I gotta wonder: is Memphis such a crime-ridden hellhole that the PD feels the need to assemble this type of paramilitary hit squad?
Sorta yes to the first part:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/most-violent-cities-in-america
The twenty cities with the highest violent crime rates (number of incidents per 100,000 people) are:
1. St. Louis, MO (2,082)
2. Detroit, MI (2,057)
3. Baltimore, MD (2,027)
4. Memphis, TN (2,003)
5. Little Rock, AR (1,634)
Still, even that is not a crime-ridden hellhole.
But no to the second part since the unit was apparently *designed to be ‘*elite thugs’ with “black hoodies” as uniforms who were supposed to harass people with traffic stops etc.
Also social media (kindasorta implied, but I want to call it out specifically). If you go by nextdoor, everyone who lives in my community has
- Been assaulted
- Been robbed
- Had a vehicle stolen
- Had packages stolen from their porch
- Had their house/apartment broken into
- Had a homeless drug user squatting on their lawn (and using it as a toilet)
At least three times in the last year.
On my local FB pages (I dont do NextDoor), the Redhats are always complaining about super high crime and how “Gascon lets all the criminals go”- but without any actual evidence. They seem to think that letting someone go on bail is a terrible idea. I point out it is is in the Constitution. My town is actually one of the safest in CA.
Of course, there is a homeless problem, and minor thefts from unlocked cars, but the only “real” crime that is prevalent around here is Catalytic Converter theft- which sure as hell is annoying but hardly the reason to buy more guns, and barricade the community.
Gascon?
Presumably
There seems to be a disconnect in what I’m asking.
The camera located on the utility pole at the corner of Castlegate Ln and Bear Creek Ln recorded this view of events.
What is in the video prior to what has been shown. It’s an unusual layout for a housing development. It has a very large number of dead end streets. He had to have come down Ross Rd.
I’ve notice females that mess up tend to be dealt with more harshly as well from the thin blue Anglo male line.
Nothing due to qualified immunity.
Gascón was born in Havana, Cuba.
“Ah. So, he’s a Mexican.”
–Quoth an unbearable number of Trump supporters
I don’t know. What’s in it already?
That would be a good element to push for in what–we may hope–will be a national mood that permits at least some reform of policing. (Maybe not ‘instant removal from the force if the body cam goes off’ but some kind of serious consequence—suspension without pay for X weeks for a first infraction, or such.)
Again, I suspect that a HUGE proportion of “modern policing” training–informal as much as formal–is “techniques that let you get away with crimes.” That must change.
As you say, there is surely footage–particularly from cameras in the neighborhood in which this started. Has it already been suppressed? If so, someone may whistle-blow.
If not: we likely have some useful information about this incident coming our way before too long.
My bolding in quote.
Thank you for sharing. That was really moving. The interviewer handled everything compassionately as well. I think mothers everywhere felt that one.
And nothing without it, since Police officers rarely have a million $ hanging around, or even a tenth that much.
That makes sense.
Very true, but the idea would be that they should stop thinking of being abusive as a freebie for them.
What you said upthread about the danger of gangs etc. using civil suits against individual cops as a means of harassment seems like a serious issue that would have to be addressed in any reform of qualified immunity.
One option that could help derail such suits would be laws that penalize frivolous litigation. If an organized crime figure starts suing every cop who might be investigating him, for example, he should face serious consequences.
It would be a complex problem to solve. But leaving so many members of the police under the impression that they can do anything to citizens they like and face no personal liability,* is not working, either.
*Other than, perhaps, having to get a new job in some other jurisdiction–a jurisdiction which is completely ignorant of accusations against that cop because there is no national registry that tracks police misconduct.
In other nations, if you sue and lose, you have to pay the other dudes legal costs.
But still the harassment involved, the endless depositions, etc.
Look, people sue the City, etc all the time and win. No need to sue an individual cop… or tax auditor… or meter maid… or city clerk… etc etc etc. It isn’t just police who are protected.
Yes, and there are some good reasons for having it set up that way.
I could live with qualified immunity* remaining in place IF bad cops couldn’t so easily jurisdiction-shop for a new job, after being fired for costing their city $$$$$.
And for that, you’d need that police-misconduct-tracking national registry.
*The entire concept still deserves a close look and, likely, some changes and clarifications.
I don’t see the immediate rehiring of bad cops as a legal problem, more of a cultural one - even when bad cops are fired, other cops shrug and think the only problem was that they got caught. It just shows how much “quality of character” counts in the hiring process.
type or paste code here
"No-one spits like Gascón,
Lets thugs go like Gascón…
The problem isn’t qualified immunity per se. The problem is that it’s applied when it shouldn’t be. The idea is that government employees can’t be sued for actions taken as part of their duties. But beating people up isn’t part of a police officer’s duties. In fact, to hear the cops talk about it, they don’t have any actual duties at all.