Category: Cops Behaving Badly
Two stories from the ongoing debate over recording on-duty police officers in public spaces.
The involuntary manslaughter verdict for Oscar Grant's killer may not be popular, but it is appropriate.
Brent Talmo once lost a job he really enjoyed, but he was eventually able to find a position in the same field, with better pay and greater responsibilities.
Sure, he had been a troubled employee, prone to "bizarre behavior" and casual abuse of those described as his customers, but he was fortunate enough to find a new employer willing to overlook his mistakes.
Now that employer, the Maywood, California Police Department, is being liquidated. In fact, the entire municipal government of Maywood, a Los Angeles suburb of roughly 40,000 people, is being dissolved on account of bankruptcy.
Radley Balko on the frequency of cops shooting dogs.
A story of two cops: one admits committing theft and assault while on duty, then while off duty gets caught driving with his blood alcohol content over the legal limit, all the while he receives the "professional courtesy" of having his colleagues cover it all up for him. Another cop sends an email to city council revealing the scandalous behavior of the first cop.
One guess which cop gets fired....
Clear Creek sheriff's deputies on Thursday arrested a rafting guide for swimming to a stranded young rafter who had tumbled from his boat on Clear Creek.
Ryan Daniel Snodgrass, a 28-year-old guide with Arkansas Valley Adventures rafting company, was charged with "obstructing government operations," said Clear Creek Sheriff Don Krueger.
"He was told not to go in the water, and he jumped in and swam over to the victim and jeopardized the rescue operation," said Krueger, noting that his office was deciding whether to file similar charges against another guide who was at the scene just downstream of Kermitts Roadhouse on U.S. 6.
Point that needs to be made: Mr. Snodgrass did not "jeopardize the rescue operation". He completed it.
One cop in this town has already been fired for behaving just like this toward this guy. Do they ever learn?
As Michigan State Police investigators sort out the shooting of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, one aspect is clear: Detroit taxpayers will pay.
Legal experts say the family's lawsuit against Detroit surely will result in a multimillion-dollar payout. And for the financially strapped city, that would only add to the more than $39 million paid out in police lawsuits between July 2006 and June 2009, according to an analysis by The News.
About half of that -- $19.1 million -- can be traced specifically to police misconduct allegations, including $7.3 million in payouts for 18 people shot by police. They range from $2.5 million for a man who was shot in the head and still lives with the bullet fragment to $25,000 for a woman shot in the leg at a backyard party by an officer aiming at a charging dog.
Seven children selling lemonade were told by police they had to close up shop -- because they didn't have a permit.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers called Wednesday for the nation's top law enforcement official to investigate the shooting death of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones during a Detroit police raid early Sunday at an east-side duplex, saying a "wave of violence" is striking the city and its people need to know their safety is a national priority.
