[Peace-discuss] Obama Appoints Corrupt Police Chief To Panel To Improve Policing

[David Johnson via Peace-discuss]

Obama Appoints Corrupt Police Chief To Panel To Improve Policing

Description: Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey talks to the media outside
the CJC in center city March 31, 2009. (ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff
photographer) DN Read more at
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/dncrime/Ramsey-to-chair-presidents-Task-F
orce-on-21st-Century-Policing.html#fYsl7AIoGLgz13Lp.99

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey talks to the media outside the CJC in
center city March 31, 2009. (ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff photographer) DN


By Carey Wedler,
<http://theantimedia.org/obama-appoints-corrupt-police-chief-fix-police-cred
ibility/> www.theantimedia.org
December 5th, 2014

 

"Obama's appointment demonstrates that his plan is nothing more than a sham
to appease an increasingly discontent and angry populace without effecting
actual change."

 

( <http://theantimedia.org/> TheAntiMedia) When a politician claims to
improve an oppressive condition, there is usually an unspoken catch.

This week, President Barack Obama
<http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/obama-requests-263-million-polic
e-body-cameras-training-n259161> unveiled his plan to deal with police
brutality and militarization (which
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/obama-police-militarization_n_3566
478.html> he helped to enable over the course of his presidency). He has
ordered $263 million for 50,000 body cameras and called for restrictions and
oversight on military equipment.

Though on its face the plan has good intentions, it has already been
criticized by
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/02/us-usa-missouri-shooting-idUSKCN0
JG27720141202> activists and the
<http://reason.com/blog/2014/12/01/obama-doesnt-really-care-about-police-mi>
media.

One of the most disingenuous elements of Obama's master plan is
<http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/dncrime/Ramsey-to-chair-presidents-Task-
Force-on-21st-Century-Policing.html> his appointment of Philadelphia Police
Commissioner, Charles Ramsey, to chair the "Task Force on 21st Cenutry
Policing."Ramsey is co-chairing the task force with Laurie Robinson, a
former assistant attorney general and professor at George Mason University.
The force is allegedly responsible for restoring trust and good relations
between police officers and communities. A White House
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/01/fact-sheet-strengthen
ing-community-policing> press release claimed that,

"Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and around the country have highlighted
the importance of strong, collaborative relationships between local police
and the communities they protect.  As the nation has observed, trust between
law enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve is essential
to the stability of our communities, the integrity of our criminal justice
system, and the safe and effective delivery of policing services."

While body cameras and restrictions on military equipment are easy to spin
as positive (though the
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/white-house-we-dont-have-a-specific-posit
ion-on-police-milit> practice of militarization will not be stopped, only
"curbed"), it is not as easy to fake credibility for Ramsey. The officer,
who is also the president of the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association,
runs one of the most corrupt police departments in the nation.

 <http://www.phillypolice.com/about/leadership/charles-h-ramsey/> He was
once the police chief of Washington, D.C. and has presided over
Philadelphia's department
<http://www.phillypolice.com/about/leadership/charles-h-ramsey/> since 2008.
Ramsey worked for the Chicago police department for thirty years and is
currently a member of the "United States Homeland Security Advisory
Council."

On his watch, a
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/30/justice/philadelphia-police-corruption/>
federal investigation into corruption was launched over conspiracy, robbery,
extortion, kidnapping and drug dealing. The Philadelphia police were caught
<http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96556> ignoring thousands of rape cases
to keep their crime numbers low. Before marijuana was decriminalized, Philly
police arrested African-Americans for marijuana at an
<http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/06/23/ramsey-nutter-decriminalizing-mari
juana-philadelphia-african-americans/> even higher rate than the rest of the
country (which is already grossly high). Even after a decriminalization bill
was passed this June,
<http://articles.philly.com/2014-06-22/news/50758390_1_marijuana-bill-mariju
ana-ordinance-small-amounts> Ramsey vowed to continue arrests pursuant to
Pennsylvania law. Other cops
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/philly-cops-steal-500-000-drug-suspec
ts-feds-article-1.1885741> stole half a million dollars of drug money from
suspects.

Philadelphia police are also no strangers to harassment and murder on the
job, which is what Obama allegedly seeks to diminish in appointing Ramsey.
Ramsey's cops
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/philly-police-officer-threatens-te
en-video-article-1.1989473> threaten to beat teenagers. They actually beat
all kinds of people
<http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Philly-Police-Beat-Man-Bloody-on-
Tape-102478809.html> over and
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/us/08philadelphia.html?_r=0_> over  and
<http://newsone.com/2020081/marcus-warryton-philadelphia-cops-beat-teen-afte
r-traffic-stop/> over. They also indulge in
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/philadelphia-cops-shoot-pizza-man-
feared-mugging-article-1.1766415> shootings, which occur
<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Police_involved_shootings_in_Philly_soar_
as_violent_crime_falls.html> all too often and shirk accountability.

Most telling, during the initial waves of protest in Ferguson this summer,
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar
<http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-louis-county-police-
chief-tells-of-lessons-learned-in/article_4a37ed8f-5654-544f-862b-16dcdca2cf
a9.html> sought frequent advice from Ramsey on how to handle the situation.

Belmar
<http://theantimedia.org/ferguson-police-chief-apologizes-for-police-abuses-
st-louis-county-chief-defends-them/> refused to apologize for the way police
treated protesters (even as Ferguson chief Thomas Jackson did), which
included the
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/18/police-in-ferg
uson-arrest-and-threaten-more-journalists/> harassment of journalists and
those
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/ferguson-protests-police-response_
n_5677741.html> dissenting peacefully.

Wilson's murder of unarmed Michael Brownand police reactions to protests and
the lack of grand jury indictmentare what sparked the president's "task
force" to begin with. Somehow, however, it is lost on Obama that restoring
faith in cops cannot come from putting a corrupt cop in chargelet alone a
corrupt cop who advised St. Louis County police on their cruel, aggressive
tactics.

Obama's appointment demonstrates that his plan is nothing more than a sham
to appease an increasingly discontent and angry populace without effecting
actual change.

The task force has 90 days to prepare a report and recommendations for the
"21st century" problems of policing.But if Charles H. Ramsey cannot curb
corruption and excessive violence within his own department, it is unlikely
he will inspire change at the national level.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20150115/84f84170/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 26708 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20150115/84f84170/attachment-0001.jpg>