doing a crime. Pscyhological training should most definitely get attention and become emphasised within the Police.

  Bread said:

You'd think there would be some kind of emotional management training sessions within the Police, I'm not even kidding. So if they become infuriated with a "criminal", they channel their anger so that they don't kick off in violent bursts at the person for doing a crime. Pscyhological training should most definitely get attention and become emphasised within the Police.

I wonder if most city budgets would allow for that type of cirriculum and/or screening, though.  I know the FBI does it, but that department is funded by the government and not just provinces/counties/cities/what-have-you.

  OneToThirtySix said:

  Bread said:

You'd think there would be some kind of emotional management training sessions within the Police, I'm not even kidding. So if they become infuriated with a "criminal", they channel their anger so that they don't kick off in violent bursts at the person for doing a crime. Pscyhological training should most definitely get attention and become emphasised within the Police.

 

I wonder if most city budgets would allow for that type of cirriculum and/or screening, though.  I know the FBI does it, but that department is funded by the government and not just provinces/counties/cities/what-have-you.

It's a viable investment in terms of preventing injuries and possible murders of people being apprehended in society. Could also mention that communication skills are essential, the amount of cops I have seen on TV/youtube - talking to people in such an irrational manner.. it really is terrible.

I guess the consensus is that if somebody is deemed worthy of arresting then the officer can use necessary force, meaning that boundaries aren't morally needed (in the eyes of the police I'm talking now), and verbal/physical force may be used as necessary, so I guess they think that training isn't needed. I would think also, that they don't expect officers to go around beating people once they are already handcuffed, so haven't prepared for the consequences when that does happen.

They probably think "well he's applying to be a police officer so he's got to be a good bloke, and mentally alright" and just assume he's not going to be an arsehole.

I don't know I'm not good at this shit, just throwing in my penny's worth.

  Bread said:

It's a viable investment in terms of preventing injuries and possible murders of people being apprehended in society. Could also mention that communication skills are essential, the amount of cops I have seen on TV/youtube - talking to people in such an irrational manner.. it really is terrible.

I agree, but I also think these incidents occur infrequently enough for most police forces to let psychological screening slide, violent officers making up a small enough margin of the force for them to claim their brutality as an exception to the rule.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fizo-sOSE6o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPRrHYn3TiU

  On 6/16/2009 at 1:36 AM, Bread said:

You'd think there would be some kind of emotional management training sessions within the Police, I'm not even kidding. So if they become infuriated with a "criminal", they channel their anger so that they don't kick off in violent bursts at the person for doing a crime. Psychological training should most definitely get attention and become emphasised within the Police.

Agreed.

Police officers shouldn't be picked because of their elitism/innocence as it widens the gap between them and the criminals, dehumanising them in their view. The nazi's never thought of Jews as people like them. So, going on from your post, we should somehow bring them closer to their enemies. Perhaps encourage police employment with former criminals? Sounds silly but if they can relate better to the people they are trying to help, it makes sense to me.

If anyone watched 'you have been watching' recently (last Tues night) there was a program they commented, it was with this guy who was a former drug taker/dealer working for the cops, it was a very refreshing view. Link.