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With the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin spurring a fresh wave of protests against police brutality, the Palo Alto City Council agreed on Monday to revise the Police Department’s policies on use of force and vowed to pursue broader initiatives to promote racial justice.
By a unanimous vote, the council endorsed a set of revisions to police policies that largely comported to recent recommendations from the city’s Human Relations Commission. The goal was to better align the city’s official policies with those in the 8 Can’t Wait platform, a project of Campaign Zero, a nonprofit that focuses on reducing police violence.
The campaign calls for a ban on chokeholds and requirements that officers prioritize de-escalation, provide warnings before shooting, exhaust all alternatives before shooting, intervene when they see excessive force, avoid shooting at moving vehicles, follow a use-of-force continuum and report all incidents of force.
In debating the changes to police policies, the council at times struggled to reconcile the recommendations of the Human Relations Commission, which supported broader restrictions on use of force, and those of department leadership, who urged the council not to adopt any policies that would hinder officers’ ability to protect themselves during dangerous situations.
The Rev. Kaloma Smith, who chairs the commission, observed that the conversation feels particularly urgent in the aftermath of the shooting of Blake, which sparked protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday and Monday. A video of the incident showed a police officer shooting Blake seven times at close range as he was entering his vehicle.
Blake was in stable condition in an intensive care unit on Monday night, according to multiple news reports.
“This moment was sparked by the killing of George Floyd and last night we watched Jacob Blake get shot in the back seven times by officers,” Smith said. “This makes this conversation more of a priority right now, because we don’t want to end up in this position.”
The Police Department has already adopted some new restrictions, moving in June to ban the carotid hold and agreeing to make the existing ban on chokeholds and strangleholds more explicit in its policy manual. Police Chief Robert Jonsen and Assistant Chief Andrew Binder also agreed with the Human Relations Commission that they should expand the department’s de-escalation policy to list the types of techniques that officers should use to avoid violence, including effective communication, self-control and requesting additional resources such as crisis intervention team members to decrease the need to use force.
The council agreed that the policy on strangleholds should go even further and supported the Human Relations Commission’s proposed change, which also bans “lateral vascular neck restraints, chest compressions” and other moves that restrict airflow.
“What everybody agrees on is that what happened to George Floyd or Eric Garner can’t be allowed to happen in Palo Alto,” said Councilman Eric Filseth in discussing the proposed change.
While Smith similarly argued that the city needs to send a clear message that the types of moves that resulted in the deaths of Floyd and Garner (who was killed by a New York City officer in 2014) should be banned, Jonsen and Binder countered that the proposed restrictions are too broad. Jonsen suggested that implementing policies that outright ban certain actions “could have a detrimental effect, not only to officers’ safety but to the public at large.” Binder agreed.
“If an officer is so concerned with avoiding being on someone’s chest, back or neck during a fight because they don’t want to be out of policy and afraid they will restrict the person’s airflow, then they’re not concentrating on the most important task at hand, which is taking this person into custody in the most safe manner, both to the subject and the officer,” Binder said.
To address this concern, the council agreed to specify that “intentional tactics” that restrict blood flow to the head or neck are prohibited. Binder and Smith both supported the consensus, which carves out an exception for accidental impediments to air flow.
“If someone falls on someone’s chest at a fight, that’s an accident,” Smith said. “But we’ve seen nationally, across the country, where now the mantra for many marchers is “Hands up! I can’t breathe!” and the reality is — we are asking that the intentional tactics are listed out and put there.”
The council also requested that the Police Department expand and clarify its use-of-force policy and that it adopt a requirement that “all options would be exhausted before shooting.” It also supported a policy that bans police from shooting at vehicles unless the driver poses a “deadly threat.” Jonsen and Binder each argued against an outright ban on shooting at moving vehicles, and pointed to situations in which someone may be trying to drive into a crowded demonstration or an outdoor dining area.
“The one predictable thing about police work is that it is unpredictable,” Binder said. “We can pass a policy measure tonight that says, ‘No doing that,’ and there could be a demonstration in Foothills Park where someone decides they’re going to drive into the crowd and that officer doesn’t have the ability, based on totality of circumstances, to stop that threat with their firearm because they’ve been restricted by policy.”
The council and the commission agreed that the Monday changes are just a small, early step in the city’s campaign to revise police policies. Numerous residents offered a similar message.
Aram James, a former public defender and longtime police watchdog, argued that the department needs a culture change and better accountability, including the firing of officers who had been engaged in racist behavior.
“You can tinker with all the policies that you want,” James said. “You can change all the policies every six months. The problem is, absent accountability and the ability to swiftly discipline and prosecute officers, this department’s officers will not be even disciplined internally.”
Other residents urged the council to follow the Human Relations Commission recommendations and align the Palo Alto Police Department with 8 Can’t Wait. Cari Templeton, chair of the Planning and Transportation Commission who is running for council, said the reforms are “literally the least we can do.” Two other challengers for council seats, Rebecca Eisenberg and Steven Lee, similarly urged the council to go further.
Lee, an outgoing member of the Human Relations Commission, asked the council not to “water down” the prohibitions on use of force with caveats and half-measures.
“It would certainly send the wrong message that Palo Alto wavers in fully implementing basic reforms and that we fail to do the very bare minimum,” Lee said.
Eisenberg said the council has “no excuse whatsoever” to tone down any of the measures recommended by 8 Can’t Wait.
“We need significant structural change if we’re going to address white supremacy, segregation and violence against our Black and brown communities,” Eisenberg said.
The council’s vote directs City Manager Ed Shikada and department brass to work with the police unions to implement the new policies. The council is also moving ahead with broader efforts to address racial injustice and police transparency.
One of the council’s ad hoc committees is putting together a series of programs for the next year that focus on diversity and inclusion, including citywide training on implicit bias, a demographic analysis of the city’s workforce and development of permanent artwork that pertains to race and equity.
Other committees are focusing on ways to improve the Police Department’s transparency and accountability, hiring practices and policies and alternate service models.
Why was Jacob Blake shot SEVEN times in the back or anywhere for that matter? The council performed their duty last night. Now the Police Union needs to change. No more cover ups and nondisclosure. There should be education requirements of police officers to have at least a B.A.
As was said last night, “City Council is the highest policy making body in the city”. The City Manager, Police Chief and the police union must defer to the representatives we elected for this role. We didn’t elect any of these other people or entites to do this.
Last night our Council acted forcefully. Kaloma Smith persisted, Council Members listened and acted with resolve. The public supported them. The result so far on 8 Can’t Wait is much better than expected and there is hope that some of Council’s ad hoc committee efforts will result in more reform with accountability.
However, the council’s vote directs City Manager Ed Shikada and department brass to work with the police unions to implement the new policies. This is where Council and the public must be vigilant to ensure the wording of Council’s motion is not diluted when it returns to the Council.
I’m disappointed the City will waste time and money on community implicit bias training given studies show it has no longterm effect on bias. I look forward to Council continuing its more substantive work on police transparency, accountability, hiring practices, policies and alternate service models.
We have situations occurring all over the country that are highly regrettable. I am concerned that those actions which occur elsewhere get used as political actions in our city. We cannot keep trying to blame our police force on actions that occur elsewhere. As in all situations the political climate across the US is very unstable. And the people who work in those dangerous jobs are subject to pressure on a daily basis. In other cities there are out of control people burning and looting.
I am willing to let our professional police decide how to put in place some actions to mitigate outcomes of police actions. But what we are seeing here is people who are not in the law enforcement business trying to dictate policy and procedure to those who are on line line of defense. These people are popping up across the board attempting to influence city policy. We did not vote for them – they are not employees of the city. But they are running for office and using these vulnerable sections of running a city as a bully pulpit for extreme policy activity.
Why was Jacob Blake shot seven times in the back? Well, it was captured on cellphone video that officers yelled “drop the knife.” A knife is a THREAT TO OFFICERS, and once again a black man is shot because he REFUSED TO COOPERATE with police. Why didn’t he drop the knife? He had three kids in the car. Be a responsible parent, and cooperate with the police.
All perspective has been lost. A total of 15 unarmed blacks were shot by police last year. 15 in the entire country. And some of those were in justified situations. And now we have a small but very vocal group of woke social justice activists and inveterate police-haters inveigling the city council to cripple our police department. Their game, under the BLM banner, is to make the very dangerous job of policing even more dangerous, defund the police, and ultimately discourage the good cops from staying in the profession.
Think about it. The Palo Alto PD is one of the finest, most professional departments in the world. And we have activists with an anti-police agenda, who know little about what the police must do to protect their lives and the lives of citizens, giving instructions to the police on how to do their job. Specifically, what use of force is not permitted in any situation! That is crazy.
The only sane way to determine these rules is to have a non-political, professional board of police officers, nationally constituted, that sets out guidelines for the country. Anything else and we will destroy our police departments, one by one, increment by increment. We are seeing this insanity happen in Portland and Seattle (in large increments!). The Seattle police chief resigned in frustration because the mayor would not let her protect the public from violence and looting. Without effective policing, the United States is doomed to tribal wars, and we’ve seen the first skirmishes this week in Portland, where thugs from the left and right engaged in pitched battles with the police looking on. Anyone want that in Palo Alto?
Thank you to the Human Relations Commission for your leadership on this important effort.
Police have killed 751 people in 2020. There have been only 12 days in 2020 without a police officer killing someone.
Black people have been 28% of those killed by police since 2013 despite being only 13% of the population. Black people are 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed compared to white people when killed by police.
99% of killings by police from 2013-2019 have not resulted in an officer being charged with a crime.
Source: https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
One idea to end police violence across this country: see below
https://www.siliconvalleydebug.org/stories/james-and-konda-the-time-has-come-for-a-police-crimes-unit
@Eileen Altman
In 2019, 235 Blacks were shot and killed by the police:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
Of those, in only 13 instances was the person unarmed (not 15 as I mentioned above).
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/23/fact-check-how-many-unarmed-black-men-did-police-kill-2019/5322455002/
The shooting of an unarmed Black man by police is actually a very rare event in the United States. But you wouldn’t know that from the huge publicity, about once a month, that each incident receives. Meanwhile, in that month, where on average the police kill one unarmed Black man in the entire country, we have nearly 1000 (yes, one thousand!) Blacks killed by other Blacks. The rate of Black on Black homicide is 7 times the rate of White on White homicide.
That’s the big picture. One can ask why the media gives such a distorted view of the actual homicide problem that Blacks face in their daily lives — being killed by other Blacks. And it should be clear to everyone that the homicide problem in Black communities will become much worse to the extent that the police are “defunded” and unavailable to protect the community.
I always wonder what black folks think when white folks attempt to deny, justify and deminish their being shot and killed by law enforcment?
Here are facts from the book, “Exceptional America”, Uni. of CA press:
-Suspected of the same offenses as Whites, Latinos and Blacks are more likely to be arrested, charged with a crime, convicted and heavily sentenced, all other factors being the same.
Latinos – 17% of US pop., 22% of prison pop.
Blacks – 13% of US pop., 36% prison pop.
The US is the lone democracy that strips prior felons of their right to vote.
7.7% of Blacks can’t vote as a result, though their people fought and sometimes died to reclaim their right to do so, guaranteed but denied to them since the Civil War.
Police excessive violence and cover-up against Latinos in Palo Alto has been in the headlines for the past 2 years. Our Police Chief acknowledges we can do better, and we will. That’s done not through denial but in part through meaningful reform linked to accountabilty. We do this as a responsible community.
Prosecutors in Kenosha County, Wisconsin charged Blake, 29, with third-degree sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse last month. An arrest warrant for Blake was issued on July 6.
He knew he had a warrant for his arrest. He knew he wasn’t cooperating with police. And enablers want to blame the police? It’s pathetic.
Whites (killed by police)
2017 – 457
2018 – 399
2019 – 370
2020 – 215
Blacks (killed by police)
2107 – 223
2018 – 209
2019 – 235
2020 – 111
There has been 1,441 white people killed by police since 2017. And 778 black people killed by police. Where is the outrage by white people? Where is the media coverage for whites killed by police? Almost twice as many whites killed.
You all keep interpreting this as a black vs white police issue. Right here in Santa Clara County we have gang related shootings occurring every week. We have well known gangs located in East SJ that pop up in the news on a regular basis. Do you read the newspapers? We have people being shot while driving down the freeways.
The local police have gang units but are hampered by Sanctuary City rules. We need a strong police department. We are not going to let the Marxist BLM people run our cities.
Note that Wisconsin has finally called in the federal help that has been offered to them many times. If one state can get under control then maybe the rest that are being ravaged will also ask for federal help.
You all are trying to break this problem down to a city by city basis which in the long run will be counterproductive. At least move it up to a county level since this county has one of the bigger cities in the county – San Jose. In the end all of the police in the county need to work together – each city by itself is very limited in funding.
It’s not yet known what the police truthfully knew about Blake at the time, but that’s irrelevant. Police can’t legally shoot a person in the back for doing nothing more than walking away. That he was shot down within a couple of feet of 3 children isn’t police policy – it’s reckless insanity.
Policies and laws exist to reign in law enforcement’s extraordinary powers of lethal force armed with weapons that can injure, disable and kill. But here, officers were not constrained, and in a moment the lives of children, grandparents, not to mention the now paralyzed Jacob Blake are now ones of confusion, grief, anger, pain and likely longterm PTSD.
I hope the pattern will not hold that we saw with Oscar Grant, Rodney King, Breonna Taylor, and so many others, or this family will see little justice, only blame-the-victim denials.
I never said that police knew his record. I said Blake knew he had a warrant for his arrest, and he refused to cooperate with police. Police shoot to stop a threat, and a man with a knife (especially a violent offender) is a THREAT. If you refuse to cooperate with police, you’re not a victim. Victims are innocent of any wrongdoing. Cooperate with the police — period. Quit blaming the police. They have families to go home to, and if they have a choice between their life or yours, they’re not going with the latter.
> Why was Jacob Blake shot SEVEN times in the back or anywhere for that matter?
^ Good question…a tad excessive to say the least & at point blank range no less.
>> Police can’t legally shoot a person in the back for doing nothing more than walking away.
^ True but this guideline is oftentimes ignored.
The best solution is to disarm the police…no handguns.
Limit them to tasers as sidearms with rifles in the car if needed.
This will eliminate unecessary & unwarranted police-related shootings which have become commonplace these days.
Disarm rather than defund.
Another option & taking a cue from Barney Fife…let the cops carry a handgun but they are only allowed to have one bullet which they must keep in their shirtpocket.
Nothing like the opinion section of the major papers. One for HSR says that we need to do this because the state will be increasing the population by huge amounts. The HSR at this time is consuming valuable farm land in the valley. Note to reader – agriculture is one of CA’s main products.
Meanwhile in Oakland they are fighting about putting a stadium and housing in the port section. Note to reader – the port is one of the main income producing components of the city and state. The port activity of ships arriving and leaving is posted daily in the SFC. The port and it’s activities are a main employment generator for a diverse city. If anything we need to increase the support systems for the port to make it more efficient and increase it’s usage for ship traffic. Those ships are moving up and down the state and to foreign countries.
And then we have the fires and energy shutdowns because of overloaded systems.
What we have is a segmented view of the various activities of the state but they are competing with each other for political push and funding. You have to put it all together and realize that adding people, adding housing, changing where the people work and earn their living all require a safe and secure environment.
So now the police are a target to reduce funding which is the direct opposite of where this state is suppose to be going.
What we need to do is consolidate the police in the county so that we have a consistent set of policies and funding for both the major and minor cities within the county. San Jose is the main city in the county. We should be working to make sure that as Gilroy increases population and the surrounding cities increase housing and traffic they have a uniform set of resources – people, tools to manage the growth. That could help individual cities to reduce their individual attempts to address these problems. Each city trying to manage this issue is not cost effective or management effective.
> Meanwhile in Oakland they are fighting about putting a stadium and housing in the port section.
^ Being a long tenured industrial site, the aforementioned area is currently unsuitable for a new ballpark & residential usage, not to mention highly impractical for any increased traffic to & from the area.
It is ground polluted & an EIR should be mandated before any new construction is approved as health & safety considerations should take priority over projected dollar signs & future development.
As an A’s fan, the Coliseum site on 280 should simply be refurbished.
Lastly & back to topic, a consolidation of municipal & county law enforcement has its advantages…providing the deputies/officers are better trained to refrain from relying on unecessary force & bullying tactics towards ALL citizens.
Somehow the police in Kenosha managed NOT to shoot Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17 year old Trump supporting white suprematist who murdered two BLM protesters although he was armed with a rifle and just killed two people. They a actually gave him water and treated him gently.
There is a great deal of evidence that white supremacists and right wing militia members have infiltrated police departments all over the nation, although I don’t include Palo Alto police among them.
I’m pointing it out to make the point that “police reform” is just empty rhetoric and nonsensical. All police departments must be defunded and abolished, to be replaced by community protectors patrolling with highly trained, psychological vetted professionals who receive their orders from community residents patrolling with them, and who can’t use their hand guns without authorization from their civilian partners. Any force will be used only as an absolute last resort, and the decision to use it will be of the community member.
^ …police reform” is just empty rhetoric and nonsensical. All police departments must be defunded and abolished…
^ Well said given the repeated violations of civil rights by law enforcement regardless of one’s color.
And thank goodness for citizens armed with cellphones who capture countless violations by the police as it is somewhat peculiar how police bodycams tend to mysteriously ‘malfunction’ during innumerable altercations both past & present.
Modern technology will expose law enforcement for what it actually is…a license to harass &
sometimes kill unecessarily.
Kyle Rittenhouse didn’t resist arrest. He cooperated with police, and was arrested like 99% of suspects. Hands behind your back, and the backseat of the police car. Suspects are shot when arrests go horribly wrong. And it’s the suspect who chooses to put himself in that position. You play, you pay.
> Kyle Rittenhouse didn’t resist arrest. He cooperated with police, and was arrested like 99% of suspects.
^ Good for Kyle after he blatantly killed two protesters in Kenosha…Kyle is a law abiding citizen to be commended for not resisting arrest & cooperating with the local PD.
Give me a break.
I didn’t say he was a “law abiding citizen to be commended.” I said he didn’t resist arrest, he cooperated with police and that’s why he wasn’t shot.
There are consequences for not cooperating and resisting arrest. Suspects who are shot by police have no one to blame but themselves. Personal responsibility.
Blake shot a police officer in a bar, after he shot a customer in a bar. He was a career criminal. If you take guns away from officers, suspects will kill officers. Is that what criminal enablers really want?
> Blake shot a police officer in a bar, after he shot a customer in a bar. He was a career criminal.
^ Substantiate this allegation…if possible.
>>An attorney representing Blake told the newspaper that Blake had no previous criminal charges or convictions.
^ Source: Newsweek
Bottom line…no one is an angel but neither are the cops.
Shooting a customer (and a police officer) in a bar was in an article I read yesterday. You can find it online.
Here’s his 2016 police record:
Jacob Blake Arrest Details:
Arrest Information:
Name: Jacob Blake
Location: Racine, Wisconsin
Age: 25 years
Processing Date: 6-18-2016
Booking Charges:
940.19 (1) Battery Class (A) Misd.
940.235 (1) Strangulation/Suffocation – Domestic
946.49 (1) Bail Jumping (Misd.)
946.49 (1) Bail Jumping (Felony)
947.01 Disorderly Conduct
If you want to defend a man who shot a police officer, a customer in a bar, strangulation/suffocation (probably a girlfriend) jumped bail, etc. – be my guest.
His attorney is LYING. They lie all the time.
Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2020:
On Jacob Blake –
“There was a warrant for his arrest filed in Wisconsin Circuit Court in July on charges of criminal trespass, domestic abuse and third-degree sexual assault.”
Blake had not surrendered and faced charges.
Other reports state there were little kids left in the vehicle. Unsafe/poor judgement.
Blake appeared to be fleeing and resisting arrest on the outstanding warrant as he rushed to the vehicle, AND if cops let him go, he may have driven recklessly with the little kids, endangering them.
The question IS how to deal with this situation.
What would you do?
> He was a career criminal.
^ A neighbor mentioned that in 99% of these controversial police-related altercations, the black suspects often had prior
conviction records & were evading arrest because they did not want to go back to jail or prison…given the lousy food, lousy medical attention & unfashionable attire, who would?
This might very well be the case as one rarely hears of an educated & successful upwardly mobile African American professional being
arrested for skipping bail, having illicit drugs in their possession or system, domestic violence, looting, holding up businesses, stealing cars, or trying to pass counterfeit twenty dollar bills.
This it is probably more attributable to depressed socio-economic conditions including a lack of education along with positive role models, illicit peer group pressures, lack of gainful employment opportunities, absentee fathers and an unstable family environment.
It’s no wonder that the African American community VS police tactic conflict is seemingly timeless & enduring.
Chances are this social problem will never be resolved during the course of our lifetime as the ‘have’ & ‘have not’ factor will never fully go away.
As a result, a sense of equality (whether real or imagined) & due justice will generally be reserved only for those who behave themselves as seemingly productive & law-abiding members of society…along with being wealthy enough to afford an expensive attorney.
Many KKK members, white supremacist, neo nazis and right wing militias have infiltrated police departments all over the nation. On the whole, many cops are just thugs with license to kill and maim, incited to violence against black people on an almost daily basis by this illegitimate regime. Reforming some of the most dangerous criminals in this country is a fantasy. Abolish the police and replace it with low abiding people who will actually protect and serve the public.
> On the whole, many cops are just thugs with license to kill and maim, incited to violence against black people on an almost daily basis by this illegitimate regime.
^ A good point…harassment should also be included.
MAGA is no solution:
Kamala and Gavin would have been a great ticket. But we have a dull-to-marshmallow Biden. And we have a huge chunk of the silent white American population who may be starting to feel that Trump’s MAGA is a real dream. It is not. Even Ronald Reagan would have stood up against the current MAGA fakeness of using words instead of seeking love. There is nothing more sacred than equality in relationships between one human and the next. The pendulum needs to swing less between extremes.
If you want to make Palo Alto a better town it is NOT in voting for far Left-woke characters. If you want to make our city in a post-Palantir, post-Covid reality grow – we need HOUSING where offices stood and we need CENTER-RIGHT elected candidates who stand for PEOPLE’S EQUALITY and not virtue signaling.
P.S: MODERATE CENTRIST views are missing in the matter of equality. In fact, if you look at the past few years – we went from #Metoo right into men-bashing and now insane efforts to defund the Police. To say the obvious: Most men are not predators and 95% of the police across our nation are not racist killers.
Sadly, America will probably vote for Trump. Let Palo Alto not vote for the far Left! If we join in the middle we will find SOLUTIONS not just watch a pendulum go back and forth with accusations and hate.
Mauricio – I am laughing at your comments. You are looking for total chaos here. And you are increasing the number of people employed by the government. A true Democrat. Solve every problem by increasing the government payroll.
My concern is that the ANTIFA people who are running around causing problems are 1st generation citizens who came from former soviet union parents – neighborhoods. Glendale in SOCAL is Little Armenia. Add in Ukraine transplants. We have a lot of Russian transplants here. These are people who have not assimilated into US culture.
Who sits around for weeks on end protesting? Going out every night to set stuff on fire and break windows? Who thinks up that type of stuff? Hey we never did that as young adults. Maybe the people in Berkley did.
I can’t imagine why a group of people invest so much time in radical activity in which they are going to get hurt – or hurt someone else. What is the pay-off? And you know it is going to spin out of control. So you spin it and it goes out of control and someone gets hurt. Creating Chaos – who is paying these people to do this?
We are not going down the road here. 1st job if trouble is to find out who the ANTIFA people are and who is paying them. They are in a class by themselves.
> My concern is that the ANTIFA people who are running around causing problems are 1st generation citizens who came from former soviet union parents – neighborhoods. Glendale in SOCAL is Little Armenia. Add in Ukraine transplants. We have a lot of Russian transplants here. These are people who have not assimilated into US culture.
^ I am trying to comprehend your point…so ANTIFA is a collaboration of Russian immigrant anarchists?
And it is primarily made up of Ukrainians & most notably, Armenians from Glendale who have failed to assimilate into mainstream American culture?
Wow…that must make Fresno the hub of Armenian-based terrorist collaboration.
Any more QAnon type theories you wish to expound?
The issues involved with police shootings (rare as they are) are not straight “black v. white” issues. Obviously, there are issues with the RATE of crime (i.e., who are the suspects in crimes reported or observed).
As a Hispanic woman, I am embarrassed when our community commits a disproportionate number of crimes (including theft and violent crimes) compared with most other groups. There are obvious social components involved with this that affect certain groups (like Hispanic Americans, African Americans and Pacific Islanders) more than other groups.
Yet, the issue of shootings is more in regard to how people react to officers. If you RESIST ARREST or THREATEN OTHERS (whether the police or bystanders) during an arrest, you are much more likely to be shot.
I am a Hispanic woman. I have a dark complexion. I speak with a very noticeable accent. Yet, I do not fear the police. Why? I give the police no reason to fear me.
I read one analysis of police shootings (again, rare as they might be) and discovered that nearly all of them are when individuals who are detained resist arrest or pose a physical threat.
There are exceptionally rare instances in which this is not the case. And, of course, those officers involved should certainly be prosecuted by the letter of the law if they abuse their authority.
The bottom line is that the notion that “systemic racism” exists in the Palo Alto Police Department is a myth. Statistically speaking, it doesn’t exist among law enforcement in the United States as a whole.
Police in Palo Alto should not be stereotyped or generalized because of such myths, hysteria or even a handful of bad examples. As a Hispanic woman, I wouldn’t want to be stereotyped or generalized simply because members of my racial-ethnic group commit more crimes than other groups.
In other words, the people calling out police for stereotypes and generalizations are, in turn, engaged in stereotyping and generalizing law enforcement. Obviously, there is room for improvement in law enforcement. Police should be held accountable. However, as someone else pointed out, you should not RESIST ARREST or THREATEN OTHERS. If you avoid such acts, you don’t have to worry about “police brutality.”
Jennifer,
You are irresponsibly trying to justify shootings and killings by police that would not be tolerated in almost any other country.
Review this table of police killings by country:
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/06/05/policekillings/
US police kill at a rate about 4 times that of police in Canada and Australia.
In the other countries in the table, police kill at a rate less than 10% of the US rate.
Jennifer, the US has had 2 epic failures this year (police brutality and COVID, which is also disproportinately affecting minorities and the poor) and yet you have the temerity to push forth an unseemly sense of white American entitlement.
I have NO empathy for a man who breaks into a woman’s home, sexually assaults her, steals her vehicle, etc. and then resists arrest after he was tazed twice, flees from police with three of his six children in his car. If you don’t want to get shot, don’t RESIST ARREST. The irresponsibility is on the part of Blake, and criminal enablers making excuses for them when police are following protocol. It’s IS protocol to shoot to stop a threat, and he had a knife. Which is a threat to law enforcement. Learn to deal with reality, and get out of denial as to why criminals are shot. Do you expect the police to just let them get away? Give me a break. I feel this way towards ANY criminal who is shot, regardless of race.
>… you should not RESIST ARREST… If you avoid such acts, you don’t have to worry about “police brutality.”
^ Sounds reasonable…in theory.
But things sometimes have a way of getting out of hand when
heavy-handed police tactics cross the line (i.e. harassment, verbal abuse and/or unecessary/unwarranted use of physical force).
Only when nationwide law enforcement rids itself of racist & bullyish officers, will people of color feel freer to co-operate when stopped for questioning.
Spoken by a ‘white person’.
@Lee Forrest – I would argue that there is a two-fold solution.
1.) Do the right thing. Don’t commit crimes. Don’t make excuses for those who commit crimes. Don’t resist arrest. Don’t argue/fight with officers. Don’t threaten others — especially in the presence of law enforcement. Don’t be swayed by hysteria or rumors regarding other arrests or shootings. Don’t act like criminals are victims when they are caught.
2.) Police should do the right thing. Don’t allow aggression in police officers. Hold officers publicly accountable for any bad behavior.
3.) Wear body cams. Any time people lie to officers, hold them accountable. Any time someone lies publicly, call them out for it by showing the evidence.
Yes, a higher rate of black and Hispanics are arrested and imprisoned (when considering the population). However, this is because the black and Hispanic rate of crime is higher in our communities.
I’ve never seen the actual crime data or crime statistics for Palo Alto. However, I am willing to bet that the rate of crime among two racial-ethnic groups in Palo Alto (including Hispanics) is much higher than all of the other racial-ethnic groups.
As a Hispanic woman, I find this embarrassing. I find it even more embarrassing when people insinuate that this is because of “systemic racism” in police rather than the fact that certain racial-ethnic groups commit a much higher rate of crime. THIS is the conversation that our communities should be having. Pointing the finger at white people (or even Asian Americans) is not a solution.
Where are the activists pointing to a “don’t commit crimes or resist arrest” solution? Why is it that any time a person is shot by police, people (including many who were not there) claim that it is “unwarranted?”
Spoken by a ‘non-white person.’
@ Lee Forrest – I watched a video on YouTube this week. A short clip of this incident has circulated around social media and elsewhere online — purportedly showing “police brutality.”
This is a difficult video to watch. The title on YouTube (in case the PaloAltoOnline deems it necessary to remove the potentially offensive link) is entitled, “Body Cam: Officer Involved in Fatal Shooting PASADENA POLICE DEPARTMENT August 15-2020.”
This video — from two body cams and a police car — shows an incident that led to a police officer shooting a convicted felon who had brandished a gun. Within seconds, he was shot twice. The video also shows the suspect continue running until he collapsed. While the police officers were trying to save his life, local residents formed outside and began shouting all sorts of terrible things.
The shooting isn’t particularly noticeable (because the guy is running). I’m not sure that the policeman knew that his bullets struck the armed man. However, there are scenes a few minutes later in which the police find the injured man, try to secure the situation and save his life. The gathering crowds are shouting obscenities and some even claiming that they “saw everything.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSBKR5wpphU&t
YouTube has a warning before watching the video. I know that this is difficult to watch. However, I wonder what you think that the police officers could have done to better resolve that situation peacefully.
I certainly don’t want something like this to happen in Palo Alto. However, the potential is there. After all, how many times have people or stores been robbed in our peaceful city?
> …from two body cams and a police car — shows an incident that led to a police officer shooting a convicted felon who had brandished a gun.
^ If a suspect is armed and shooting at the police, the police are justified in returning fire.
Police bodycams have an uncanny way of capturing justifiable shootings but
when unecessary force is being used, these recording devices tend to mysteriously malfunction.
If not for citizens capturing these particular incidents on their cellphones…just another day at the office for cops.
Interesting to note how the CHP is rarely accused of wrongful shootings though they frequently encounter dangerous situations & individuals during routine stops.
For some reason, the CHP tends to be less antagonistic towards motorists…most likely due to better training & better officers as the vetting process for employment is far more rigid than for local cops.
Comparing any police department to CHP is absurd. CHP officers deal with people who were speeding on the highway. Not convicted felons committing murder, rape, gang related crime, etc. If that’s the best argument you have, you have no argument at all. Get real.
@Jennifer
Your quote:
“CHP officers deal with people who were speeding on the highway. Not convicted felons committing murder, rape, gang related crime, etc.
^ Your observational commentary is both naive & undereducated as the CHP does far more than simply issuing speeding tickets.
They have law enforcement jurisdiction of the freeways so if an APB is issued, they respond accordingly.
During the course of traffic-related stops, they also check for outstanding arrest warrants and proceed accordingly.
It is potentially dangerous work as CHP officers can get killed in the process BUT you never hear of them senselessly gunning down fleeing, unarmed suspects along the highway.
As a matter of fact, the CHP even escorted/trailed suspected murderer OJ Simpson down the freeway as he fled in a white Bronco…remember?
So in deference to your earlier phraseology, perhaps it is you who should “Get real.”
Option two: Watch an old episode of CHiPs…far easier to comprehend for some.
Traffic stops are dangerous for CHP officers and police officers in any department. My point was police officers are NOT just dealing with people who were pulled over for speeding, or any traffic violations. Dealing with traffic violations compared to what police officers deal with is night and day. If you don’t understand the difference, you’re naive. Of course they don’t gun down suspects on the freeway. How many suspects run down the freeway resisting arrest? The level of ignorance.
> How many suspects run down the freeway resisting arrest?
^ Some actually attempt to do so after being removed from their vehicles while others take flight in their cars making a high speed pursuit even more dangerous for CHP officers & other motorists in the adjacent area.
Lastly, freeways are often the fastest & most convenient getaway route for residential & commercial crimes. Thus the CHP & local law enforcement frequently work in conjunction…especially when a suspect is mobile & trying to avoid being apprehended.
I concur that it is always best to cooperate with law enforcement but for some, things still turn out badly.
Whether this is based on racism, and/or selective bullying tactics is for American society to resolve.
Totally unfair to Palo Alto Police officers. They had nothing to do with the George Floyd event, so what spurred the sudden change? Their methods have been effective in keeping Palo Altans safe for decades, so why would officials elected by Palo Altans then turn around and stab them in the back.
> Kamala and Gavin would have been a great ticket.
^ This is subject to debate as to which one would be your choice for president? At present, neither one is an ideal option.
>> And we have a huge chunk of the silent white American population who may be starting to feel that Trump’s MAGA is a real dream.
^ More along the lines of a potential nightmare as countless 2020 voters are seeking someone to constructively lead our nation out of the mire.
Back to topic…all things considered, just about every institution could use some reform in order to ensure fairness & justice for all.
JAMES AND KONDA: THE TIME HAS COME FOR A POLICE CRIMES UNIT
Aram James and Richard Konda – SV De-Bug – August 20, 2020 – 7 minute read
The Coalition for Justice and Accountability (CJA) came into existence in 2003 after Bich Cau Thi Tran was shot and killed by San Jose police Officer Chad Marshall.
In the 17 years since its founding, the CJA been an advocate for humane policing practices including the banning of the use of Tasers by law enforcement. Members of CJA have participated on panels, addressing police misconduct, Taser task forces, city councils and other public bodies throughout the Bay Area. CJA has conducted workshops on police misconduct and also on the inherent dangers of Tasers.
The brutal, almost 9-minutes-long public police torture and murder of George Floyd on May 25, set off, yet again, a reexamination of both the history of police violence targeted at African-Americans, and the present moment in our history of more of the same endless police murders. Nothing seems to change, except the names of the victims.
Our nation had a similar racial justice and police violence reckoning after another very public series of police murders. Eric Garner’s murder on July 17, 2014, and the murder of Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014, set that spark.
Sadly but predictably, there have since been countless other extrajudicial police murders, of Black men and women. And almost without exception, charges are not brought and almost never do convictions result.
After each police murder, there are renewed calls for police reform, body-worn cameras, bans on choke holds, ban on Tasers, demilitarization of the police, better vetting in the hiring process of new police, civilian review boards with more teeth, independent police auditors, and the wholesale review of all police practices.
But nothing yet has come even close to ending the cycle of police violence.
Uninterrupted for 400 years—from the beginning of American policing with its roots deeply tied to slavery and slave patrols—law enforcement and related institutions have shown an unrelenting desire to punish, exclude, segregate and control African-American bodies and souls. Their actions perpetuate white power and white supremacy—ideologies deeply embedded in our culture and institutions.
Most certainly such ideas are embedded in our criminal injustice system, reflected not only by endless police killings of people of color, but in a system of mass incarceration—one that dwarfs that of the rest of the world and grossly, disproportionally cages African-Americans and other people of color.
To quote the late James Baldwin, whose words from a 1968 interview with Esquire were recounted in Eddie S. Glaude JR’s recently released book “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own”: “In not trying to accuse you, you know. That’s not the point. But you have a lot to face … All that can save you now is your confrontation with your own history …. which is not your past but your present. Nobody cares what happened in the past. One can’t afford to care what happened in the past. But your history has led you to this moment, and you can only begin to change yourself and save yourself by looking at what you are doing in the name of your history.”
If our country is to survive, the time is now to confront our long and unabated history of race based police violence.
Policy Recommendations
Absent a complete defunding or abolition of police departments, we must have concrete and measurable ways to hold cops accountable for their violent and racist behavior. Reform alone simply is not sufficient. History has repeatedly taught us this lesson.
Police might, however, change their behavior if they see that they will not be handled by prosecutors with kid gloves and are instead treated like any other community member by being charged, prosecuted and, if the evidence warrants as much, convicted for their violent crimes and sent to jail. If that happens, then faith in the criminal justice system may finally have a chance to develop in communities that for too long have been at odds with a system that has given them no reason to trust it.
How Do We Get There?
Every district attorney in this country must develop a robust police crimes team. This team must be fully independent of law enforcement and be given the sole ability to prosecute without political pressure from police unions or elected officials.
The police crimes team would be a multidisciplinary unit made up of retired police officers, former prosecutors, experienced investigators, former criminal defense attorneys, former victims of violent police crimes and academics whose specialty is the history and practice of policing. Each member would be trained in the nuance of appropriate police practices and conduct that crosses the line from good policing.
This unit would also be tasked with the duty of taking to jury trial each of the cases that the police crime team files. This would avoid the “trial for optics only syndrome.”
In the few deadly force cases that are actually taken to trial, it is often a mismatch by design. District attorneys, with no special unit trained to take on defense attorneys representing police are often outgunned in court.
No surprise, then, that—more often than not—police who engage in deadly force and are actually charged still manage to walk free after a jury trial. The establishment of a robust police crimes team will finally even the odds for conviction.
What Will it Actually Look Like? Where Will it Be Housed?
The Police Crimes Unit (PCU) must be located off the DA’s campus and away from nearby police departments. Internal firewalls are insufficient. The goal must be no day-to-day contact between members of the unit and other members of the DA’s office or members of law enforcement generally. The unit must be staffed with members who agree with this separation requirement as a matter of professionalism and principle. The unit must be entirely independent both physically and in mindset.
The name of the unit must be readily recognizable as a Police Crimes Unit where members of the public know this is the place they can go to lodge complaints against police, without any fear of intimidation, and that the office is dedicated to providing a safe space for such complaints, and where community will trust that decisions made re their complaints, by the PCU, have the feel and reputation of integrity and independence.
Who will be selected members of the PCU is key. We suggest that the DA be one member of the committee, a local police chief be another, a defense attorney or pubic defender — but the majority of the selection committee should be made up of members of local grassroots and non-profits who have a long record in the community of working to end police abuse in all of its forms. In other words, even though key institutional criminal justice players will have a part in the selection process –committee members from organizations that represent communities historically targeted by the police must make up the majority of the selection committee. African Americans and other people of color must also be prominently represented on the committee.
Aram James is a retired Santa Clara County deputy public defender, a member of CJA and a co-founder of the Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project (ACJP), a grassroots legal advocacy organization located in San Jose. You can reach him at adjpd1@gmail.com.
Richard Konda is an attorney and executive director of the Asian Law Alliance and the chairperson of the Coalition for Justice Accountability (CJA). Konda and James have challenged the Use of Tasers, and other forms of police misconduct by law enforcement for more than a decade. You can reach him at rkonda@asianlawalliance.org.
(Above image is from a rally in San Jose after the murder of George Floyd and in honor of those who have been killed by police in Santa Clara County.)
I have no respect for any “activist” organization that stereotypes, generalizes or points the finger at law enforcement and, yet, does little to instruct people about the easiest way to avoid bad interactions with police:
1.) Do not resist arrest.
2.) Do not run.
3.) Do not attack anyone while law enforcement is present.
4.) Cooperate with the police when you are stopped (you do not need to talk or admit guilt…but comply with their non-verbal instructions).
As someone who is not white, I do this. I have NO REASON to “fear” police. Moreover, I completely reject the ridiculous notion of “systemic racism” in either the Palo Alto Police Department or with American law enforcement in general.
> After each police murder, there are renewed calls for police reform…But nothing yet has come even close to ending the cycle of police violence…Their actions perpetuate white power and white supremacy—ideologies deeply embedded in our culture and institutions.
^ The police unions/associations
perpetuate & promote ‘qualified immunity’ (via lobbying efforts) to ensure that countless misdeeds & misbehaviors by law enforcement officers either go unpunished or unaccounted for.
Advocacy & activism can do little to stem the tide of police-related improprieties so the best advice is to heed Nayeli’s advice by not antagonizing the police via resistance and/or questioning their motives.
Perhaps no different than disrupting a hornet’s nest.
My thoughts about interaction with police:
During interaction with law enforcement…
If you pull out or even reach for a gun…
…it is justifiable for law enforcement to shoot you.
If you pull out a knife or another weapon…
…it is justifiable for law enforcement to shoot you.
If you resist arrest…
…it is justifiable for law enforcement to forcefully detain you.
If you try to flee from the scene…
…it is justifiable for law enforcement to capture and forcefully detain you.
If you feel that you have been mistreated during interaction with law enforcement…
…you should not retaliate. Rather, you should immediately document all of the details and contact either law enforcement or an attorney. Even if you’re arrested, be calm. You’ll have a chance to present your case to an attorney and judge.
Do not commit crimes.
Do not associate with people committing crimes.
Do not run.
Do not fight.
Do not be disrespectful.
Do not resist arrest.
If you do these things, you have no reason to fear the police.
> If you feel that you have been mistreated during interaction with law enforcement…
…you should not retaliate. Rather, you should immediately document all of the details and contact either law enforcement or an attorney. Even if you’re arrested, be calm. You’ll have a chance to present your case to an attorney and judge.
^ Good points but of little comfort if hauled off to county jail for a questionable and/or wrongful misdemeanor or felony arrest
As aforementioned, ‘qualified immunity’ protects law enforcement in many instances including an unwarranted arrest.
Bottom line & as Nayeli advised,
don’t scuffle with the PD.
Just let them attach the handcuffs & haul you off for processing…lousy food, substandard medical care & colorful wardrobe will be provided by the county at no cost pending bail posting or a release upon one’s own recognizance.
And for those who cannot afford a $5K private defense attorney’s retainer fee, a perfunctory public defender will be be provided at no cost.
Welcome to the jungle.
‘Jennifer’ and Nayeli and Midtown Resident are ‘way off-track.
There is no justification for police to shoot anyone, unless they are under direct attack using projectile weapons.
The continuum of force/Ladder of Force, discussed by Asst Chief Binder, has use of lethal force as the last rung on the Ladder. But police in Palo Alto, as everywhere, jump far to fast to that top rung, skipping other steps altogether.
The prior record of Mr Blake is irrelevant. There is no excuse for his murder. The video makes plain, the use of deadly force was unwarranted/totally unnecessary. Kenosha police took his right to life and liberty without legal authority, outside the rule of law.
The videos of PAPD behaviors (including 18 February 2018) are just as compelling. We may not have the same degree of problem here; but we have a problem, and it will be fixed, and Council’s actions as reported by Gennady Sheyner are the first important step toward rectifying the problems.
A handful of people post here, advocating that PAPD should operate in the manner to which they have become accustomed over the past 40 years. The 10,000 community members who marched to City Hall on 6 June 2020, do not agree. We do not blame police, because we the people are responsible for how police behave, and how policing is effected. We are imagining the changes needed to protect all lives. We are not there yet. Arguing against these changes, using DARVO techniques (deny-attach-reverse-victim-and-offender), propagating cherry-picked and fallacious data, and using illogic, is your right. But please know that you will be called out when your arguments stray from the valid to the illogical, and when you employ skewed or cherry-picked data.
Finally, I have written to the Chief, and to the Council, regarding the use of a firearm to stop a moving vehicle. Using physics and simple algebra, I demonstrated it is not feasible for an officer with a service pistol to stop a speeding car. And, if the car is moving slowly enough that a highly skilled professional *might* be able to devise a shooting solution, and execute it, to stop the driver of a car…. the speed of such a vehicle would be slow enough that the officer could run faster than the car, and would be better served simply running ahead of the car and warning people to get out of the way, rather than use deadly force, with a chance of collateral damage likely as great as the chance of shooting the driver. Asst Chief Binder continues, apparently, to believe an officer with a gun can stop a moving vehicle. The facts don’t support this belief.
“The prior record of Mr Blake is irrelevant. There is no excuse for his murder.”
Jacob Blake is still alive.
This is an example of jumping to conclusions because of your *emotions* about police and launching into a screed based on propaganda that you viewed. But none of it is factual. Just like the George Floyd story. George Floyd died due to a Fentanyl overdose. The autopsy reveals he didn’t die from asphyxiation.
All I’m asking is for a forensic investigation instead of satiating the raging masses with false accusations driven by a hysterical media and partisan lawyers. The effect of liberal groupthink on the judiciary is the real danger.
Police officers use deadly force when a suspect poses a threat to himself or others. Blake had a knife, and a knife is a weapon that poses a threat. Just because it’s upsetting to you doesn’t mean that police officers won’t follow protocol. Law enforcement has made it abundantly clear they will continue to follow protocol, despite protests. Quit resisting arrest. Period.
> There is no justification for police to shoot anyone, unless they are under direct attack using projectile weapons.
^ Absolutely…which doesn’t explain or absolve last evening’s fatal shooting of another African American male IN THE BACK (multiple times) by LA County deputies.
The suspect/victim was stopped ‘for questioning’ while riding a bike. He then fled on foot & dropped a parcel of clothes containing a handgun.
The deputies then shot him dead & their bodycams were mysteriously OFF…a typical malfunction or oversight.
Another UNARMED suspect taken down by law enforcement.
As a result, more protests & potential rioting in LA today…only days after Kenosha.
Granted, the suspect should not have fled…assuming he did not want to be arrested for carrying a concealed or unregistered weapon.
On the other hand, a question remains whether this police shooting was justified given the fact that he was not firing ANYTHING at the deputies.
Who wants to take me up on this bet?
The bet is this: the moment a PA citizen or business is harmed, burnt down or seriously injured by a BLM or Antifa protestor, PA sentiment will swing wildly from limiting police use of force, to “save us!!!!”.
$20 bucks
> …the moment a PA citizen or business is harmed, burnt down or seriously injured by a BLM or Antifa protestor, PA sentiment will swing wildly from limiting police use of force, to “save us!!!!”.
^ The bet is on…providing the same questionable police tactics are utilized towards apprehending & arresting ‘law & order’, right-wing, evangelical, vigilante types
packing assault weapons and arriving from other vicinities.
This probably won’t happen in Palo Alto but a level playing field is needed in order to validate your wager.
And police shootings of unarmed suspects in the back is also against wager rules….regardless of who the suspects are.
Play fair…with no perceived favoritism towards anyone.
@ Lee Forrest – I don’t see how you can ask me to control PA police actions, but I rather suspect that “’law & order’, right-wing, evangelical, vigilante types packing assault weapons and arriving from other vicinities” would sooner march in South Central LA than PA, so not sure how our bet can proceed.
My $20 is out there, though, and I’ll gladly pay up if Palo Altans here in PAOnline continue to harangue our police after citizens and/or property are seriously damaged.
Ball in your court.
Another young black man was shot fleeing from police in South Los Angeles. He had a semi-automatic in his clothes. When reading the article online, his attorney said “he wasn’t a threat.” So semi-automatic weapons are harmless? Wow.
So now the “group” has been to the San Jose Mayors house to spray paint it. That is now two cities in the State that have had demonstrations and damage. Where is the governor? This is his state so where is he?
Let’s all recognize that the Antifa people are not local people. They are bussed here. It is their job to create chaos. The BLM are in a number of groups – one of which is trained Marxist trouble makers. Where is the governor?
Notes above on LA – now that is a city in crises. The state back in the day was working well when we had manufacturing. That provided the basis for a diverse population. The diverse populations had carved out their areas for tourism and entertainment – Olivera Street, China Town, Japan Town, BBQ area – Black, and people went all over to visit and eat great food. Take away manufacturing and you have now removed a whole category of the work force. Shut down the defense contractors building moon shots and you have created another vacuum of diversity. That is the same route taken in Oakland. This state has done it to themselves. NAFTA did not help – it moved many jobs out of the country.
That process is now being reversed. We are bringing those jobs back to the US but CA has to step in here and absorb part of the growth and recapture manufacturing for the diverse economy. The Silicon Valley current business model is to bring in foreign help which reduces their tax obligations – thus eroding the tax base for the state and federal government. And that foreign help is of a specific variety focused on high tech.
The more we keep going down the current path the more we are going to see angry people who have been displaced from the work force. So stop digging down the hole deeper and realize that we have to spread out more diversity in the type of economy drivers in the state and nation. Focusing on the police force to solve these type problems is directing attention away from what the top level problems are.
The commenter named ‘Jennifer’ continues to write falsehoods into these threads. She continues to mischaracterize facts. She continues to twist narratives, to suit her own biased purposes.
I’m all in favor of free speech, as long it involves truth-telling, or reporting anecdotal, personal experience.
I request the moderators to moderate. Falsehoods must be removed. Twisted narratives must be called out. Mischaracterizations must be commented upon editorially.
‘Objectionable content’ is anything which is untruthful, which twists truth, which mischaracterizes.
Examples:
Jennifer states Blake had a knife. No one knows this to be true. In fact, while the police state that a knife was found in Blake’s vehicle, no one claims that Blake even wielded the knife, let alone used it to threaten anyone.
Jennifer continues to justify use of excessive and lethal force — even when such use runs extremely in contradiction to nearly every police department’s rules and regulations regarding the use of force, and rules and regulations regarding appropriate application of the continuum of force.
Jennifer has claimed the LA victim carried a semi-automatic rifle at the time of his killing. He never ‘carried’ his gun, except that it was tangled in a pile of clothing; it was not a semi-automatic; and, he was certainly not carrying it when he was shot and killed, nor was there any actionable evidence that he carried any weapon upon his person.
I’m sick to read this individual’s comments even once. Yet, they are repeated nearly endlessly on this thread alone — in the misbegotten belief that volume and repetition of a lie, somehow will make it true.
We cannot move forward as a society and community, unless and until the Fairness Doctrine in our news media is re-instated. And PA Weekly should start that re-institution here. Edit. Moderate. Filter out falsehood, mischaracterization, heavy bias. The standard for ‘objectionable’ must change.
@Chris Zacharias,
Your ‘offer’ is an example of the strawman fallacy. It has no purpose in rational debate. Please re-think how to frame a cogent argument.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
It WAS a semi-automatic.
“Immediately after making contact with our suspect, our suspect was holding some items of clothing in his hands, punched one of the officers in the face and then dropped the items in his hands, sheriff’s Lt. Brandon Dean told reporters.”
“The deputies noticed inside the clothing he dropped was a black SEMI-AUTOMATIC handgun, at which time a deputy-involved shooting occurred. He was in possession of a firearm and did assault a deputy.”
“Two deputies opened fire and shot him several times, Navarro said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Please get your facts straight. Thank you.
“Jacob Blake whose police shooting in Kenosha, Wis. touched off a renewed nationwide wave of anti-cop sentiment – was armed with a knife and had engaged with officers moments before he was shot according to law enforcement allegations.”
“A knife wielding Blake had put one of his arresting officers in a headlock and shrugged off two of their attempts to stun him into submission, an attorney for the union that reps Kenosha Police, told the Associated Press.”
Just because the facts don’t fit your narrative doesn’t mean they’re not true.
Reactionary mindsets supporting law enforcement improprieties will not enable us to advance or evolve as a society.
All lives matter BUT an unchecked 007 ‘license to kill’ and ‘qualified immunity’ for wrongful police shootings supported by countless police association/union lobbyists will not resolve matters over the long haul.
Accountability is paramount and suspects need to understand that it is ‘open season’ for the police to discharge their tasers & handguns without regard for the situation at hand.
QUOTE: “The deputies noticed inside the clothing he dropped was a black SEMI-AUTOMATIC handgun, at which time a deputy-involved shooting occurred. He was in possession of a firearm…”
QUOTE: “”Two deputies opened fire and shot him several times,”
QUOTE: “Please get your facts straight. Thank you.”
^ The suspect dropped the clothing containing a ‘black SEMI-AUTOMATIC handgun’ and he was UNARMED at the time of the police-related shooting & fleeing on foot.
No shots were exchanged between the suspect & law enforcement…only the LA County deputies were discharging their service weapons and in the back of the suspect no less.
Even Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday & Pat Garrett would disapprove of such tactics as there was no discretion or honor on the part of the deputies…who have since been suspended.
I have not written one “falsehood.” Every comment of mine has been my opinion (which I’m entitled to) or FACTS that people who disagree with the facts want to twist to their narrative, and accuse me. My comments on this thread have generated more “agreement” than any other reader, and I’m tired of being attacked, which according to terms of use, is against the terms of use. If you don’t like my opinions, please don’t read my comments.
How about accountability for criminals, and quit blaming the police when they’re just doing their job.
QUOTE: “My comments on this thread have generated more “agreement” than any other reader…”
^ But who’s keeping score? That kind of accounting is for petty mindsets.
The key issue is for law enforcement to practice MORE constraint when it comes to unwarranted shootings and for suspects to try & cooperate when being stopped for questioning…even though they are bound to be bullied & hassled.
The key issue is this is a blog, and we’re all entitled to our opinion. A lot of us don’t believe the shootings are unwarranted, and that’s why juries don’t convict when officers are tried in court. Some suspects will never cooperate, and police shoot to stop a threat.
My point of “agreement” was in response to a reader asking that all my comments should be removed just because he disagrees. He needs to grow up.
I agree with Jennifer and Nayeli 100%. I cannot in any way understand how those of you defending these CRIMINALS can do so with a clear conscience. We are a land of law and order. Unfortunately there seem to be many who feel it doesn’t apply to them.
More worrisome is this insane push to reduce police ability to deal with CRIMINALS. Every single situation that has resulted in these insane riots and looting free-for-alls has been perpetrated by CRIMINALS. Every single one.
Stop justifying,one CRIMINAL behavior. Just stop.