[Peace-discuss] FW: [police oversight] US - Police brutality cases on rise since 9/11

[Laurie at advancenet.net]

The article below is interesting on a number of grounds and stimulates a
number of questions.  Obviously, the question of whether the increase is due
to increased enforcement and prosecution of said cases or an increase in the
incidences of police brutality is a paramount one that needs to be
determined before anyone can jump to conclusions and make inferences as
University of Toledo law professor David Harris suggests in the article.
However, the fact that the percentage of cases that are prosecuted has
decreased as compared to the number of cases that are pursued due to a
number of factors including the difficulty in successfully prosecuting such
cases and getting juries to convict is indeed troubling and suggests a
limitation on fixing the law enforcement and criminal justice system's
ability to operate according to standards that we demand with police setting
a good example of obeying the law and all its nuances with civility and
restraint - not to mention equity and fairness.

The three most relevant issues that this article brings to my mind are as
follows:

1. If police departments are following the military's lead and lowering
standards and training requirements to recruit new members to fill vacancies
and expanding needs as the article suggests, then it is no wonder that these
agencies like the military are losing control over the behavior of its foot
soldiers and becoming infected with a reversion back to the old cultures of
revenge, "street justice," and abuse just as has happened in the military.
But more significant is the fact that if the standards are being lowered to
recruit new members that means that in the future it will not only be the
foot soldiers who feel free to indulge in misconduct and accept it as being
correct and proper but the leadership of these organizations who have been
promoted from within these ranks will also accept, believe in, and follow
that culture and encourage or defend police brutality and misconduct.

2. Since traditionally, and even currently, a majority of the recruits into
law enforcement agencies come from the military and are veterans of these
military organizations whose standards of recruitment have been lowered and
whose culture of brutality, torture, and lack of interest in civil or human
rights for opponents has become more dominant, one has to wonder if law
enforcement agencies would continue to exhibit a trend of increased
acceptance and use of brutality by law enforcement personnel even if the law
enforcement agencies continued to maintain high standards of recruitment
qualifications and training, given that they would be getting a large number
of their recruitment from ex-military personnel.

3. Finally, if the assertion that the need to fill vacancies in law
enforcement agencies has caused a lowering of standards of recruitment,
training, and performance in order to fill slots and retain personnel is
correct, then one has to wonder if the reduction in the recruitment pools
and the opening up of vacancies in law enforcement agencies are not as much
a result or by-product of the Iraq and Afghan wars which have sent National
Guard troops over there for long periods of time with many being injured or
killed as a result of an expanded need for domestic police services at home
to fight crime, maintain domestic law and order, guard prisoners, etc.  Many
of the street level law enforcement personnel as well as other first
responders and emergency personnel are members of the National Guard or the
military reserves - often having left active duty in the military and joined
the reserves or National Guard to finish their military commitments.  They
are the ones' who are being taken out of the various law enforcement
agencies, emergency service organizations, first responder types of
services, etc. to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan or other areas to free up
personnel to go to Iraq and Afghanistan so as to cause many of the vacancies
in these agencies that need to be filled temporarily or permanently,
producing an artificial set open positions and expansions of the need for
new slots in these agencies that has produced the need to reduce standards
of recruitment, training, and performance within said agencies. We only need
to look at the speed and effectiveness of responses to recent domestic
disasters for indications and evidence of this.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: policeoversight at yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:policeoversight at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of philipeure
> Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 5:21 PM
> To: policeoversight at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [police oversight] US - Police brutality cases on rise since
> 9/11
> 
> USA Today
> Police brutality cases on rise since 9/11
> 
> By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
> WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors are targeting a rising number of
> law enforcement officers for alleged brutality, Justice Department
> statistics show. The heightened prosecutions come as the nation's
> largest police union fears that agencies are dropping standards to
> fill thousands of vacancies and "scrimping" on training.
> Cases in which police, prison guards and other law enforcement
> authorities have used excessive force or other tactics to violate
> victims' civil rights have increased 25% (281 vs. 224) from fiscal
> years 2001 to 2007 over the previous seven years, the department
> says.
> 
> During the same period, the department says it won 53% more
> convictions (391 vs. 256). Some cases result in multiple convictions.
> 
> Federal records show the vast majority of police brutality cases
> referred by investigators are not prosecuted.
> 
> University of Toledo law professor David Harris, who analyzes police
> conduct issues, says it will take time to determine whether the
> cases represent a sustained period of more aggressive prosecutions
> or the beginnings of a surge in misconduct.
> 
> The cases involve only a fraction of the estimated 800,000 police in
> the USA, says James Pasco, executive director of the National
> Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the nation's largest police union.
> 
> Even so, he says, the FOP is concerned that reduced standards,
> training and promotion of less experienced officers into the higher
> police ranks could undermine more rigid supervision.
> 
> "These are things we are worried about," Pasco says.
> 
> For the past few years, dozens of police departments across the
> country have scrambled to fill vacancies. The recruiting effort,
> which often features cash bonuses, has intensified since 9/11,
> because many police recruits have been drawn to military service.
> 
> In its post-Sept. 11 reorganization, the FBI listed police
> misconduct as one of its highest civil rights priorities to keep
> pace with an anticipated increase in police hiring through 2009.
> 
> The increasing Justice numbers generally correspond to a USA TODAY
> analysis of federal law enforcement prosecutions using data compiled
> by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse
> University.
> 
> Those data show 42 law enforcement prosecutions during the first 10
> months of fiscal year 2007, a 66% increase from all of fiscal 2002
> and a 61% rise from a decade ago.
> 
> David Burnham, the co-founder of the TRAC database, says
> prosecutions appear to be increasing, but "more important" are the
> numbers of cases prosecutors decline.
> 
> Last year, 96% of cases referred for prosecution by investigative
> agencies were declined.
> 
> In 2005, 98% were declined, a rate that has remained "extremely
> high" under every administration dating to President Carter,
> according to a TRAC report.
> 
> The high refusal rates, say Burnham and law enforcement analysts,
> result in part from the extraordinary difficulty in prosecuting
> abuse cases. Juries are conditioned to believe cops, and victims'
> credibility is often challenged.
> 
> "When police are accused of wrongdoing, the world is turned upside
> down," Harris says. "In some cases, it may be impossible for
> (juries) to make the adjustment."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NACOLE (National Association for Civilian Oversight of Police)
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