Consequences of Prohibition
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Politics & Advocacy
Standing at a rally in front of the home where Atlanta senior citizen Kathryn Johnston was shot and killed by police serving a "no-knock" drug warrant after she opened fire on the intruders, the Rev. Al Sharpton on Sunday called for congressional hearings into the police killing of civilians. The case of Johnston, who was killed November 21, along with that of Sean Bell, the New York City man gunned down by police on his wedding date a few days later, and the case of Patrick Strickland, the North Carolina man killed by police investigating the robbery of a Playstation3, have once again put the simmering issue of police violence on the front burner.
"Something stinks in this case. And something stinks to high heaven," Sharpton said. "In fact, it smells so bad, I smelled it in New York and came to Atlanta this morning." Sharpton condemned "this new sense of police recklessness, whether it is a 88-year-old mother here in Atlanta, with questionable circumstances that led to the warrant that gave them entry into her home, or whether it is over 50 bullets shot at three unarmed men in Queens," said the prominent black activist and former presidential candidate.
"There seems to be a new spirit in law enforcement that they can become the judge, jury and executioner of the law on the scene," Sharpton said. "Police apprehend suspects; they don't kill them. This cannot be tolerated in a civilized society."
While the Justice Department is conducting investigations of both the Johnston and Bell killings, Sharpton said they were only the latest in a pattern of killings and individualized inquiries were not enough. "The pattern is not under investigation," Sharpton said. "They are investigating whether there was criminal activity. The pattern of policing, which should be set by the US Congress in a federal standard, is not going to come out of either one of those investigations."
Sharpton said he had been talking with US Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the incoming head of the House Judiciary Committee about holding hearings on what he called a national pattern of police shootings. He isn't the first to ask Conyers to act on the issue. Outgoing US Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) sent Conyers a letter last week asking him to hold hearings.
According to the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, police kill between 300 and 400 people each year. After peaking at nearly 450 police killings of civilians in 1994, the number declined to just over 300 in 2000 before climbing again to about 370 last year. Only a tiny fraction of police killings are found by police to be questionable; most are found to be "justifiable homicides." In only a tiny fraction of cases are officers indicted in a killing, and then, only a tiny fraction are convicted.
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Comments
Police shootings
It seems to me that the underlying cause of all these police shootings might be the loosening of psychological test scores in order to have more people excepted for training.
DaveMan
David J. McDonough
404 Daffodil Dr.
Henderson, NV. 89015-2277
(702) 245-2577
In reply to Police shootings by Anonymous (not verified)
PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST SCORES
I have often wondered what type of person it takes to be a policeman. My recent experience made me think it was a person who was easily incited into a confrontation with a law abiding citizen or a criminal.
After muttering an opinion of the behavior as I walked away from the guy, I was threatened with arrest. I had accidentally bumped a storage shed, I rented with a U-Haul truck and they were called by an anonymous observer to "catch" me. I probably would have forgotten about it, since i was in the middle of a move and had a lot of things on my mind, so I was not , at all, upset that the police came to investigate the $100 dent I put in the building. I had U-Haul insurance, so I was covered!
The problem was this back woods Arkansas red neck, who wanted a fight. It may have been influenced by the fact that my beautiful wife was the ex of a former sheriff's and son of the most recent past sheriff! I just responded like any diplomatic person would and apologized for my actions, but I received none from the "over-zealous" coop. He probably had a bad psyche evaluation or something and wanted to get back at a "rich" doctor.
I think this is the biggest reason they get on the swat teams. They have an underlying desire to shoot! They are defective personalities, who legally carry guns. In some sates, people with mental illness cannot own guns! Here we give them to lose cannons!
The person I had to deal with might wish, one day, that there had been a, real, trauma doctor there to take care of him, after suffering a gunshot wound! I was leaving that town!
Oh, well, 'nough said!
Sincerely,
Michael G Langley, MD
target out for the ultimate kill
LIKE ANIMAL PREY;EXCESSIVE FORCE IS BEING USE BY POLICE ON AFRICAN AMERICANS IN WHICH HAS PROVEN TO HAVE TAKEN LIVES RATHER THAN THE PERSON TAKEN INTO CUSTODY.THERE SHOULD BE A DEEP PROBE INTO THIS SERIOUS INQUEST AS TO WHY AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE TARGETED OUT FOR THE ULTIMATE KILL BY POLICE.
In reply to target out for the ultimate kill by Anonymous (not verified)
Horn Lake, MS police and justice
Within the past year I have had an overflow dealing with Horn Lake police dept. My son has been arrested over a dozen times. To name a few, riding a bicycle, twice, disorderly conduct, every time he walks out of the door and many others. Today I was told by police that they could search my home without a written warrant. I asked how could this be? The answer that I received was owful. All my troubles has stemed from the alderman. He has even told my landlord not to renew my lease because he did not want my kind in his city. What is my kind? I have an hourly job just like any other american citizen. I have noticed that every police patrol car wears a rebel flag symbol on it's license plate. I was told that they could harras me and my family as often as they like. What is it that I can do to stop this before on day my son is found possiblely murdered in the streets and no one knows how, but it's at the hands of Horn Lake, MS Police Dept. That's not all of the things that has happened to my family and myself by the DeSoto County Police.
My home number is 662-342-0448
My email address: [email protected]
I need your help.
Broward County Official Robbers
Think of it, the value of every community must be kept by responsible decent conscientious Local Government people.
What we have here in Broward County are a bunch of indecent robbers running the municipality, from the Damn Mayer, commissioners to the county attorney.
It can't get any worse than to have a County contract drafted wherein it divest people doing county jobs of "County Employee" status, and also clause "disclaimer" saying; these employees are not third-party able to enforced the contract in the event of County/ShuttlePort breach.
This is really too bizarre and unacceptable. They have locked the workers into an underprivileged prison. Because employees working under ShuttlePort believed that it was really an independent contractor under obligation to comply with the contract. In the midst of these problems they went to the commissioners specifically Ilene Lieberman, who asked County Attorney Jeffrey Newton to review the contract in light of those allegations. They both came back and say ShuttlePort was doing nothing wrong and besides there's nothing they could do because ShuttlePort is an independent contractor.
They had to take that position because Randy Bond GM of ShuttlePort, is paid to run this private entity called ShuttlePort. Through this guy they illegally extract millions from employees contractual benefits listed under exhibit G and other articles of the contract. This is their biggest secret and they thought no one would bust them.
Commissioner Ilene Lieberman, the Mayor, Jeffrey J. Newton and Robert Bielek should resign, there're unfit to serve.
In reply to Broward County Official Robbers by Anonymous (not verified)
Broward County Official Robbers
Think of it, the value of every community must be kept by responsible decent conscientious Local Government people.
What we have here in Broward County are a bunch of indecent robbers running the municipality, from the Damn Mayer, commissioners to the county attorney.
It can't get any worse than to have a County contract drafted wherein it divest people doing county jobs of "County Employee" status, and also clause "disclaimer" saying; these employees are not third-party able to enforced the contract in the event of County/ShuttlePort breach.
This is really too bizarre and unacceptable. They have locked the workers into an underprivileged prison. Because employees working under ShuttlePort believed that it was really an independent contractor under obligation to comply with the contract. In the midst of these problems they went to the commissioners specifically Ilene Lieberman, who asked County Attorney Jeffrey Newton to review the contract in light of those allegations. They both came back and say ShuttlePort was doing nothing wrong and besides there's nothing they could do because ShuttlePort is an independent contractor.
They had to take that position because Randy Bond GM of ShuttlePort, is paid to run this private entity called ShuttlePort. Through this guy they illegally extract millions from employees contractual benefits listed under exhibit G and other articles of the contract. This is their biggest secret and they thought no one would bust them.
Commissioner Ilene Lieberman, the Mayor, Jeffrey J. Newton and Robert Bielek should resign, they are unfit to serve.
2 year old given barbiturates
I'm a desperate grandmother looking for answers and no one wants to help us, all we get is lies from the doctors and the attorneys for the doctors. I need Rev Sharpton to help me get someone to give us the reason why my grandson was given this dangerous drug. He went to the hospital with a bowel blockage and ended up brain dead. It bring me to my knees just to talk about the incident. Please help me find Rev Sharpton. I feel like i will loose my mind.
MY FRIEND WAS KILLER BY POLICE YESTERDAY
I HAD A FRIEND GET TAZZED TO DEATH IN THE BACK OF A POLICE CAR WITH HANDCUFFS AND SHACKLES THIS JUST HAPPENED YESTERDAY JULY 8TH, 2008 THE WINDSOR POLICE OUT OF NC KILLER MY FRIEND CLARENCE SMITH THIS NEEDS TO STOP
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